Ex-City Manager of Escondido Gets Oxnard Post

Vernon G. Hazen, the former Escondido city manager who resigned under pressure last year, has been named city manager of Oxnard.

Hazen, 54, who was unanimously chosen by the Oxnard City Council during closed-door meetings this week, will begin his new job Aug. 13.

He replaces David Mora, who was forced to resign after a 3-2 council vote in December and formally ended his five-year tenure in Oxnard on Friday.

Assistant City Manager John Tooker will act as city manager in the interim.

“He’s a real people person,” Councilwoman Ann Johs said of Hazen. “I think we need a people person in Oxnard.”

Councilman Manuel Lopez said the council interviewed five candidates for the job but chose Hazen because he had the most experience as a city manager. Hazen’s salary has not been negotiated, council members said. Mora earned $95,705 a year.

The California native had been Escondido’s top administrator since 1982 and earned $95,000 a year. He formerly was city manager in the Northern California town of Mill Valley for seven years and in Mountain View, near San Jose, for 12 years.

Hazen resigned from his post in Escondido in January, 1989, just hours before the council was scheduled to meet in closed-door session to consider firing him.

Hazen lost the support of a majority of the council soon after two slow-growth council candidates--Carla DeDominicis and Kris Murphy--were elected, joining veteran Councilman Jerry Harmon to form the city’s first slow-growth majority on the five-member council.

He said Thursday that he resigned because the new council majority felt he could not carry out a slow-growth development policy after overseeing a very pro-growth policy under the previous council.