Damien Arrula

Damien R. Arrula was recently appointed as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Upland, overseeing Public Works, Community Services, and Emergency Services. Just prior to his appointment, he served as the City Administrator for the City of Placentia for 10 years. Placentia is a full-service city in northern Orange County and is comprised of approximately 51,000 people with 200 full-time and 86 part-time employees. Mr. Arrula’s previous responsibilities included management and oversight of all city operations and departments.

During his tenure in local government, Mr. Arrula has received numerous awards for his contributions toward the field of municipal government including being the recipient of the City Manager of the Year award by the Association of California Cities Orange County, Orange County’s Top 100 Most Influential People in 2018, 2019 and 2023 by the Orange County Register and various awards in the field of public works, economic development, master planning, leadership, public safety, and homelessness. Under Mr. Arrula’s leadership, Placentia is also a recent recipient of the distinguished Helen Putnam Award from the League of California Cities.

Prior to his City Administrator role, Mr. Arrula held the positions of Assistant City Administrator, Interim Public Works Director, Interim Community Services Director, Community & Economic Development Director, Interim Public Works Manager, Deputy Director of Housing Services, Administrative/Economic Development Officer, Interim Human Services (Community Services) Director, Senior Management Analyst, and Environmental Analyst with the cities of Placentia, Claremont, Ontario, El Monte and Sierra Madre.

Notable projects during his career include the establishment of the Placentia Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD), which was the first EIFD in the State of California to involve a partnership between a City and a County to redevelop a city’s downtown, two award-winning downtown master plans, an award-winning General Plan Update, a smart city citywide fiber optic project, visioning and developing two Veterans Villages, the first-of-their-kind permanent supportive housing developments in California designed to serve military veterans whom were homeless or disabled, developing a homeless collaborative with 12 north Orange County cities’ city managers and police chiefs, including the construction of two homeless navigation centers, development of a state-of-the-art public safety and training center for PD, Fire and Emergency Services, securing funding for a new Metrolink Station and parking structure in the downtown, securing a new Audi dealership, hotels and various restaurants, redeveloping two retail centers, initiating the Placentia Parks Initiative and remodeling 85% of the city’s parks, successfully passing two sales tax initiatives, reducing attrition in public safety to nearly 0%, increasing the city’s reserves from 0% up to 40%, and recovering a large-scale embezzlement while instituting new transparency measures and financial controls.

Mr. Arrula holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Minor in General Management from Cal Poly Pomona and a Master of Public Administration from the University of La Verne. Mr. Arrula is a recent member of the Orange County City Managers Association, a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), California City Management Foundation, and International Council of Shopping Centers. Mr. Arrula previously served as Vice President of the Municipal Management Association of Southern California and is a guest lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona, University of La Verne, and Cal State Fullerton.