Oakland Names New Interim City Manager
OAKLAND (KCBS) -- Oakland's new interim city manager is expected to receive the nod of the Oakland City Council and start work on Monday.
Lamont Ewell, who is set to take the helm for no longer than five months, has long-time ties to Oakland. He became fire chief 13 days after the Oakland Hills firestorm in 1991, and was fire chief for four years before serving as interim and acting city manager from 1995-97.
KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:
He then went on to serve as city manager of Durham, North Carolina, San Diego, Santa Monica, and most recently as interim city manager of Culver City for 90 days last year.
"We'd actually asked Lamont when we started and he'd turned us down because he didn't want to work that long," said Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. "But then we went back to him and got him to agree to do a short stint."
Quan is set to deliver her budget on Tuesday, but Ewell is used to working in tight financial times. In San Diego he managed to make cuts while securing a baseball park for the Padres.
"Lamont Ewell is someone that I have the utmost respect for in his capacity to lead this city on an interim basis, given the difficult challenges that we as a city find ourselves in," said City Councilman Larry Reid.
The search for a permanent city manager continues. Acting City Manager Dan Lindheim has been asked to stay on to negotiate big projects.
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