Embattled Burbank Leader May Resign : Politics: City Manager Robert Ovrom has had a key role in high-profile development deals.

The Burbank City Council will hold an unusual closed-door meeting Sunday to discuss the future of longtime City Manager Robert (Bud) Ovrom, a pivotal player in the city’s decision to invest $120.7 million in the Media City Center shopping mall.

Mayor Dave Golonski said Ovrom requested that the closed-door session be held Sunday instead of Tuesday, as originally scheduled, to discuss “personnel matters” relating to his position.

A knowledgeable source said Ovrom is expected to resign as the city’s top administrator shortly before the council holds its annual goal-setting workshop at the Burbank Fire Department’s training center, located at 1845 N. Ontario St. The meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.

“He knows (new Councilman Bob Kramer) has called for his resignation, and it’s a good time to make a change,” the source said. “He’s very insecure sitting there with one councilman demanding his ouster.”

Ovrom, Burbank’s city manager for the past 10 years, could not be reached for comment late Friday. Despite the suggestion that he may resign, one supporter said “anything’s possible” on Sunday, including the chance that he may stay on.

Earlier this week, Ovrom said he is not ready to leave his job, despite Kramer’s demands that he be fired for allegedly mishandling expensive deals with developers such as Alexander Haagen, who built the Media City Center, and Lew Wolff, who expanded the Burbank Airport Hilton and built an adjacent conference center.

The council has been divided over whether Ovrom should leave. Golonski and Councilman Bill Wiggins want him to stay. Vice Mayor Susan Spanos and Councilman Ted McConkey have declined to comment on how they would vote if Ovrom’s tenure is put to a ballot.

Kramer, a newspaper columnist and painting contractor who was sworn into office Monday, openly asserts that one of his first goals is to have Ovrom replaced.

“It’s time for a change,” he said. “Ten years is too long for a city manager to stay in. You become way too friendly with developers and special interests.”

The council is expected to meet in private session for one hour Sunday and publicly announce Ovrom’s future soon afterward.

Word of Ovrom’s possible resignation spread quickly through the small circle of Burbank City Hall insiders. Supporters promised to turn out to back him on Sunday.

“The whole community is totally turned upside down,” said former mayor Mary Lou Howard, an Ovrom supporter who credits him with revitalizing downtown Burbank.

“The city we have now is a first-class city,” she said. “We are not to be laughed at or scorned at. We are not a bridesmaid anymore. We are a bride.”

Ovrom, 49, became city manager in 1985 after holding similar positions in Downey and Monrovia. He has 24 years experience in municipal government and has touted his special interest in redevelopment.

Since 1989, Ovrom, as executive director of the Burbank Redevelopment Agency, was instrumental in agreeing to give Haagen millions of dollars in future revenues generated by the Media City Center in a complex development pact.

In 1988, the agency entered into a contract that relieved Wolff and his partners from repaying up to $3 million in agency loans after they expanded the Burbank Airport Hilton and built a nearby conference center.