Former mayor accepts youth post
Laura Sturza
Less than a week after stepping down from the City Council dais,
former Burbank mayor David Laurell has been hired as development
director for the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank.
Laurell, who started work Tuesday, accepted the post Monday. He
will oversee fund-raising for the club and be responsible for
attracting major donors, club officials said.
“They felt that maybe because of my connections with the community
that I’ve established a lot of good rapport in the city with
businesses and individuals,” said Laurell, whose last day as mayor
was Thursday.
Club officials said they are excited by the prospect of attracting
major donors and increasing programming with the addition of
Laurell’s newly created position. The nonprofit organization opened
in 1995.
“David should be a great ambassador for the club,” said Tom
Jamentz, president of the Boys & Girls Club board of directors.
As recently as April 22, Laurell voted to approve a $24,000 city
grant to expand the club’s soccer program. But the former councilman
said he did not see the vote as a conflict of interest, even though
he was considering the Boys & Girls Club position.
“I thought about whether it would be the appropriate thing to
recuse myself, but [grant] funding had absolutely nothing to do with
me being [hired] or not,” Laurell said.
The club’s executive director, Alex Fey, has traditionally made
presentations to the city for funds, and will continue to do so,
Laurell said.
Laurell’s successor as mayor, Stacey Murphy, said she would have
liked to have known he was being considered for the job ahead of
time.
“I think for full disclosure purposes, it would have been nice to
say ‘I’m negotiating for this position,’ ” Murphy said.
The club, which began advertising the position internally in July,
attracted a handful of applicants from within the organization, Fey
said. Laurell was the only candidate interviewed from outside the
national nonprofit’s network, according to Jamentz.
“There was a unique opportunity with David,” Jamentz said. “People
know him, and that hopefully will open a lot of doors.”
Salary details were not released by the organization.
Laurell, whose council term expired April 30, did not seek
reelection because he accepted a marketing job in November, which did
not pan out.