See “He’s Only Temporary, but Ewell Looks Like a Keeper”
The Lamont Ewell Era begins on the top floor of City Hall at the crack of the workday today, Opening Day for a putative four-month gig as the Interim City Manager.
Never mind that it will be April Fool’s Day.
Direct from a four-year stint as City Manager of Santa Monica, Mr. Ewell appears to have left the most activist community south of Berkeley on the wings of more goodwill than a man handing out hundred dollar bills.
Without further, or even recent, adieu, and minus a dollop of flourish, 60-year-old Mark Scott, the tall, dignified Manager of the City for the past10 months, will fade into the background.
Although there was an eruption of shocked harrumphs nearly two months ago when Mr. Scott rocked City Hall by revealing he was quitting to return to his hometown of Fresno as City Manager, to be with his elderly parents, the critics have made a speedy recovery.
Unspent farewells had better be just as swift. Little clock time remains.
Mr. Scott will spend tomorrow familiarizing Mr. Ewell — who has just as much city manager seasoning — with the way things are done in Culver City.
On Friday, Mr. Scott will leave City Hall for the final time.
He will fly to Spartanburg, S.C. — his last previous posting — for a reunion with his wife, who has been working there all the time that her husband has been toiling in Culver City.
They will spend 10 days of the Easter season together before Mr. Scott makes a U-turn and flies home to Fresno, to stay, for the first time in decades.
He is scheduled to start his second-in-command job as City Manager on Wednesday, April 14, the morning after Culver City elects two members to the City Council.
Mr. Scott explained to the newspaper:
“I have only been to Fresno twice since I was appointed. They have an Interim, and I did not want to confuse people there as to who is in charge.
“City government is confusing enough without that.
“I’m hoping my wife will be ready to move around July, but we have this challenge of a big, unsold house to cope with.
“I have loved working here. I think it is the best fit of any of the three cities I’ve managed. Thus, it is hard to leave, but I will keep on pluckin’.”
