New City Administrator Begins Work

New Kimball City Administrator Daniel Ortiz started work Monday January 7.

Ortiz comes from Casa Grande, Arizona where he served in the City Manager’s office for the the past three and a half years. He also served as a research assistant for the Alliance Renovation.

“It’s an organization of local governments. Their goal is to be innovators and be able to promote the best practices and come up with new practices in the local government. “ Ortiz said.

Though Ortiz has spent the past few years in smaller communities, he spent the early years of his life in one of the biggest cities in the nation.

He was born and raised in the metropolis that is Los Angeles, California. After finishing up his undergraduate studies, Ortiz ventured to Arizona to pursue a Master’s degree.

“I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to stay out in Arizona for the time period I was there,” Ortiz said.

Oritz was attracted to Kimball for the environment, and what he heard about the area from his city manager in Casa Grande.

“My city manager started his career in Sterling,” he recalled. “When I saw the opportunity for Kimball that opened up, I really engaged with him to find out what he knew about the region.

He knew my personal values and thought that Kimball would be a perfect fit for what me and my fiancee where looking for,” Ortiz continued.

Among the values that Ortiz found appealing was the focus on the family that Kimball is noted for.

“Everyone touts the family values, and it’s a great place to raise kids. That’s really what we were looking for, and to be able to align my personal values with my professional ambitions, it was just a golden opportunity,” Ortiz said.

Before starting work, Ortiz was able to sit down with former City Administrator Harold Farrar in order to get familiar with the current projects of the city.

“He and I talked briefly about some of the things that are going on in Kimball, and he pretty much just gave me an overview on key projects that are going on such as Castronics and the development of the industrial park that we’re trying to create with the rail spur,” Ortiz said.

Among the current projects, Ortiz sees some similarities between his current work and the work he did in Casa Grande.

“In Casa Grande, we focused heavily on attracting commercial and industrial businesses to the community,” he explained.

The role of an administrator includes day to day business as well as working with economic development.

“Obviously, with what we have going on with the rail spur here it lines up perfectly with what I was doing back in Casa Grande,” Ortiz said

However, Ortiz does not plan to merely focus on one particular project in his time in office.

“My goal is to really engage with the community and meet with the council members individually to find out what their vision and goal is for the community so I can begin to work from my position to go forth and accomplish their mission and vision,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz moved to Kimball last weekend with his fiancee and can currently be reached at the city office.