Santa Fe Springs City Manager Raymond R. Cruz decided to retire from his position as city manager effective Friday, December 30th. Cruz’s career started in October of 1986 as an intern for the City of Glendale and he has thoroughly enjoyed each City that he has worked for the last 35 years which also include: Carson, Rolling Hills and Santa Fe Springs.
Raymond R. Cruz is the sixth city manager of the City of Santa Fe Springs since it was incorporated in 1957, and the first Latino city manager in the City’s history. Cruz came to Santa Fe Springs from the City of Rolling Hills where he was appointed as city manager in November 2013. He has significant municipal government experience and has managed several different types of operations during his career.
His first experience in municipal government began in the City of Riverside City Manager’s Office as an intern while he attained his dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Service and Political Science from the University of California-Riverside. Cruz continued his education at the University of Southern California and within that time he landed a position with the City of Glendale City Manager’s Office where he started as an intern and was promoted five times during his 14-plus years there. His last position held was assistant to the city manager. He received his Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California and is also a graduate of the Coro Foundation Fellowship Program in San Francisco.
In 2001, he was then hired by the City of Carson to become its first public services general manager where he supervised the City’s Public Safety, Parks and Recreation and Human Services Departments. His operations included managing a $40 million budget and 175 full-time and 693 part-time employees. The City of Carson reorganized during Cruz’s last year and he became the director of Community Services, which also included supervision of the Transportation Department.
After the completion of 12 years of service to the City of Carson, the City of Rolling Hills City Council appointed Cruz as city manager. During his time at Rolling Hills, Cruz assisted with issues that include: crime prevention, water conservation, energy reliability, wildfire prevention, stormwater management, view protection and establishing assessment districts for sewer mains and undergrounding overhead utility lines.
Cruz’s accomplishments during his tenure in Santa Fe Springs have included solving the City’s $5 million deficit bypassing the sales tax Measure Y by over 75%; providing excellent and creative services and programs to its residents during the pandemic; the City being in its best financial position in the last 15 years; updating the General Plan; breaking ground on a homeless shelter for families; implementing a fire apparatus replacement plan; making major investments in increasing the workforce to make the organization more effective; investing in improving the City’s infrastructure; a three-year employee MOU; improving the City’s CALPERS and OPEB obligations; developing new and less expensive drinking water resources, and developing an ongoing revenue source for infrastructure.
Mayor Juanita Martin stated, “We will always be grateful for Ray’s leadership in managing our $5 million structural deficit with the passage of sales tax Measure Y and the smooth transition of providing services and programs during the pandemic”.
“I had a good 35-year run in municipal government and I am not sure what my next step will be. I have no immediate plans, but I will definitely spend more time with my family. Although I hear there are many opportunities to be a consultant, that is something I may pursue at a later date” said Cruz.