Newport Beach names new assistant city manager

Newport Beach announced the appointment of its newest assistant city manager on Tuesday, though he is far from an unfamiliar face to the public.

Seimone Jurjis, who has served the city as community development director since 2017, now joins Assistant City Manager Tara Finnigan in that role.

Jurjis has been with the city since 2011. Since his promotion to community development director, he has overseen a staff of about 60 that administer the city’s general plan and its zoning, building, subdivision, real property and environmental regulations.

Jurjis will be reporting directly to City Manager Grace Leung and will continue overseeing the community development department in addition to handling special projects — the likes of which are currently undefined, according to city spokesman John Pope, but will target efficiency enhancements with some of the city’s processes. There are no current plans to immediately fill his previous role.

“Seimone has been a tremendous asset to the city management team for many years,” Leung said in a statement. “This new role will give him a higher level of management responsibility and oversight to help carry out the City Council’s vision and direction for Newport Beach.”

Prior to the last fiscal year, the city of Newport Beach had a deputy city manager and an assistant city manager. Then-Assistant City Manager Carol Jacobs left for a job in the private sector in October 2021, and current Assistant City Manager Tara Finnigan was promoted in January 2022.

Jurjis will be receiving an annual salary between $175,410 and $263,079, according to the salary schedule published by the city.

“I think it’s worth saying that our city management team has some of the best I’ve ever dealt with, and we’ve dealt with a lot of municipalities,” Mayor Noah Blom said during a regular City Council meeting on Tuesday. “With Grace, Tara and Seimone working, we’re pretty much unstoppable. They cover every spectrum, and I’m so thankful for all of our directors and what we’ve achieved over there.”