Spring Egg-Stravaganza back on!
It’s not too often this Burbank City Council ignores the advice of a city department head — but it happened at last night’s council meeting during the discussion of the Spring Egg-Stravaganza.
The event has been hotly debated since it got scrapped last year by the heartless staffers in the Park, Recreation and Community Services Department — allegedly due to a shortfall in funds and some dribble about too many out-of-towners, under the age of 10, showing up to hobnob with the Easter Bunny and hunt for plastic eggs.
At the March 5 city council meeting, activist Mike Nolan brought it up again. Nolan’s comments, prompted Mayor Dave Golonski to request staff come back with a report on the possibility of rebooting the Spring Egg-Stravaganza.
Photo: FLLewis/Media City G — Director of Park, Recreation and Community Services Department, Judie Wilke, argued against reinstating the Spring Egg-Stravaganza for 2013 at the Burbank City Council meeting, March 12, 2013
Director of Park, Recreation and Community Services, Judie Wilke led the opposition, but the majority of the council members didn’t buy the excuses. Vice-Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy encouraged and challenged the staff to go for it and “… pull this off in two weeks.”
The three incumbent council members, who are running for re-election, Dave Golonski, David Gordon, and Jess Talamantes voted for a scaled down version of the Egg-Stravaganza as well. The mayor suggested the 5-to-8 thousand dollars or so for the event come out of the undesignated fund account for one-time special needs.
On the other side, Councilman, Gary Bric, railed against restarting the Egg-Stravaganza this year saying”… I don’t think this is being fiscally responsible whatsoever.” Bric was the only “No” vote.
Wilke and her team need to print up announcements for the event and get them out to the city libraries, parks, schools, and community groups pronto. It’s a rush, but I too believe, it can be done.
Burbank election rehash
Photo: FLLewis/Media City G — City Clerk, Zizette Mullins, presented a plan for correcting problems, which occurred on Election Day, February 26, at the Burbank City Council meeting, March 12, 2013
Newly-elected City Clerk, Zizette Mullins, has demonstrated an admirable skill. Mullins has either taken some good advice or has figured out that the best way to handle the Burbank Primary Nominating Election night controversy is to fess-up to the mistakes and present some solutions to correct the problems. She did that in a well paced and to the point report at the city council meeting last night.
Now, her two cohorts in the primary election fiasco, Interim City Manager, Ken Pulskamp, and Public Information Officer, Drew Sugars did not seem to get the priorities.
Photo: FLLewis/Media City G — Public Information Officer, Drew Sugars, answered questions about the primary election night process at the Burbank City Council meeting, March 12, 2013
Drew Sugars admitted mistakes, too. When the primary election results did not come up on the Channel 6 screen in a timely manner he says he probably became “… the most hated man in Burbank.” Despite that, Sugars is still preparing another production for the general election, instead of just sticking with simply putting up the ballot results on the screen as soon as they are ready.
Pulskamp has repeatedly praised Sugars performance on primary election night, even though the PIO acknowledged his shortcomings. Hey guys, it’s not about the production. It’s the ballot results, the ballot results, the ballot results that people want to see.
Mullins should seek the guidance of the very experienced and no nonsense Deputy Clerk, Susan Domen, in dealing with the upcoming general election on April 9. Also, the city council should rein in Sugars and Pulskamp who seem to be more focused on creating an imitation of some kind of television news broadcast, than informing the audience about the election results as quickly as possible.
