On Wednesday, June 17, a farewell re- ception took place to honor Glendale Councilmember Ara Najarian for his more than 20 years of service to the City of Glendale. After nearly two decades in public service, former Glendale Mayor Najar- ian has called it quits. During the official part of the pro- gram, Najarian received accolades from several public officials including Supervisor Kathryn Barger represent- ing the 5th supervisorial district of Los Angeles County, and Glendale Police Chief Robert William. Talking about the Limits of City Manager Government Najarian told losangelescountypolitics.com recently that his retirement reflects his belief that Glendale has reached a structural inflection point. With approximately 220,000 residents and an annual bud- get exceeding $1 billion, the city is testing the limits of its weak-mayor, strong-city-manager form of govern- ment. He state: “Right now, I think we’re hitting the ceiling of how big we can be with a city manager style gov- ernment,” Najarian said. “If we get to 250,000 or 300,000 population, then I think it’s time to go to districts and a single elected mayor.” Glendale’s structure gives signifi- cant power to the city manager, who oversees day-to-day operations and makes administrative decisions with- out direct council oversight. While a professional manager brings technical expertise and can be quickly removed if performance falters, “a lot of things that go on are not brought to our atten- tion,” Najarian acknowledged. He contrasted this with larger cit- ies like Los Angeles and Long Beach, which have directly elected mayors with greater executive authority. While that model offers clearer accountabili- ty, it also creates risks. “You can get an elected mayor who was a bean farmer, knows diddly about all that,” he said. “We got this big budget—how does that work?” D e s p i t e the frustra- tions, Najar- ian favors keeping Glen- dale’s current system at its present size, citing the abil- ity to quickly remove a bad city manager versus the drawn-out re- call process required to oust an elect- ed mayor. Elaborat- ing on What’s Next, los- angelescoun- typolitics.com noted that N a j a r i a n ’s mayoral term runs through April 2026, and he will not seek re- election to the city council. He is explor- ing a run for the Los An- geles County Board of Su- pervisors in two years and has expressed interest in a federal appointment to a transportation position in the Trump administration—though he acknowl- edged that “anyone here who’s going to work for the Trump administration becomes a target.” For now, the five-time mayor is fo- cused on finishing his term while grap- pling with political realities: too Republican for California’s Demo- cratic strongholds, too moderate for today’s Republican Party, and in- creasingly convinced that the political center is disappearing entirely. As for Glendale, Najarian believes the city he has served for nearly 20 years is at a crossroads. Whether it evolves toward stronger may- oral leadership or maintains its city manager structure may depend on how much larger it grows. But for Najarian himself, the path forward appears increasingly narrow—a reality he attributes not to his own limitations, but to a system that has closed its doors to Republicans and moderates alike. In a conversation with Julie Butcher of the Crescenta Valley Week- ly, Najarian reminisced: “When I first ran for office, we had to actu- ally discuss issues,” Glendale Councilmember Ara Najarian said in a sit-down final interview last week with the Crescenta Valley Weekly. “Now it’s all about party. If there’s an ‘R’ after your name, they just automatically push the button – ‘Next!’ It’s such a lazy way of cam- paigning and it doesn’t make anything better.” Councilmember Najarian is not termed out. Nor is he “done.” Last year after he announced that he would not be running for reelection, his colleagues selected him to serve the last year of his term as the city’s mayor. Though Najarian might have won re-election he said he wants to “give someone else a chance.” “I didn’t want to overstay my welcome,” he said. Many American Armenians are proud of all that Najarian has ac- complished – the projects and process improvements, sister city re- lationships, ethics enhancements and budget stabilizing efforts, de- cades-long advocacy for the project and for responsible local transit, fighting for Glendale’s fair share for as long as he has been in public office – he is happy to leave the city a better place. Ara Najarian opened his law practice in Glendale in 1998. He served on the city’s Transportation & Parking Commission from 1996 to 2002 and chaired several transit planning committees from 1998 to 2005. He was elected to public office, first to the Glendale Community College board in 2003 and then to the Glendale City Council in 2005. Councilmember Najarian has served as mayor five times during his more than 20 years on the council. Najarian has been sharing what he terms “exposés” during recent council meetings and he reiterated the advice he gave candidates for council at last week’s meeting: It will be really hard to be on the coun- cil and hold down a traditional full-time job at the same time. He added that the job requires sensitivity – to the workings of local government, to how things get done, to working with people to meet your goals. “Listen. Listen more than you talk. Don’t be swayed by your own preconceived opinions and biases. Be particularly respectful of city staff. You are not a king or a queen here,” he said. “You can’t just give people orders. You need to work within the system to get things done.”