Lawndale Hires Ex-San Marino City Manager : Government: John E. Nowak was the top choice of all five Lawndale City Council members.

A five-month search for a new Lawndale city manager ended last week when the City Council hired John E. Nowak, who currently is city manager in San Marino.

Nowak, 39, will start his new job Jan. 7. He will replace former City Manager James Arnold, who was ousted in July after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed criminal misdemeanor charges against him for his role in the alleged improper demolition of three city buildings that contained asbestos. Charles Thompson, retired Huntington Beach city manager, has been the interim city manager since August.

In interviews Friday, all five Lawndale City Council members said Nowak was their top choice for the job because of his professionalism, his attention to details and his reputation as a hard worker.

“It was like deja vu,” Councilwoman Carol Norman said. “Everything Lawndale had concerns about and wanted to cure or look into, he was knowledgeable about. I think it will be a very good marriage.”

Said Councilman Larry Rudolph: “I think for once we all agreed on something.”

As Lawndale’s city manager, Nowak will earn $80,400 a year, $18,000 more than he earned in San Marino. Lawndale has 27,000 residents and a $7.5-million budget, San Marino has 14,000 residents and an $8.1-million budget.

In lieu of vacation time, Nowak’s contract entitles him to two accruable days of personal leave every month. Although he was hired for an indefinite term, he or the city can terminate the contract with four months’ notice.

In an interview Friday, Nowak said one of his first goals as city manager is to help the council “identify an agenda” to guide the development decisions facing the city.

Lawndale, which is revising its General Plan, “is in a stage of needing some economic development,” Nowak said. “What I want to do, to the best of my abilities, is help the council identify its long-range goals and then help implement them.”

Nowak served as San Marino’s city manager for 3 1/2 years before announcing his resignation Thursday. Earlier this month, he was reassigned to work on special projects for that city after telling the City Council that he was looking for another job, San Marino Councilman Paul C. Crowley said.

Nowak, who is said to routinely put in 70-hour workweeks, was praised by Crowley and two other San Marino council members as a dedicated, diligent and highly professional city manager. But all three said his demanding, hands-on management style was sometimes off-putting.

“San Marino is a really warm city, and John is very businesslike,” Councilwoman Rosemary B. Simmons said. “He didn’t always respond to us and the citizens in a warm fashion. . . . If there was ever any conflict, that’s where it was.”

Crowley agreed: “I don’t think John’s strong point is labor negotiations because John is a little bit of an autocrat. I don’t think he enjoyed (it). . . . His management style wasn’t exactly what we’re comfortable with.”

Such criticisms, however, appear to have won Nowak points among Lawndale council members. “If you keep on someone’s tail to make them do work, sometimes you alienate them,” Mayor Harold E. Hofmann said. “But that doesn’t worry me. . . . I think he’s what we’re looking for.”

Before he was hired by San Marino, Nowak was an assistant to the city manager of Lancaster from 1983 through 1986. He received a master’s degree in public administration from West Virginia University in 1973.