I saw this item on the agenda of yesterday's Los Alamitos City Council meeting:

13. Closed Session

B. Public Employee Appointment

Title:    Interim and Permanent City Manager
Authority:    Government Code Section 54957

I took that to mean the council was discussing a final offer to Dave Rudat to become city manager. Rudat was most recently Interim Deputy CEO for the County of Orange, and was the long-time Orange City Manager before the council fired him in 2005. His wife Carol ran a memorable campaign for Orange Council last year.

I called the Los Alamitos City Manager's office to get a clearer idea what the agenda item was about. I was told there will be a special council meeting tomorrow (public, of course) at 9:15 a.m. on the Interim City Manager spot (presumably to offer Rudat the job), an also authorize a recruiter to begin searching for candidates for a permanent city manager.

It's my understadning (although I'm not positive) that CALPERS prevents Rudat from working over a certain number of hours due to his pension, which would explain the interim status. Still, given that Rudat's pension is around $150,000 a year, the interim gig will amount to quite a haul in taxpayer dinero.