A retired city manager who has worked at the helm of several Orange County cities will take the top spot in Laguna Beach until city leaders can find a permanent executive.
Sean Joyce, 60, who has more than 35 years of experience in municipal government and retired in 2018 after leading Irvine for 13 years, will fill the city manager role left vacant last week by Shohreh Dupuis, who retired as part of a settlement agreement reached with the city after alleging a hostile workplace because of conflicts with a councilmember.
Joyce was selected during a special meeting of the Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Under a formula set by state law, he will receive $143 an hour but be limited to 960 hours in the next year.
Joyce, who has also worked as an interim city manager for the cities of San Clemente, Huntington Beach and South Pasadena since his retirement, is expected to be on board for about half a year while city officials conduct a national search for a permanent city manager. He steps into the role on Thursday, Sept. 7.
“I am honored to be asked to serve the city of Laguna Beach,” Joyce said. “I will work closely with the City Council and executive leadership during these next few months to ensure a seamless transition and continued forward momentum for staff, City Council initiatives, and current and future projects.”
He said coming to Laguna Beach is somewhat familiar to him from past jobs in Sierra Madre and South Pasadena in his earlier career. Both cities were smaller, and artsy with very engaged communities.
“The appeal in Laguna Beach is a familiarity with a general profile,” said Joyce, who was also Dupuis’ boss when she worked in Irvine, where she was the deputy public works director before coming to Laguna Beach in 2016. “There are lots of similarities, a high quality of life, a pride in the preservation of that quality of life and a pride of architecture and infrastructure that defines Laguna Beach. The feeling of…
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