The Avondale City Council has approved Charles Montoya as the new city manager, effective July 31. 

Montoya comes from Watsonville, California, where he is city manager, and will occupy the position vacated by David Fitzhugh.Cynthia Seelhammer has served as interim city manager. 

Montoya previously was the town manager of Florence, Arizona and was Castle Rock, Colorado's, finance director/treasurer. 

“Over the past two decades, Avondale has been fortunate to have strong and steady leadership to guide our city through tremendous growth as well as the economic downturn,” Mayor Kenn Weise said. “These are exciting times for Avondale, with many new economic developments on the horizon.”

Montoya is a graduate of New Mexico State University and holds a master of arts degree in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico.