New City Manager Appointed

Palos Verdes Estates has picked James B. Hendrickson, 45, as its new city manager. Hendrickson, who will begin work Oct. 16, will be paid $65,000 a year.

City manager of San Clemente for 4 1/2 years before resigning June 30, Hendrickson was chosen from among five finalists because of his “expertise in financial management,” said Mayor Ruth Gralow.

Interim City Manager Richard Malcolm, 65, who recruited candidates for permanent manager, said 80 applications were received.

Malcolm was hired after the City Council in June abruptly fired former City Manager Gordon Siebert, 38, a week short of his fourth anniversary with the city.

Hendrickson voluntarily left San Clemente because of a “difference of philosophy and approach” with the City Council, which had had a “100% turnover” in two elections while he was manager, he said in an interview Wednesday.

Two San Clemente council members, who praised Hendrickson’s abilities and service to their city, described him this week as the victim of political conflict and change in attitudes about the way to limit growth and development. Councilwoman Holly Veale said “it seemed better for him and for us” if Hendrickson moved on.

As part of his compensation, Hendrickson will live rent-free in a Bluff Cove five-bedroom luxury home Palos Verdes Estates acquired four years ago when the city paid $1.6 million to settle a lawsuit with the owners, who had alleged that the property was undermined by water from a faulty city storm drain. Hendrickson, who is married and has two daughters, said the home is “an awful lot in lieu” of a salary that would match the $88,500 a year he earned in San Clemente.

Before working in San Clemente, Hendrickson had served as assistant city manager in Fresno and in Saratoga, which is in the San Francisco Bay area.