Duarte : Decision on City Manager

The City Council is scheduled to announce Tuesday whether interim City Manager Jesse Duff or Assistant City Manager Donald Pruyn will be the new city manager. The council narrowed its choice to the two on Jan. 27.

Mayor John Van Doren had called a special council meeting to announce the appointment last week, but Councilman James Coughlin did not officially receive notification of the meeting and did not appear, so the announcement was delayed.

The council also had decided to redefine the role of city manager after Ken Caresio resigned Jan. 9.

The council decided that it would have a voice in the appointment of all department heads and in any major reorganization of city operations. It also decided that the new city manager would have to live in Duarte within a year of his appointment unless it would involve financial hardship. Both Duff and Pruyn live in La Verne.

Duff, 37, joined the city in 1979 as director of parks and recreation and was named assistant to the city manager in 1985 and deputy city manager in 1986. Pruyn, 39, has worked for the city for 11 years and is one of two assistant city managers.