CITY MANAGER AGREES TO STAY THROUGH END OF YEAR

SAN DIEGO - Mayor Dick Murphy today announced that City Manager Lamont Ewell has delayed his resignation and will remain with the city through December 31, 2005.

"I am grateful for Mr. Ewell's decision," said Mayor Murphy. "He is an excellent city manager who is a force for efficiency, effectiveness and cohesiveness. It is certainly in the city's best interests for him to stay. Most importantly, he will help the city complete its financial audits."

Last November, Ewell had announced his resignation as city manager effective June 30, 2005.

"To be completely honest with you, at times, it feels that leaving would be the easier thing to do but it would not be the right thing to do," said Ewell. "There is still a lot of work to be done. I owe it to the taxpayers first to stay and get the job completed. I also owe it to the city employees. And then I owe it to myself. I want to work on resolving issues and I feel uncomfortable about leaving a job undone."

The Mayor told the media Ewell's decision to stay is valuable to the city for three reasons:

• Ewell will be able to help the city adopt its Fiscal Year '06 budget which will require spending cuts.
• Ewell will help the city complete its Fiscal Year '03 and '04 financial audits that are overdue.
• Ewell will help implement the pension reform plan including the salary freeze, increased employee contributions, and reduced pension benefits for new employees and full actuarial funding.

Ewell staying will also be helpful in the transition to the strong mayor/strong council form of government.

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