The City of Barstow announced today that Barstow Public Safety Director Andrew Espinoza, Jr. has been named interim city manager for the City. This follows the recent departure of Willie Hopkins, who has accepted the position of city manager in Compton, CA.
The Barstow City Council unanimously agreed on Jan. 16 to appoint Espinoza, Jr. to this acting position until a permanent candidate is identified through a national search. Kody Tompkins will continue serving as assistant city manager.
Espinoza, Jr., who will continue at the helm of the Public Safety Division for the time being, brings a wealth of experience to the new position.
“He will be instrumental in guiding the City in a positive light, and I look forward to working alongside him to achieve success for the City,” said Tompkins.
As city manager, Espinoza, Jr. will oversee the administrative direction and plans for the City, including directing, supervising and managing finance, budget, human resources, risk management, information technology, economic development, community services, public works and environmental services.
Espinoza has served 25 years in the Barstow Police Department and has been the chief of police for two and a half years. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and holds a Master’s degree of Public Administration from California State University of Long Beach.
He will also be active with major City initiatives as BNSF Railway plans to invest more than $1.5 billion to construct a state-of-the-art master-planned rail facility in Barstow. The Barstow International Gateway (BIG) will be an approximately 4,500-acre new integrated rail facility on the west side of Barstow, consisting of a rail yard, intermodal facility and warehouses for transloading freight from international containers to domestic containers. The facility will allow the direct transfer of containers from ships at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to trains for transport through the Alameda Corridor onto the BNSF mainline up to Barstow. Once the containers reach the Barstow International Gateway, they will be processed at the facility using clean-energy powered cargo-handling equipment, and then staged and built into trains moving east via BNSF’s network across the nation.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the City of Barstow in this role and look forward to working with the Council and City team to help move Barstow into the future,” said Espinoza, Jr.
More information on the City of Barstow can be accessed at www.BarstowCA.org.