Littleton City Manager Mark Relph To Retire In June

LITTLETON, CO — Littleton's city manager announced Wednesday his plans for retirement in 2022.

Mark Relph is set to retire in June after serving as city manager since 2017. He was appointed acting city manager in 2016 after he was selected as Littleton's public works director in 2015.

“My wife and I believe the time is right and we are looking forward to retiring on the Western Slope,” Relph said in a statement.

“I’ve had a rewarding career but my work with the City of Littleton has been the most gratifying. We have accomplished a lot and I couldn’t have done anything without my talented staff and our supportive city council. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and June, but I believe that after our city council retreat in February, we’ll come out with a set of goals that we can hand off to the next city manager to accomplish.”

Relph has spent the past five years developing goals, work plans, procedures and policies for the city, which published the following list of his accomplishments:

• Council adoption of the Envision Littleton community vision and plan in 2018 and the Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Master Plan in 2019
• Implemented Priority Based Budgeting, utilizing the innovative budgeting tool in increasing degrees each year
• Reorganized the Leadership Team and created an Executive Team, promoting women to 10 of the 13 positions
• Led the city through the pandemic by making difficult decisions regarding budgeting, staffing, and distribution of federal grants
• Unified Littleton Fire Rescue with South Metro Fire Rescue in 2020
• Created an Arts & Culture Commission in 2020 with council adopting the commission’s Strategic Plan in 2021
• Took the lead in guiding eight jurisdictions to partner in a Planning and Environmental Linkages Study with CDOT to plan the future of the Santa Fe Drive corridor; and developed solutions to improve the intersection at Mineral Avenue
• Rezoned the entire downtown district from seven zone districts to one in 2020 and created a new Downtown Historic District in 2021
• Improved organizational development, training, retention, and morale; and created the City Manager Awards to recognize staff achievements in leadership and innovation
• Council adoption of the Unified Land Use Code in 2021
• Solved the revenue crisis in the Capital Projects Fund with voter approval of Ballot Issue 3A in 2021

The city's Human Resources team plans to use an executive search firm with special expertise in city manager recruitment to hire a new manager, officials said.

City Council is set to discuss Dec. 14 a process for implementing a recruitment strategy and timeline over the next six to nine months, the city said.