By: Angela Obeso

Long time Public Works engineer, Ruben Niño has retired after 29 years of service to the City of Menlo Park. Ruben started as an Assistant City Engineer and worked his way up to Assistant Public Works Director. During his years of dedicated service to the Menlo Park community, Ruben accomplished many great achievements including working on the first master plan process in 1999, the new Menlo Children’s Center, the Arrillaga Gymnasium and Gymnastics Centers, Kelly Park, Burgess pool renovation and the turf field at Hillview; working with local community groups to have hundreds of trees planted along El Camino Real and creating the Belle Haven Community Garden; managing construction of emergency water wells; and keeping residents safe during storms and floods. The City will miss Ruben’s expertise, smile, laugh and Hawaiian shirts. 
 
At a celebration party at Kelly Park, City staff, previous Council members, co-workers, friends, and family came to wish Ruben well in his retirement and to thank him for his years of service. 
 
Although Ruben is irreplaceable, the Public Works Department has named Nikki Nagaya to serve as Assistant Public Works Director heading up the Transportation and Land Development divisions and Azalea Mitch to serve as City Engineer heading up the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and Utilities divisions. We all look forward to seeing photos from Ruben’s travels and of his grandkids as he spends more time with his family.