Once in a while, folks try to mislead us with hearsay, out-and-out falsehoods or only half- truths. To our credit, I believe we have done a mighty fine job of ferreting out misinformation and have not published items that are merely gossip.
Over the last few months, we have printed several stories regarding the retirement of Ken Farfsing, Signal Hill’s city manager. The articles have alleged that Ken was indeed retiring, and I assume that many of our readers, including me, believed the story to be true. Well, we were duped with what is indeed a half-truth.
Not to say that Ken is a fibber— that could be hard to prove, and we could end up being charged with libel.
Now that I have your attention with my tongue-in-cheek introduction, I will now share the rest of the story with all of you.
On June 30, Ken’s last day as Signal Hill’s city manager, Steve and I stopped by to wish him well on his retirement. After a few tender moments I closed in for what I figured would be my last embrace with Ken, at least my last hug from him for quite a long while. As I released him from my clutches, I noticed a gleam in his eyes. I read the gleam as an “I’ve got a secret” type of message. At that, I remarked to him, “you’re not retiring; you’re up to something.” He smirked and asked, “What makes you say that?” My response was, “Who do you think you’re kidding?” It looks like either Ken has a lousy poker face, or I am quite perceptive, or maybe both.
Just eight days later I learned that Ken had been appointed by the councilmembers of the City of Carson as their new city manager. Wow, talk about a short-term retirement! I figured I’d give him a day or two to settle in before I called to give him the old “I told you so.” After 48 hours, I couldn’t stand the waiting and made the call.
Upon hearing Ken’s voice on the other end of the line, I started laughing. It wasn’t exactly a laugh, it was more like a maniacal cackle. Although it wasn’t very flattering, Ken knew the wretched sound came from me.
After a few moments of teasing on my part and Ken explaining his new position as Carson’s part-time interim city manager, not the new full-time city manager as had been reported by other local papers, we settled into a pleasant conversation that ended with us both promising to get together soon.
Keeping his word, Ken called a few days later and asked if he could stop by my office for a quick visit. I couldn’t say yes fast enough and stumbled over the word, which sounded more like “yef.” Around 2pm, Ken arrived and gave me another one of those great hugs. After we gave each other a quick smile, Ken sat down to tell me the story of his short retirement.
During our face-to-face conversation, Ken said, “I don’t see myself as retired. I went from full-time manager to part time.”
He made it very clear that he was not going to be the new full-time permanent city manager for Carson. He was hired by the Carson City Council to take the position of part-time interim city manager. Furthermore, Ken said that he planned to be on staff for between six to eight months and that his main duties would be to work on special projects such as: helping Carson find a new, permanent city manager; assisting them in balancing and adopting a new budget; and keeping the NFL stadium project on track.
After a few minutes of catching up on each other’s personal lives, we bid farewell and once again shared a hug.
Why did I share the above information with you? I wanted to clear up any misconceptions about Ken’s retirement as city manager for the City of Signal Hill.
Ken, I wish you well in any, and all, of your future endeavors.
See you later.
