THOUSAND OAKS : Council Takes Aim at Ending Feuds

The first substantial effort to end bickering and feuding on the Thousand Oaks City Council was the focus of a lengthy goal-setting session held at City Hall on Thursday night.

Council members described the constant dissension as “the elephant in our living room”--a reference to the fable about a family that had an elephant in its house that everyone saw but refused to talk about.

On Thursday night, they agreed to talk about the elephant.

“I think what came out of this is the realization that we can all get locked into habits that can be detrimental,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “We all left this session with a greater awareness of how we can break those habits and work better together.”

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah said she has recognized how detrimental the disagreements have been to the city, and she hopes the council will send a message to the community that council members plan to change.

“We are leaders in this city and we should be acting like role models,” Zeanah said. “We tell our young people they need to get along and not act like bullies, so I think we should practice what we preach.”

The council has long been divided between members who strongly support growth and those who favor strict limits on development.

Zeanah and Lazar are the council members most often at odds.

The first of at least three sessions moderated by four mediators was intended to improve the climate on the council, according to Mary Margaret Thomes, a family counselor from Cal Lutheran University.

Thomes, one of the mediators, said she felt the council members approached the talks with a genuine interest in change.

Mayor Jaime Zukowski agreed: “I think we all share many of the same goals. It’s a matter of finding a way to reach those goals that will be the challenge.”