By Mary O’KEEFE

In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, the Ontario City Council approved the hiring of Scott Ochoa as its new city manager.

“[Ochoa] has accepted,” said Steve Lambert, spokesman for the City of Ontario.

Ochoa has served as Glendale city manager since 2012; before that he served eight years in the same position in the City of Monrovia. Ochoa will take the position vacated by Al Boling, who had requested to be released from the city manager job due to health issues in his family and instead be reassigned to his former role as assistant city manager.

“Scott is uniquely qualified to manage our city at a time of tremendous opportunity, and we are fortunate to have him,” said Ontario Mayor Paul S. Leon in prepared statement.

“I am honored and excited for this opportunity, and look forward to working with the extraordinary team the city has assembled to serve Ontario’s residents, businesses and community partners,” Ochoa stated. “With its growing international airport, its robust business climate, its vibrant hospitality industry and its great neighborhoods and schools, Ontario has limitless opportunities ahead of it. I can’t wait to get started.”

On Wednesday, Ochoa sent an email to city employees stating he would be leaving Glendale effective Nov. 17.

“While I am truly excited for this opportunity to work with another high-performing team, I hope you can appreciate how much it hurts to leave you and this place,” he wrote.

He added that while it hurts to leave he looks forward to working with the Ontario team. He wrote of some turbulent times he experienced while at Glendale and praised the staff for working together.

“I have made a number of friends in this organization. As a manager, however, I am more appreciative of the professionalism and the culture of precision execution that will live on long after I am gone,” he wrote.

Ochoa’s contract at Glendale was an annual salary of about $275,000; he will receive $310,000 annually in Ontario.