Official Offered City Manager’s Post

Interim City Manager MaryJane Lazz has been chosen to take over the job as the city’s top executive on a full-time basis.

The City Council voted in closed session Tuesday to offer Lazz a contract, ending the city’s nearly yearlong search for a new manager.

Lazz served many years as deputy to former City Manager Grant Brimhall, who retired in February after two decades in the job.

Lazz would begin the job once she officially accepts the contract and it is ratified by the council.

A final vote on the selection is scheduled Tuesday, though that may be delayed a week because of the expected absence of Councilman Dan Del Campo.

“There was no question, MaryJane just stood out above the other candidates,” Councilman Michael Markey said.

“I don’t think she had any advantage that she came from here, because I am a pretty hard grader already and I was probably a little harder on MaryJane than the other two [final] applicants. The questions were also not directly about Thousand Oaks but were pretty generic, which any city manager should have been able to deal with.”

The city manager is responsible for carrying out the directives of the council and overseeing the city’s $113-million annual operating budget as well as supervising its 475 employees.