Friends and supporters of departing City Attorney Christi Hogin crowded into City Hall Friday to bid her farewell — and to take a couple of pot shots at the three councilmembers who apparently orchestrated her resignation.

Those efforts — including a threat to take away Hogin’s vacation, a demand for time sheets documenting her hours of work and the hiring of a high-priced employment attorney to negotiate Hogin’s departure — made a distinct impression on those who gathered to see her off.

Referring to an observation by Councilman Harry Barovsky that Hogin had been the city’s pinata for the past year, resident Marissa Coughlin jokingly told the crowd she had placed a special order for a pinata in the shape of a “three-headed jackass.”

“[Hogin] can take it home with her and [she] and her kids can beat the heck out of it,” said Coughlin.

Mayor Walt Keller, Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Van Horn and Councilman Tom Hasse did not attend Friday’s gathering, and Councilwoman Joan House said the party was planned that way.

“They were asked not to come,” said House.

Before House presented Hogin with a Malibu Tile, a former city employee presented another memento that caused the assembled staff members to break into raucous laughter: a T-shirt that read, “I Survived Malibu Club.” One staff member in the crowd chortled, “Better order one for me, too.”

A tradition began when then-City Manager Ray Taylor left, that the last staff employee to leave comes back to present a T-shirt to the next person leaving. In addition to Kim Collins, former project manager for the city, former planning directors Joyce Parker and Vince Bertoni returned for the Friday afternoon party.

When Hogin stepped forward to make her departing remarks, some staff members called out, “Now, don’t cry.” Hogin responded that “it doesn’t take a lot to make a maudlin Irish girl cry.” Still, she choked back tears when she cited what she said was her only regret: “Leaving my routine of coming in here every morning.”

And in a clear signal that Hogin’s resignation was far from voluntary, she added, “I never wanted to see this day.”

Under the severance agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Malibu Times, Hogin will be paid her salary for the remainder of this year, and for all of next year as well. Hogin agreed not to bring any legal action on matters arising from her employment with the city, and she agreed to serve as a legal consultant for the remainder of the year. The agreement does not require a specific number of hours, and payment is not contingent on hours.

Barovsky said that while Hogin is being paid a total of $227,000, he expects the city will end up paying around $400,000 to hire an interim attorney and one to permanently replace Hogin. The council is scheduled to discuss its options for finding an interim attorney at a special meeting Wednesday evening.

Hasse, reached after the farewell party, hewed closely to the official line that Hogin voluntarily resigned. Still, he briefly hinted that Hogin’s departure was not a straightforward resignation when he said, “It’s frustrating that I am not able to tell the people of Malibu the precise reasons for why I accepted her resignation.” State law prohibits elected officials from discussing some city personnel matters.

Asked whether he felt a year-and-one-half’s worth of salary was a bit generous for an employee who only quit, Hasse said, “We wanted to recognize her service to the city.” But he quickly added that the city was paying for an unknown number of hours of Hogin’s time for consulting duties.

“We felt it was worthwhile for her to serve as a consultant,” he said. “If it’s generous, so be it, but we did what we felt was needed to protect the legal interests of the city.”

Of the five council members, only Keller, Van Horn and Hasse approved a severance agreement for Hogin, who had been investigating friends and supporters of the three for possible campaign violations during last year’s City Council race. The severance agreement came on the heels of an apparent yearlong effort by Keller, Van Horn and Hasse to remove Hogin from her position.

Lyn Konheim announced this week that he has sold his family’s interest in the Malibu Bay Co. to the Perenchio family.

“A fair offer was made by the Perenchio family to purchase our family-ownership share of the company,” Konheim said Monday. “The offer was made amicably and the decision of our family was to accept.”

Negotiations took place earlier this month, and the deal is expected to close in July.

Konheim said he will definitely not be leaving the city. “I will continue to look forward to being part of the Malibu community. We will continue to have our home here in Malibu.”

Stressing that the takeover was not in any way hostile, Konheim said he hoped his former partner would do well. “I wish the best for the Perenchios and the city in keeping the same positive direction.”

