SIMI VALLEY : City Official to Take Job in El Segundo

Simi Valley’s economic development coordinator will leave the city later this month to start a similar program in El Segundo.

Jim Hansen, 48, has worked for Simi Valley as a deputy city manager in charge of economic development for about two years. His last day on the job will be Sept. 23.

He decided to take the El Segundo job because it will allow him to help shape the redevelopment policy of a city plagued by downsizing in the aerospace industry, he said.

“It will be a real challenge with lots of room for creativity,” Hansen said.

Hansen’s new post will take him from the bedroom community of Simi Valley, where half the 102,000 residents commute to work, to the work center of El Segundo, where 70,000 commuters a day flock to a city with a population of only about 18,000.

In his new post, Hansen will earn $77,200, up from the $73,000 he received working for Simi Valley.

During his two years in Simi Valley, Hansen helped steer the city through tough economic times, devoting much of his efforts to securing a deal with Price Club for a new store on the city’s west end.

City Manager Lin Koester praised Hansen’s work.

“Jim has done a good job coordinating our economic development agenda over the past two years,” Koester said. “I wish him well.”