Ironman faces true test in City Hall

Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff thinks he gets his best ideas on long-distance runs or on the seat of his bike, cruising up Pacific Coast Highway from Laguna Beach on his way to work at City Hall in the morning.

“I call them my ‘talk me out of this ideas,’ because I’m always asking people to talk me out of them,” Kiff said from his cluttered office earlier this week. A few plaques from Ironman triathlons featuring photographs of Kiff, 44, on his bike hang by the door on the whitewashed brick wall.

“Sometimes, people can’t talk me out of them,” he said.

During his 11 years working for the city, Kiff has worked on some of the community’s most volatile environmental and social issues, from dredging Upper Newport Bay to drug and alcohol rehabilitation homes in the city.

Now Newport Beach is betting on Kiff’s innovative ideas to find a new police chief, trim its budget and reform its employee pension system in a time of economic uncertainty when he takes over for retiring City Manager Homer Bludau next month.

“He was kind of the go-to guy whenever we needed something done in the city, and I believe he will be able to take those ideas and speed them more broadly among city staff as city manager,” Mayor Ed Selich said.

Kiff lives in Laguna Beach with his partner of 16 years, Tom Lochner, a Newport Beach doctor.

He and Lochner have already made an offer on a house in Newport Beach near Irvine Avenue. The couple have two mixed-breed dogs, Macey and Ben.

Kiff rescued 3-year-old Macey from the Newport Beach animal shelter. His partner found Ben 13 years ago begging for scraps on the streets of Los Angeles.

The city faces slumping sales tax revenues, a state government that will raid the city’s coffers for $6 million this year, and contract negotiations with city employee unions in the coming year.

Kiff, who characterizes himself as a fiscal conservative, says he wants to streamline the city’s budgeting process and take a critical look at city employee benefits packages.

“[In a recession], cities tend to lag on recovery. We will have consequences of the economic downturn even longer — it’s going to be a huge factor in our pension costs,” Kiff said.

One of Kiff’s first tasks once he takes over Sept. 12 will be searching for a new police chief after allegations of homophobia and favoritism rocked the Newport Beach Police Department over the past year.

The department has been in flux since Chief John Klein stepped down in July after the police unions pushed for a city investigation into the department’s promotional process, including into how Klein was promoted.

The department also lost a highly publicized $1.2-million discrimination lawsuit earlier this year in which Sgt. Neil Harvey claimed the department was rife with homophobia.

Kiff acknowledged the appointment of a new police chief was probably one of the most important decisions any city manager can make during a career.

He plans to begin an open search for a new police chief in September and October.

“It’s going to be important to see someone there who is a good fit for the department and the community from day one — someone who focuses first on the internal organization, and yet someone who can quickly build the same good rapport with the community that Chief Klein had,” Kiff said.

Kiff has won accolades from city officials for his handling of complex issues during his tenure as an assistant city manager.

Kiff helped the city cull $17.3 million from a federal economic stimulus package earlier this year to dredge Upper Newport Bay.

“He has very good communication skills and the ability to work with federal regional, state and local government,” said Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who traveled to Washington D.C. with Kiff earlier this year to lobby for dredging funds.

“He’s also very bright and has integrity,” she said.

As the city’s “rehab home czar,” he’s spent countless hours over the past two years listening to residents’ concerns about crime and secondhand smoke they believe the homes generate, but also helping sober living home operators navigate the city’s codes and ordinances.

“The group homes issue was a very complex and difficult issue,” Bludau said. “He’s very dedicated to providing good public service. It’s not about ego with Dave. It’s about serving others.”