Although the item is not yet on the agenda, the City Council is expected to vote on Monday whether to hire Agoura Hills Assistant City Manager Jim Thorsen as Malibu’s city manager. City Attorney Christi Hogin confirmed that a vote will likely take place on Monday, but she would not say for whom the council would be voting. A source familiar with the situation said the person was Thorsen.
No council member would comment on whether the council would be voting on Thorsen’s hiring. Thorsen did not return several calls for comment.
The hiring of a city manager requires a majority vote by the council. Hogin said the vote would take place before the meeting during closed session, a time when legal, personnel and land-use issues are discussed and the public is not invited. But an announcement on how the vote went down would be made during the regular portion of the meeting.
Thorsen was named assistant city manager in Agoura Hills in 2004 and previously held the title of public works director. He has worked for the city since 1997. Prior to that, Thorsen worked for 10 years in Simi Valley and three years in Denver. He has a civil engineering background.
Malibu has been without a permanent city manager since January when Katie Lichtig left the city to take a job as assistant city manager in Beverly Hills. Shortly after Lichtig left, Malibu hired former Santa Monica City Manager John Jalili to serve as city manager on an interim basis.