No one would argue the shuffle of four heads of staff in a span of 18 months is good for any city.

However, faced with that very reality, the Culver City City Council believes it has made the best of a bad situation with its decision to bring P. Lamont Ewell aboard as interim city manager in the wake of Mark Scott’s surprise exodus from the post after less than a year on the job.

“We were faced with essentially two alternatives,” said Culver City Mayor Andrew Weissman. “One would be to rush a recruitment and try to hire a permanent, full-time city manager within a very narrow window, or hire an interim.

“Somebody needs to be in charge. Somebody needs to run the city, if you will. … The opportunity presented itself to bring somebody in who had impeccable city manager credentials.”

Ewell — who was appoint-ed to the position in mid-March and officially grabs the reins at City Hall today — comes to Culver City fresh off his retirement in December 2009 as the city manager for Santa Monica. He has also served as city manager in San Diego and Durham, N.C., and previously spent time as an assistant city manager and fire chief in Oakland.

That extensive background, and especially the Santa Monica swing that has allowed for an in-depth knowledge of the Westside, made Ewell an ideal stop-gap choice while the council conducts an in-depth search for its next full-time city manager.

“Mr. Ewell and I have already had very good -conversations,” said Martin Cole, Culver City’s assistant city manager. “When he joins us, the city’s executive staff is ready to move in whatever direction the city council and he want to take us.”

Ewell’s contract calls for him to remain in the city’s employ through July 31, and in that time he will have two primary responsibilities: overseeing the city staff and, perhaps more importantly, shepherding the city through the ongoing budget crisis as it closes in on the end of the 2009-10 fiscal year.

“Of paramount importance between now and June 30 is dealing with the budget and the deficit, and what steps we’re going to take to be able to manage the significant gap between revenues and expenses,” Weissman said. “He’s been through difficult budgets before, is familiar with Culver City … we just had confidence that he was going to be the person to get us where we need to be by July 1.”

With Ewell — who declined the opportunity to comment until after he officially begins work for the city — onboard and a four-month commitment secured, the council can now shift its focus to the person who will actually follow in his footsteps. The city will again conduct an extensive recruiting effort, just as it did when former city manager Jerry Fulwood retired in early 2009, and Weissman is confident he and his fellow council members will be able to decide upon a new city boss who can build upon the management structure and style Scott brought with him to City Hall when he came aboard last April.

Considering the continuity conundrum, a logical question is whether the person best equipped to continue Scott’s vision might be someone who is already in house. Asked whether he plans to seek the position, Cole — who has previous experience as a city manager in Temple City — said he has not come to a decision yet whether to apply for the position.

“The city manager’s job is a very rewarding job, and the city manager’s job for Culver City is in the top 5% of city manager jobs in California in my opinion,” Cole said. “But it really … it is a very tough job.

“I’ll tell you I will be thinking very carefully about it and seriously about it over the next several weeks. It’s one of those life-changing decisions. And so before that’s made, you really want to make sure you can devote the time and energy to being city manager.

“And I have to add, I love the job I have now.”