Public Works and Local Government Specialist
Cyrus Abhar has more than 30 years of local government management experience and 10 years of private-sector experience. He recently retired after serving as the City Manager for the City of Rancho Cordova for eight years, where he was instrumental in growing the City into the vibrant and thriving community it is today—an award-winning organization focused on serving a diverse population and dynamic community. He managed a $120-million annual budget for the City and, among many accomplishments, successfully led the efforts in the passage of a ½-cent Sales Measure (Measure R) in 2020 which provides $12 million annually to the City’s General Fund for economic development initiatives and infrastructure projects.
Prior to serving as the City Manager, Mr. Abhar served as Rancho Cordova’s first Public Works Director and was recognized as the “Public Works Manager of the year” by the American Public Works Association in 2010. He also served as the City’s Chief Building Official and Assistant City Manager. Prior to joining the City of Rancho Cordova, Mr. Abhar served as the Chief of Operations and Maintenance Division for Sacramento County’s Department of Transportation. Prior to working for Sacramento County, Mr. Abhar worked as a senior engineer and project manager for several private consulting and engineering firms in Texas and California. With strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills, Mr. Abhar has worked collaboratively with private developers, nonprofit organizations, and advocacy groups in developing and successfully implementing a variety of projects and programs that have created positive change for the communities in which they were implemented.
Mr. Abhar is a Registered Civil Engineer, Licensed Land Surveyor, Licensed Traffic Engineer, and Certified Chief Building Official. Mr. Abhar received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
“I really want to express my appreciation for this work that’s been done in a collaborative way in which the study was put together. . . . I’ve seen a number of studies start in the fire department and this is the first one I can remember that has actually been fully completed and brought to the council, and it was done in a very thorough fashion. This is the best assemblage of comprehensive information about the fire department today, as well as what our needs might be in the future, that I have seen. So thanks to everyone. Thank you, Stewart, for giving us our money’s worth on our consultant contract with you.”
City Manager City of San Luis Obispo
“I am really, really impressed. I am impressed at the exhaustiveness of your study, impressed at the honesty and candor with which you expressed your findings; I am very impressed at the constructive tone of it, and that you came in under budget as well. So, thank you very much. I think that this document is going to be a cornerstone for us really moving forward for the next five, ten, twenty [years], half a century.”
Salt Lake City Council Meeting
“I wanted to offer my compliments to Citygate, to Mr. Gary for this very comprehensive report.”
San Luis Obispo Council Member
“I really, really enjoyed reading your Word product. I appreciate the fact that it was direct, it was constructive, and . . . it wasn’t finger-pointing, it was just . . . the facts. And I think that the money was well spent.”
Salt Lake City Council Meeting
“Thank you very much for a comprehensive report. Thank you.”
Palm Springs
“I was absolutely thrilled with the report because it was very comprehensive, very detailed. I call it the ‘time-in-motion study’ almost and some of the aspects [are] ‘how does your paper flow? How can you make your processes better? . . . As a government agency, how can we provide better service to the constituents?’ And to us we think that this study identifies those things down to all of the small paper processes and flows.”
Retired City Manager City of Vista, CA
“Thank you so much for this training. This was the best PIO training I’ve ever received.”
S-403 Information Officer class participant
“Thank you so much for all you have done. And it’s so comprehensive, I know it’s going to take a while for us to digest it all, but I think you’ve come up with some really good recommendations.”
Pro Tempore City of Vista, CA
“I think Citygate has done a great job. It seems like you’ve been most thorough and even-handed in your evaluations and you’ve given us certainly a lot of suggestions and guidelines to work with.”
City of Vista, CA
“I think this is one of the most comprehensive reports and I think probably one of the best presented reports I’ve seen in my years in government service. I want to start off by commending you for that and acknowledge that the work that you were able to do with cooperation from all of the different firefighting agencies in this region was second-to-none.”
Supervisor First District San Diego County