[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10322]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RECOGNIZING THE SERVICE OF KEN FARFSING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lowenthal) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to recognize Mr. Ken 
Farfsing, upon his retirement as the city manager of the city of Signal 
Hill, California, which will be this coming week, on June 30.
  I have had the pleasure of working with Ken on local and statewide 
issues for almost 20 years, while I served on the Long Beach City 
Council, as a member of the California State Legislature, and now, as a 
Member of the United States Congress. I consider Ken to be a dear 
friend.
  Ken has served for over 33 years, in community development, 
redevelopment, economic development, and city management in five 
southern California communities. He has spent the last 19 years, 
however, serving the city of Signal Hill, and I am honored to recognize 
his outstanding career.
  Ken began his career with the city of Santa Fe Springs in California 
in 1981 as an intern. In 1985, he was promoted to community development 
director. In 1988, he continued his career as the community development 
director for the city of Downey. He later became Downey's assistant 
city manager and director of economic development. He served as the 
city manager in the city of South Pasadena for 4 years before coming to 
the city of Signal Hill.
  Under his guidance, the city of Signal Hill established three 
commercial centers, the Town Center North, the Town Center West, and 
the Signal Hill Gateway Center.
  He facilitated the relocation of a Mercedes Benz dealership to Signal 
Hill and the expansion of the Glenn E. Thomas Dodge dealership, growing 
sales and tax revenues from $6 million to more than $12 million. 
Additionally, he completed the development of six community parks and a 
new police station.
  Ken has been active in regional issues, also, and he has been a 
leader with expertise on water issues, working with 27 of the area's 
Gateway Cities Council of Governments on water, storm water, and urban 
runoff regulations and practices.
  He has served as the chair of the city manager's steering committee 
for the Gateway Cities manager's group, and he was a member of the 
water quality task force for the League of California Cities.
  As you can tell, I respect and admire Ken Farfsing's leadership and 
service to the community of Signal Hill, and he will be greatly missed. 
I want to wish him the very best as he retires. His impact on the city 
of Signal Hill will always be remembered.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to ask all my distinguished colleagues to 
join me in thanking Ken Farfsing for his 19 years of public service 
within the city of Signal Hill.

                          ____________________