Long Beach will have a new city attorney after the 2022 election, something that was guaranteed by current City Attorney Charlie Parkin’s decision to retire after this term.

Parkin confirmed Monday morning that he will not be seeking reelection, saying that the pandemic and spending time with family factored into his decision to retire. The 64-year-old Parkin has served as city attorney since 2013.

“I have three little grandkids and want to hang out with them while they still want to hang out with Grandpa,” Parkin said.

At the end of his term Parkin will have served over nine years as the Long Beach’s city attorney and over 38 total years with the city. Parkin won a hotly contested election in 2014 when he defeated former 7th District Councilman James Johnson. Parkin was able to run as an incumbent in that race because he had served as acting city attorney for nearly a year after former City Attorney Robert Shannon retired and chose him as his successor.

He’ll join Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna as one of the high-profile departures that have been  announced this year. Luna’s position will be filled through an appointment process while Parkin’s will be filled at the ballot box.

Parkin said he has no immediate plans for employment after his term ends at the end of next year but said that traveling is definitely in his future, noting he’d like to spend some time with his camping trailer somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

One of Parkin’s deputy city attorneys, Dawn McIntosh, filed paperwork to run for the soon-to-be vacant seat earlier this month. McIntosh currently handles environmental law and real estate issues for the office and Parkin said that McIntosh would be a good fit if elected by voters next year.

“Dawn would be a super good city attorney,” Parkin said. “She could be the right person at the right time.”

Police Chief Robert Luna to retire at end of year

Jason Ruiz covers City Hall and politics for the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or @JasonRuiz_LB on Twitter.