City Manager Mark Relph announced today that he will retire from the City of Littleton on June 1, 2022.  Relph has been Littleton’s city manager since May of 2017.  He was appointed acting city manager in July of 2016 after being selected as Littleton’s public works director in April 2015. 

Relph’s appointment as city manager came with significant political challenges which he met head on.  Immediately after accepting the position, Relph began a strategic process to transform the City of Littleton into a high-functioning organization by developing goals, work plans, and improved communication through standardizing procedures, policies, and documents.  Among his many accomplishments are:

• 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

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

The Human Resources staff is prepared to retain an executive search firm with special expertise in city manager recruitment.  At a December 14 executive session, the city council will consider a process to implement a recruitment strategy and timeline over the next six to nine months.