Burbank Council to Decide City Manager’s Fate : Politics: Panel will consider whether Robert (Bud) Ovrom should stay, be fired or be asked to resign at a Tuesday session.

BURBANK —  The fate of longtime City Manager Robert (Bud) Ovrom hangs in the balance as a divided City Council decides Tuesday whether to force him to leave his post as the city’s top administrator.

Best known for his work in luring new business to the city, Ovrom has been both lauded for revitalizing downtown Burbank and denounced for helping negotiate deals such as the Media City Center shopping mall that cost the city $120.7 million in start-up costs and future revenues.

During a board meeting this week, Councilman Bob Kramer asked for a closed-door session Tuesday between Ovrom and the City Council to decide whether the city manager stays, is fired or is asked to resign.

“It’s time for a new council to re-evaluate the position of Bud Ovrom,” said Kramer, who was sworn into office Monday and has made no secret of his disapproval of Ovrom. “Maybe it’s time to make a change. We have an opportunity to review his employment with the city and see if we want to go in a different direction.”

The council itself is split. Mayor Dave Golonski and Councilman Bill Wiggins are strong supporters of Ovrom and want him to stay. Councilwoman Susan Spanos said she is reserving judgment on Ovrom’s future until Tuesday, while Councilman Ted McConkey declined to say which way he is leaning.

“It seems to me to be highly irresponsible to make a quick judgment based on your experience from outside,” Golonski said, referring to Kramer. “If you’re going to evaluate a person who is your employee, you need some experience as an employer in order to give that person a fair, rational and responsible evaluation.

“I think (Ovrom)’s done a great job for the city of Burbank,” Golonski added. “He is one of the reasons Burbank has been so successful.”

Wiggins went even further, saying, “Bud lives, breathes and sleeps for Burbank.”

Ovrom, who became city manager in 1985, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In recent years, he has become one of Burbank’s most visible officials, in part because of regularly televised council meetings.

While credited with helping to rebuild a sparkling downtown Burbank, he has also been criticized for influencing the decisions of past councils that resulted in expensive concessions to developers like Alexander Haagen, who built Media City Center, and Lew Wolff, who expanded the Burbank Airport Hilton.

In 1988, the Burbank Redevelopment Agency, with Ovrom as its executive director, approved a contract that released Wolff and his partners from repaying up to $3 million in agency loans after they expanded the Hilton and built a nearby conference center.

Since 1989, the agency has agreed to give Haagen millions of dollars in revenues generated by the Media City Center mall in order to ensure its success.

Kramer said he wants Ovrom fired because of the perceived financial breaks the city manager helped give both developers.

McConkey also expressed misgivings about those deals, but declined to comment on whether Ovrom should be fired because of them.

“I’ve had problems with the city staff--the city manager, Bud, in particular--over the years,” said McConkey, a retired aerospace worker who, like Kramer, has been a critic of City Hall.

“I was disappointed in many actions by the city to restrict the flow of information from the city to the press and some individuals.”