The top leadership in Kimball got a lot younger on Monday when new City Administrator Daniel Ortiz began work. Ortiz doesn’t turn 28 until March, while his predecessor…Harrold Farrar…was old enough to retire after 18 years with the city.

Ortiz most recently was a management analyst in the city manager’s officer of Casa Grande, Arizona…a community between Phoenix and Tucson that doubled in size over the the last decade.

He sees a lot of similarities with Kimball with Casa Grande a farming community with a main Union Pacific route that is a vital part of its economic engine.

Ortiz got some insights about Kimball from his old boss in Casa Grande…who’d been the city manager in Sterling, Colorado, and told him Kimball would be a good fit for him “both personally and professionally.”

As for his priorities on the job, one of his top goals is development of the city industrial park on the east side of the community.