Council Upbeat After 2-Day Retreat

In a major step toward repairing the fractured relationships on the City Council, city lawmakers attended a workshop on improving productivity and getting along.

Conceived by Councilman Andy Fox shortly after he was reelected to the five-seat council, the retreat on Friday and Saturday sought to unravel the destructive tendencies of the recent past and forge a fresh spirit of cooperation.

So, did it work?

“I’m very happy with it; I think we learned a lot about each other,” said Mayor Linda Parks, who in recent weeks accused political rivals on the council of attempting to undermine her authority.

“I think we often have a lot of notions about people, a lot of preconceptions that we need to work on, so I’m glad we did it,” Parks said. “I think it will ease up some of the issues that have been brought up over the last few weeks.” But, she said, “the proof will be in the pudding.”

Improved relations among council members was a recurring theme in the fall election campaign. The Nov. 3 election was the first since the unsuccessful 1997 recall vote against now-retired Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, and deep political rifts in the town.

Councilman Michael Markey said the workshop sought to turn the council’s attention toward the city’s future. When council members were asked to list their expectations for Thousand Oaks 15 years from now, they found that, almost without exception, they shared the same vision, he said.

“I quite frankly wasn’t that surprised,” Markey said. “I think everybody had that vision, but what we did just solidified that there’s no difference in visions, we may just have differences in how to get there.”