First Mayor Appointed for Malibu : Government: Some see the choice of Walt Keller as a bid to mend council rifts, but cityhood limbo makes length of term unclear.

In a surprise move, Malibu’s unofficial City Council has selected Walt Keller to be mayor-elect of the seaside community.

The choice of Keller, the top vote-getter in June’s incorporation election, was viewed by some observers as a conciliatory gesture aimed at healing a rift between quarrelsome factions of the council.

“Some of the political paralysis we’ve experienced is due to a certain amount of personal tension over (who was to be appointed mayor), and I wanted to remove that obstacle and hope to get the council more united,” said Councilman-elect Larry Wan, who offered the motion to appoint Keller at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Wan and council members Mike Caggiano and Missy Zeitsoff, long associated with the Malibu Township Council, have frequently been at odds with Keller and Carolyn Van Horn, who, before being elected to the council, co-chaired the Malibu Committee for Incorporation.

Since they began to hold informal council meetings after voters overwhelmingly approved cityhood, they have split 3 to 2 so often that their votes have become almost predictable.

Keller said Wednesday that he was “surprised and pleased” by the appointment, saying he was “hopeful that it is a sign that we are coming together.”

However, in the excitement over Wan’s unexpected motion and the panel’s unanimous approval, confusion remained Wednesday about the specifics of the action.

As approved by the council, the mostly honorary title of mayor will be rotated among the council members each year, commencing with municipal elections held in April.

But Malibu is not yet a city, and the council members, although they have continued to meet since the election, are unable to take office until cityhood occurs. Despite efforts by cityhood backers to speed incorporation, Los Angeles County has thus far prevailed in court in its bid to block the actual incorporation until next March 28, hoping to start work on an unpopular sewer system there before the new city government has the chance to block it.

If the county succeeds in forcing the delay, the new mayor-elect may only be mayor for a few weeks.

Keller said Wednesday that he understood the council’s action to mean that he will be mayor until 1992.

“I assumed I would be mayor for a year from the time we’re actually a city,” he said. “I think that would be the appropriate thing. If it turns out that they’re suggesting something different, I would hope we can work something out.”

However, Wan, who was appointed mayor pro tem on Tuesday, said Keller’s term will expire next April, regardless of when Malibu becomes a city.

“Walt has always wanted to be Malibu’s first mayor, and the action we took fulfills that,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re in a strange situation where, because of the uncertainty of cityhood, everyone’s term on the council stands to be shortened, and his term as mayor is one of those things that may be affected.”

Keller’s supporters have long insisted that since he won the most votes, he should be appointed mayor, and have noted that in all but one of the last dozen cities to incorporate in Los Angeles County, the highest vote-getter became mayor.

They were upset in June after the Township Council faction said they preferred to wait until after incorporation to choose a mayor. Since then, the five council members have taken turns chairing their weekly meetings.

Besides choosing a mayor-elect, the council also made progress on several other issues Tuesday over which they have long been divided.

By a unanimous vote, the council approved a lease for City Hall space in Malibu’s main commercial area, a two-story office building at 23805 Stewart Ranch Road that Keller and Van Horn had previously opposed in hopes of working out a better deal.

After renegotiating the five-year lease for 1,275 square feet of office space to allow the future city to end the lease after two years if it chooses, Keller and Van Horn gave their support.

In addition, the council also voted to begin negotiating a contract with former Southgate City Manager Bruce Spragg as interim city manager. The vote was 4 to 1, with Keller dissenting.