Prior to former City Manager Ryan Smoot’s departure from Lomita to serve as city manager of the City of Bellflower, the City Council retained Tripepi Smith Talent Solutions to conduct the city manager recruitment and appointed Joe Hoefgen to serve as interim city manager. In accordance with the previously approved timeline, the City Council has completed the recruitment and is prepared to appoint a successor city manager.
As a result of the city manager recruitment, the city received over 50 applications from interested and many well-qualified candidates. Following interviews with finalist candidates on February 28 and 29, 2024, the City Council identified Mr. Andrew Vialpando as the preferred candidate. As a follow-up to subsequent discussions, an Employment Agreement with Mr. Vialpando has been prepared by the city attorney and was presented for Council review and approval at last night’s meeting.
Mr. Vialpando currently serves as assistant city manager of the City of Paramount, a position he has held since January 2020, and he brings over 20 years of experience in local government. Over the years, he has worked in a variety of areas which will be beneficial to Lomita, including budgeting, economic development, community engagement, management of capital improvement projects, human resources, communications, and organizational development.
He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from California State University, Fullerton. Prior to joining the City of Paramount, Mr. Vialpando worked for the City of Long Beach holding the positions of Administrative Deputy to the City Manager and Assistant to the City Manager.
He previously worked for the City of La Mirada as Senior Administrative Analyst and previously as Administrative Analyst. His background also includes earlier work with the Cities of Santa Barbara and Santa Fe Springs.
In his current position as Paramount’s assistant city manager, he manages their Administrative Services Department overseeing Human Resources, Governmental Relations, Economic Development, Communications, and Information Technology. Additionally, in Paramount he oversees interdepartmental operations, manages special projects, coordinates capital improvement projects and leads a variety of organizational initiatives.
Based on Mr. Vialpando’s skills and abilities, in addition to having a successful work history in city government, he is uniquely qualified to serve as Lomita’s next city manager.
Mr. Vialpando is prepared to officially begin work as Lomita city manager effective May 1, 2024.