5 minutes | Monday, May 4, 2026
Ken Frank served as City Manager of Laguna Beach for 31 years, from September 1979 until his retirement in December 2010. His tenure is one of the longest in Orange County history. He is widely credited with Open Space Preservation, spearheading the acquisition of over 3,000 acres of open space in Laguna Canyon, investing over $40 million to protect the city's greenbelt; and Fiscal Management, establishing a "Revenue Smoothing Fund" to keep the city solvent during economic downturns and managed major recovery efforts following the 1993 firestorm, in which his own home was destroyed, and several landslides.