The Malibu Bay Co. was formed 10 years ago by the Konheim and Perenchio families. John Perenchio was an active partner in the company’s operations until June 1997, when he left to start his own record company, Ultimatum Music. “He has continued to be involved in the company but not on as much of a day-to-day basis as he was,” said David Reznick, who took over the position when Perenchio left.

The company will continue its operations without any interruptions or significant change, Reznick said. The office remains in its current location in Malibu Colony Plaza.

“The transition has been amicable and we will continue to press on with approval for our projects in the Civic Center and continue to meet with the city, at their invitation, to discuss pursuing our long-term development rights on all of our properties,” said Reznick, who will be in charge of running the daily activities of the company.

Over the past 10 years, the company has been an active participant in the city’s General Plan Task Force and Civic Center Specific Plan Advisory Committee and has been involved with the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable.

On the table now are development plans for the company’s properties in the Civic Center, Point Dume and Trancas. Reznick is working with the city’s Ad Hoc Committee on plans for all of its properties.

“We want to help the city address the fast-growing demand for more open space, recreational opportunities, and other civic and community amenities,” Reznick said. “One other thing we’ve been working on recently — we were pleased to work with the Sheriff’s Department, the city and the school district to help resolve the traffic and parking problems at Juan Cabrillo and Malibu High School.” The solutions have been planned and will be implemented over the summer and into the fall.

The Malibu Bay Co. was also involved in supporting the school board on Proposition X, which raised $42 million for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

“I have been asked to serve on the Proposition X Oversight Committee, which will oversee the administration of the bond fund,” Reznick said. “The district has close to $80 million to spend on schools in Malibu and Santa Monica, which will include major improvements at Malibu High School, as well as all the schools will gain additional classrooms.”

The company has also opened three of its Civic Center properties to the current Summer Sculpture Exhibition.

“We think the sculpture exhibits are an asset to the community,” Reznick said. “It helps stimulate people’s interest in art, and it’s a wonderful cultural resource to have this art displayed in prominent places in the community,”

This ram lacked certain qualities ordinarily associated with sheep — no wool, no hope of siring progeny. He couldn’t even say, “Bah!” when he was snatched from his temporary home in a barren field at the Civic Center.

Thieves, or pranksters, pinched him in the dead of night Friday as he watched over his two similarly challenged ewes.

The trio were fashioned of bronze and cement by French artist Francois Lalanne and loaned to Malibu as part of the Summer Sculpture Exhibit curated by Carl Schlosberg.

At 300 pounds, it’s hard to imagine how they got the ram out of the fenced field at Civic Center Way and Stuart Ranch Road. Fresh tire tracks indicated a large truck with dual wheels. The chain-link gate was locked with a chain and padlock, both still intact.

“Somebody had to be very deliberate, because they’re very heavy and set way into the field,” Schlosberg said Monday. “They must have had a key.”

Schlosberg said he was tipped off to the heist Saturday morning by Michael Zakian, director of Pepperdine’s Frederick R. Weisman Museum, who called to say one of the sheep was missing.

“I was driving by Saturday morning and noticed there were only two sheep, and it seemed that there had been more the other day, so I called Carl,” Zakian said.

Schlosberg called the sheriff’s station and a deputy was dispatched to take a report, but, as of Tuesday, investigators had turned up no clue as to who the perpetrators might be. There was some speculation college students might have done it as a prank.

“An art collector would never do such a thing,” Schlosberg said dejectedly. “I’ve been an art dealer for more than 25 years and I’ve never had anything stolen before. It certainly is discouraging when you put art out for people to enjoy.”

Zakian, who was involved with Palm Desert Art in Public Places before he came to Malibu, said he knows there’s always a risk when you put art out in public. “The work is a great asset to the community. I’ve heard positive things from people,” he said. “It’s a shame something like this had to happen.”

In the field Tuesday morning, the remaining ewes were being fitted with cement shoes courtesy of artist Ed Benavente, who created several works for the show and supervised the installation. The ewes were lifted with a triangle hoist and suspended while holes were dug and cement poured to anchor their hooves securely.

Sheriff’s Det. Germann was assigned to the case Tuesday morning but had no clue so far as to how the padlock was opened, or what type of crane or truck was used to remove the sheep. “I suppose two strong guys could have lifted it onto a pickup,” Germann said.