Councilman’s Disinterest Ends Burbank Retreat Plans

The Burbank City Council has retreated from its plans to hold a “communications” and goal-setting retreat this week after one council member communicated that his goal was to not participate.

Al Dossin, one of three members of the five-person council who was elected in April, said he felt his colleagues got along well enough already, and did not need sessions outside City Hall to settle their differences.

He referred to a plan to meet at a local hotel for 2 1/2 days this week--at a cost of $5,000--and talk over goals and differences with the help of a paid “facilitator.”

“My position is, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ ” Dossin said Thursday after the event was canceled. “I think all of us on the council personally like and respect each other. I don’t believe the rest of the council really wanted it. I didn’t sense any real strong enthusiasm.”

Hotel Sessions

Dossin said the personal relationships among members of the council did not begin to approach the hostility and abrasiveness that prompted the West Hollywood City Council to leave town the past weekend and resolve its personality conflicts at a retreat in the relatively tranquil atmosphere of Santa Barbara.

The Burbank officials had not planned to leave their city--the retreat was to have been at the Burbank Airport Hilton Hotel--and was to have lasted from Thursday until noon Saturday, City Manager Robert (Bud) Ovrom said.

Ovrom’s first suggested the retreat when he was hired in May. The plans went forward after most council members agreed it would be a good idea. Unlike other private retreats, the public would have been allowed to attend the Burbank sessions.

The format--to sit in a room and “talk freely and openly” about whatever subjects came up--was to have been similar to that of the West Hollywood City Council’s retreat.

Considered Beneficial

Participants were to have included the council members, the city manager and City Atty. Doug Holland. All but Dossin at first indicated that they felt the session would be beneficial in setting priorities for the city and in helping officials get to know each other.

But at Tuesday’s council meeting, Councilmen Michael Hastings and Bob Bowne voiced second thoughts about the retreat because Dossin had said he would not attend any of the sessions. They said they felt, as did the psychologist hired to run the retreat, David Jones of Santa Cruz, that the session would be ineffective unless the entire council participated.

When the time came to vote on whether to proceed with the retreat, Hastings and Bowne voted against it, but Dossin surprised his colleagues by joining Councilwomen Mary Lou Howard and Mary Kelsey in voting yes.

‘I’ve Gone to Four of Them’

Dossin said the council members should proceed without him. “Everyone should go to something like that at least once,” he said. “I’ve gone to four of them on previous occasions in private industry, so I know what they’re all about.”

But on Wednesday Ovrom and Jones, with the council’s blessing, decided to cancel the retreat.

While the city will not have to pay for the hotel accommodations, Jones will still be paid his $2,000 fee, Ovrom said. The fee will be used to provide sessions for Ovrom and his department heads.

“We had been planning to do that anyway in September, so we will just do in August what we would have done in September,” Ovrom said. “The city will not be spending any more money.”

Jones, an Episcopal priest as well as a psychologist, has run similar sessions for cities and businesses since 1960. Jones’ wife, Coeleen Kiebert, ran the West Hollywood retreat last weekend.

Previous Burbank council members attempted a two-day retreat in 1981, but the sessions lasted only half a day when the council members, already on bad terms, repeatedly launched personal attacks at one another.

Jones said the Burbank sessions would have focused on personal problems as much as on the setting of specific priorities over the next three years. “It would not be an encounter-group session, and it would not be like the West Hollywood session,” Jones said. “I just wanted them to get to know each other better, and share where they stand on various issues.”

‘Adversary Situation’

But Dossin said in an interview that establishing goals should be done without an outsider, such as Jones.

“A facilitator would set up an adversary situation, and it will jeopardize our relationship with each other,” he said. “Things are going too well among us to let that happen.”

But Kelsey said she was disappointed by the cancellation.

“I really think that we need something,” Kelsey said. “We just needed an opportunity to talk over a lot of things. I know we don’t have any problems, but communication among all of us is what we need. We have trouble doing it at City Hall because of all the phone calls and interruptions.”

Ovrom said he’s not taking the cancellation personally.

“I don’t feel bad,” he said. “This format just didn’t work for everyone.”