City Manager Resigns to ‘Try Something Different’

City Manager Kevin J. Murphy resigned Tuesday after 6 1/2 years on the job, saying he wants to “pursue other career opportunities.”

“I think it’s time to try something different,” Murphy said Wednesday. “The public sector takes a toll. You’re the point of attack on a number of issues.”

City officials said they will miss Murphy.

“He’s been an incredibly great city manager,” Mayor Thomas C. Edwards said. “It’s been great to work with him. His managerial skills and high integrity level will be difficult to [replace].”

The council discussed Murphy’s latest performance evaluation during closed sessions at its meetings Monday and July 27. But Murphy said that nothing during the review process spurred his decision to leave.

“I’m not sure there’s any right moment” to go, the Anaheim native and UCLA graduate said. “I feel really good about the decision I’ve made.”

Murphy, who is married and has one daughter in the eighth grade and another who’s a junior at Newport Harbor High School, said he would prefer to remain in Newport Beach for the time being.

Murphy, 44, became city manager in 1992, after leaving the same post in Alhambra. He immediately faced several crises, including a police chief and captain accused of sexual harassment and a utilities director charged with embezzlement.

Edwards credited Murphy with shepherding the city through a four-year budget turmoil, and said his streamlining led to the city’s current financial health. Edwards cited Murphy’s leadership in building the new library and a $15-million project that secured the city’s drinking-water supply and cut costs.

The mayor said the council will meet Aug. 24 to discuss an interim replacement.