BURBANK : Question of Conflict Stalls Panel Creation

A question over a potential conflict of interest involving a Burbank city councilman will temporarily delay the creation of a citizens advisory committee for the Magnolia Park area of Burbank.

“I know what the issues are,” said Councilman Dave Golonski, who wants to be involved in the decision. But City Atty. Joseph Fletcher has told him that he should stay out of the creation of the Magnolia Park Citizens Advisory Committee because he lives in the neighborhood.

City officials said the conflict of interest exists because neighborhood improvements could potentially increase the property values of the councilman’s home. In a similar situation, then-Councilman Michael Hastings abstained from deliberations on a neighborhood protection plan for his Rancho neighborhood earlier this year.

Golonski has asked for an opinion from the state Fair Political Practices Commission. City officials do not expect to receive the opinion until late July or early August. When asked to comment on the case involving Golonski, a spokeswoman for the commission said it only gives opinions to the municipalities involved.

But, an opinion issued by the commission in May involving a Campbell, Calif., councilman in a similar situation said that a public official may participate in a discussion so long as the benefit to him is no different than to the rest of the public.

The public official could also be excluded from only that portion of the decision that would affect him or her financially, according to the opinion. Another option for the councilman would be to speak as a private citizen about the issue, as any other member of the public would, the opinion said.

The Magnolia Park committee is being created because of fears by residents and business owners that Hollywood Way, a main link from the Ventura Freeway and the Burbank Airport, would be widened. The committee’s job will be to devise a plan to deal with the traffic without widening the street, which residents say would strangle business.

The filing deadline for applicants to the committee is July 13, but the date for the City Council to make appointments to the committee will be postponed until after the city gets an opinion on Golonski’s conflict of interest.