Rupert Retires as Treasurer of Torrance Next Month : Jobs: He has been on stress-related leave for nearly a year after the city lost $6.2 million in investment swindle. As his career winds down, a new city attorney will take office.

Torrance City Treasurer Thomas C. Rupert has announced plans to retire next month, having taken nearly a year of stress-related leave after the city lost $6.2 million to an investment swindler.

Meanwhile, the City Council has found a replacement for former City Atty. Kenneth Nelson, who retired in December. The council Tuesday named John L. Fellows, now Irvine’s city attorney, as Torrance’s top legal adviser.

Of the two personnel developments, the most closely watched in City Hall was the retirement of Rupert, who has spent nearly three decades as treasurer, an elective post. Rupert, 59, has never been accused of legal wrongdoing. But he drew fire from council candidates last year for making the multimillion-dollar city investment with Newport financier Steven D. Wymer.

Wymer pleaded guilty in September to engineering a giant fraud involving small government agencies throughout the country. Rupert, however, said Wednesday he could not have known that Wymer was improperly handling investments, noting that dozens of other agencies entrusted their money to the financier.

“If a crook is a crook, you can’t catch him until he does something wrong,” Rupert said.

Although he has been on workers’ compensation leave since last February, Rupert has drawn 90% of his $68,640 base salary and, under state law, was also allowed to receive benefits and perks such as medical care and administrative leave pay.

He has recommended that acting Treasurer Linda Barnett, his deputy for nine years, be appointed to succeed him. The treasurer’s post comes up for election in 1994 and Barnett said she is strongly considering campaigning for the office.

She said she hopes that the council will appoint her to the job in the interim.

“I feel that I am very qualified for the job,” said Barnett, who is married to Parks and Recreation Director Gene Barnett.

After Rupert’s retirement takes effect Feb. 16, the council has 30 days to fill the post by appointment. If no appointment is made, the city must hold a special election.

Mayor Katy Geissert said it would be foolhardy to hold a special election just a year before the 1994 election. Geissert said she is pleased with Barnett’s performance as acting city treasurer and supports her appointment.

Last November, about 70% of Torrance voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made the treasurer’s post an appointive position.

The council’s choice for city attorney, John Fellows, has worked for Irvine on a contract basis--first as assistant city attorney in 1987, then as the top legal adviser in 1990. He is resigning his partnership in the Costa Mesa law firm of Rutan & Tucker to come to Torrance, where he will assume responsibility for half a dozen attorneys.

Nelson’s tenure was marked by tough legal cases, including the city’s high-profile lawsuit against Mobil Oil over alleged safety problems at the company’s Torrance refinery. The challenge of such legal battles is partly what attracted Fellows.

“I’m a pretty aggressive lawyer,” said Fellows, 44. “I’m not looking for a place to retire to. I’m looking for a place that will remain challenging.”

Fellows graduated with honors from UC Irvine in 1978 with bachelor’s degree in social ecology. He received his law degree from USC in 1981.

He said he is planning to move to Torrance from Newport Beach, where he lives with his wife, Lorrie Minkel, and 2 1/2-year-old son, Jeffrey.

Fellows starts his $109,000 a year job Feb. 11.