Council Picks City Manager 1 Week Prior to Election : Hermosa Beach: A Northern California man is selected despite one member’s objections that the decision should have been delayed until new members are seated.

The Hermosa Beach City Council has selected a new city manager over the objections of one councilman who wanted to postpone the decision until after the Nov. 2 election, in which three of the council’s five seats are at stake.

The council voted 3-1 on Tuesday to appoint Capitola City Manager Stephen R. Burrell, 45, as Hermosa Beach’s top administrator, picking him from a field of 87 applicants. Burrell, manager of the Northern California beach city since 1979, will earn $87,600 a year in his new job. His current salary is about $92,000 a year.

Approving Burrell’s appointment were Mayor Albert Wiemans and council members Kathleen Midstokke and Robert Essertier. Councilman Sam Y. Edgerton dissented. Councilman Robert (Bergie) Benz was not in the council chambers during the vote.

Edgerton, who took the council to task for approving a contract that he claimed the public did not have adequate time to review, said the new council that emerges in Tuesday’s election ought take part in the selection.

“I’m not against him. I think the guy is very good,” Edgerton said Tuesday. “But I was not prepared to make an offer to anybody with two, possibly three, council members coming in in the next couple of weeks.”

Wiemans, however, said he wanted to help choose a new city manager because he does not trust the judgment of the candidates running for the City Council.

“Not one of them seems to know what the issues are facing the city,” Wiemans said. “If I’m going to leave the choice of a city manager to them, I would say that would be a bit scary.”

Essertier, though he also voted to hire Burrell, took a different view: “It wasn’t a matter that we’re more qualified and maybe we’ll get a bunch of idiots in there who won’t know how to select anybody. It was that the city needs that leadership. It needs some stability.”

Twelve candidates, including incumbent Wiemans, are running for the three council seats. Neither Midstokke nor Essertier is running for reelection, ensuring that at least two newcomers will be elected.

Burrell said he sought the new job because he wanted to be closer to his daughter, who attends college in New Mexico, and because he relished the chance to return to the South Bay. A native of Southern California, he attended West High in Torrance and Cal State Long Beach. He and his wife, Janice, have two children, Erin, 18, a freshman at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, and Shaun, 13.

Burrell’s one-year contract closely resembles that of the city’s last permanent city manager, Frederick (Rick) Ferrin, who resigned earlier this year to take a job with the state Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Mary Rooney has served as Hermosa Beach’s acting city manager since Ferrin’s departure in July.

In addition to his salary, Burrell will receive a $350-a-month vehicle allowance. The city will pay for his family’s health insurance and up to $3,000 in moving expenses. It also will provide him with a temporary housing allowance of $1,000 for six months.

Burrell, who assumes his new post on Jan. 3, said he isn’t too concerned about his ability to win over the new council:

“They’ll have to take some time to get to know me,” he said. “But that adds interest and a little bit of challenge to the job as well.”

Capitola is a small beach city of about 11,000 residents. Like Hermosa Beach, it depends largely on sales tax revenue to fund city services. Under Burrell’s leadership, the city established a redevelopment agency that created a large regional shopping mall, said Capitola Mayor Ron Graves.

Burrell “likes to be given a project that communities don’t think are attainable,” Graves said. “Give him a free hand, and he will find a way to do it.”

Burrell’s tenure in Capitola has not been free of controversy. Over the past two years, he has faced allegations by the city treasurer that he mishandled redevelopment funds. However, extensive audits of the city’s finances, as well as a preliminary investigation by the Santa Cruz County district attorney’s office, found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Said Graves: “I don’t have any reservations about Mr. Burrell, his honesty or his ability to get the job done.”

Graves was not alone in his praise for Burrell.

“He’s the most respected city manager in our area, and he is probably one of the best city managers in the state, as far as I can see,” said Capitola Councilman Jerry Clarke. “I wouldn’t mind moving to Hermosa Beach and running for the council to work with him again. He is that neat of a guy.”

Capitola Councilwoman Margaret Fabrizio, who said Burrell’s main strengths are that he is accessible and can get along with anybody, agreed: “He’s a very good city manager and I think Hermosa Beach is really getting a gem.”