Lawndale Names Acting City Manager

The Lawndale City Council appointed senior management analyst Tom Devereux, who joined the city two months ago to work as a personnel officer and risk manager, as acting city manager.

Devereux, 47, takes the place of John Nowak, who announced May 7 that he will resign from the city manager’s post effective June 5. The council will interview candidates to serve as interim city manager on May 28 and is seeking the services of an executive search firm to help find a permanent replacement.

Devereux, who served as city manager of Palos Verdes Estates from 1980-85, declined to say whether he will seek a permanent position as city manager. As acting city manager, his monthly salary will rise to $5,000; that’s $2,000 a month more than he earns as a management analyst.

Nowak, the city’s sixth top administrator in eight years, resigned from his $86,100-a-year job just 17 months after he was hired. Although two councilmen described him as the most professional and efficient administrator the city ever had, at least two others complained that his management style was abrupt and remote.