City to Seek New Public Works Director Following The Retirement of Ara Maloyan

Ara Maloyan, who helped lead the city’s Public Works Department out of an embezzlement scandal, retired last week after nearly six years on the job.

“I really enjoyed working with Ara; he was a consummate professional,” City Manager Steve Mermell said in an email to Pasadena Now.

“The Pasadena Public Works Department is a very busy department with a wide range of responsibilities,” Mermell wrote. “During Ara’s tenure with the City the Department accomplished a lot, which is testament to his leadership and the dedicated work of the staff.”  

Kris Markarian has been appointed acting director of the department. 

Mermell said the city anticipates initiating a selection process for a new director in mid-June and hopes to have a permanent replacement for Maloyan by September.

Maloyan came to Pasadena in 2015 after a stint as the Long Beach Public Works director to fill the spot left vacant with the termination of former Public Works Director Siobhan Foster, one of several people fired by then-City Manager Michael Beck in the wake of an embezzlement scandal.

Former Public Works Employee Danny Wooten, 57, who was responsible for implementing the city’s Underground Utilities Project, was convicted in 2018 of 53 felony counts including embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest He was sentenced to 14 years in state prison and ordered to pay $3.6 million in restitution.

The theft was conducted incrementally starting in 2003. It was detected after the Municipal Services Committee began questioning money being siphoned from the city’s Underground Utilities Fund, which led to the audit that discovered the crime. 

Wootern’s accomplice Tyrone Collins, 61, who was the owner of Altadena-based Collins Electric, was convicted of 20 counts of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. He was sentenced to seven years in state prison and ordered to repay $900,000 in restitution.

While authorities initially alleged the scheme cost the city more than $6 million, the men were ultimately convicted of bilking $4.6 million from the city.

Maloyan was hired by the city of Long Beach on July 23, 2012 as Deputy Director Public Works/City Engineer and appointed that city’s Acting Director of Public Works on March 2, 2013. On Jan. 13, 2014, he was appointed Director of Public Works.

Previous to that, Maloyan was the city engineer in Beverly Hills, where he also held a variety of engineering positions for 23 years. Prior to that, Maloyan worked for five years for the city of Los Angeles Department of Public Works.