By Carolyn Sackariason
Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL — Now into his second week as Santa Monica’s top administrator, Lamont Ewell is approaching his new job as a sponge — soaking up all he can, including the warmth of the city’s residents as well as the weather.

Ewell, 52, formerly the City Manager in San Diego, sat in his office on the second floor of City Hall this week, discussing his three-pronged approach to stepping into his role: Learn, learn and learn. Ewell had just come from a meeting with the staff at Big Blue Bus, learning about the operation, their issues and what challenges lie ahead.

For the past nine days, Ewell’s met with dozens of people — from department heads to city staffers, City Council members to community groups, and even average citizens on the street. Moving into a short-term rental near Cloverfield Boulevard and Colorado Avenue just before the holidays, Ewell said he has spent that time riding his bicycle about town, picking residents’ brains to see what concerns them.

“I would strike up conversations with people without telling them I was the City Manager and I was left with a great impression,” he said.

According to Ewell, one of his more notable conversations was when he stopped a city employee to ask for directions, the staffer spent 10 minutes explaining the history of Santa Monica.

“I have fallen in love with Santa Monica ... It’s a small city that you can move around very easily and I think I have toured just about every area of the city, either on bike or walking. It’s so cool to stop and talk to people, to touch people.”

Ewell’s first day of work, Jan. 16, began with a community celebration of Martin Luther King in which the Civil Rights leader’s eldest daughter, Yolanda King, spoke to hundreds of Santa Monicans. Following the celebration and dedication of the new MLK Auditorium at the new library, Ewell began to unpack his boxes and put up family photos in his office to feel more at home.

Ewell, who sat in on his first City Council meeting on Tuesday, appeared focused and never lost his composure — even though the session lasted well past midnight and there were plenty of issues to tackle. He admitted on Tuesday morning that he was a bit anxious, but felt confident because he’s been making an effort to grasp the issues.

He’s also learning the politics of the city, which has historically pitted business interests, including the Chamber of Commerce, with the Santa Monicans For Renters’ Rights, a liberal group that has held the majority on the City Council for decades.

But based on the conversations Ewell has had with various groups, most people are excited to work together with a clean slate.

“The groups that I have touched based with so far ... everyone is looking forward to a new start and building new relationships,” he said.

Ewell is no stranger to politics — the city of San Diego is reeling from a very public political scandal involving city employee pensions. The make-up of that city’s City Council also has changed from a conservative majority to a more liberal one over the past several years.

As a former firefighter, fire chief and city manager, Ewell has an extensive background in public policy. He will earn $245,000 a year in Santa Monica.

Armed with the knowledge he continues to absorb from all of the city’s players, Ewell plans to build a strategy and develop a work plan in the next three months that will guide him through the rest of the year.

Ewell starts his job as the mid-year budget approaches and planning for the next fiscal year begins. As a result, the timing is right to focus on the city’s finances as a top priority.

“Obviously that is a central priority for any organization, to make sure our financial controls and stability are there,” Ewell said, adding the city of Santa Monica is heading into the next budget year with a surplus of about $2.5 million. “Anytime you have a cash reserve, it’s a good thing ... If I was sitting in San Diego right now, I would be discussing what we would be cutting.”

Last year, the city of San Diego faced a $15 million shortfall and was in the throes of a scandal over public employee pensions, which bankrupted the local government.

The root of the problem in San Diego was that political leaders wanted to spend more than they were taking in. They didn’t have the revenue to offer city employees raises. So, instead, they offered increased pension benefits. Now, San Diego’s pension system is at least $1.4 billion short and there are legal questions as to whether there were improper conflicts of interest that led to overly generous payments, according to news reports.

The city of San Diego’s books have been under review by federal and local investigators since February 2004, including the Security and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The wrongdoing goes back as far as the mid 1990s, Ewell said.

To deal with a multi-million dollar deficit in San Diego, Ewell had to make difficult budget decisions, and return the city to core services. Among the cuts were 200 positions, justified by the fact that 78 percent of San Diego’s budget was payroll. There are about 11,000 people employed by the city of San Diego, which has a budget of about $2.4 billion.

“I took a lot of heat making those tough decisions,” he said.

Recruited by San Diego in 2001, Ewell was named Assistant City Manager, responsible for the day-to-day operations of all city departments. He was then appointed as San Diego’s City Manager after Michael Uberuaga was forced out in March 2004. The following November, after voters passed a strong mayor form of government measure, Ewell announced he would quit in June 2005.

“The mayor asked to me to stay on as CEO but I wanted to stay true to my profession and I believe in a City Manager form of government ... I didn’t want to have to answer to one person,” Ewell said. “And this City Council here has a good, solid commitment to Santa Monica and is an intelligent, respectful body that wants to do the right thing for the people of this city.”

That is one of the reasons Ewell was attracted to Santa Monica, among many.

“The list is as long as my arm,” he said, adding he was recruited by other cities, but none measured up to Santa Monica. “Santa Monica has a reputation for dealing with issues head on and I like dealing with issues head on. I don’t like to side-step issues.”

Ewell said he sees his role as taking the local government’s policies and translating them into everyday services for citizens of Santa Monica.

“City Hall should not be the edifice that everyone comes to but we go to them,” he said, adding local government should automatically meet the needs of the public. “When the public doesn’t even think about city government, then we’ve done our job.”