City Treasurer

Three candidates, two who applied to be city clerk and one vying for treasurer, are no longer in the running, officials said Thursday evening as a special meeting called to choose individuals for the interim positions began. David Ellman, who applied to be city treasurer, withdrew his application, as did Rena Nelms, who applied for city clerk. Alan Hearne, who also applied for the city clerk job, did not submit a complete application and was disqualified.  A total of 17 people applied for the two open positions, made vacant by the retirements of City Clerk Margarita Campos and Treasurer Donna Anderson.

The Glendale city treasurer is responsible for the receipt and disbursements of all city funds, the management of the city's investment portfolio, and reporting investment activity to the City Council and the people of Glendale. The city treasurer is privy to the financial management of the city and should also report to the people the financial health of the city. Our treasurer appears to be a good keeper of the city investments, but has not informed his voting constituents of the health of the city funds.

The embarrassing display of councilmen positioning themselves to be next mayor highlights the need to change the way Glendale selects its top leadership (“Glendale delays naming new mayor,” April 4.) The current practice is such a relic of the past that it's like having our own dinosaur exposition. For many years, those of us who have observed these proceedings unfold interpreted the trading of favors as preconditions to the selection of mayor. It seems to us that with Glendale's representation in the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Metropolitan Water District and the Bob Hope Airport commission, the game of naming the next mayor hinges on who is promised each of these coveted seats, all of which give council members a voice on big, and sometimes huge, public contracts.

Come next election, Glendale voters will be choosing a new city treasurer. But they may also have to decide whether they want to keep voting for that position or turn it into an appointment made by the city manager. In recent years, Glendale has had a tough time attracting candidates to run for the position. Now that there's a possibility people may run for a position that ceases to exist, some community leaders are wondering, “Who's going to run?” “If it's been difficult to attract qualified candidates before, I'm not sure how this helps,” said City Treasurer Ron Borucki, who is in favor of an appointed treasurer.

There could be a shake-up on an upcoming ballot as Glendale officials lean toward changing the elected office of city treasurer into an appointed position. The proposal, which requires voter approval, isn't new. But each time the electorate was asked in 1943, 1972 and 1979, they turned the measure down. This week, the City Council discussed trying again, contending that the city treasurer position - occupied by Ron Borucki, who currently manages a city investment portfolio of about $400 million - is too important to leave to politics.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, City Treasurer Ron Borucki had questioned the market's ability to recover, but was hopeful that despite two-year lows, interest rates would rise. His hopes didn't last long. “Would this third year be the one where the recovery catches fire, where people go back to work, where consumer spending picks up, and where interest rates finally pick up and start to rise? Nope, not this year,” Borucki wrote in a report to the City Council. Glendale's investment portfolio dropped to $409 million, down $39 million from $448 million at the end of last fiscal year, according to the report.

The City Council on Tuesday will review going to bid for site development for the Glendale Water & Power Utility Operations Center. The utility is proposing to construct a new main entrance, employee parking area, perimeter walls and gates a 33-acre site between the Grayson Power Plant and Glendale Water & Power Water and Electric field operations. The construction is estimated to cost $5 million. WHAT TO EXPECT The council will likely approve going to bid for the project, which is planned in order to maintain safe and efficient traffic flow on Flower Street, Air Way and Fairmont Avenue.

Our independent local media, in the tradition of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and I?m sure after extensive research and analysis, have concluded that ?it is no longer prudent to leave such an important post up to the whims of the voting public? (?Treasurer should be appointed,? May 2). Of course the editorial refers to the post of Glendale city treasurer. Before I write to the wisdom of the statement, I would like to address some of the letter writers who spew hatred toward me individually, and through me to the Armenian National Committee, the Glendale Young Democrats and unnamed ethnicities.

Future points toward natural gas Regarding “Council approves fueling station,” Wednesday: It should not be news to anyone that our dependence on petrochemicals is having a disastrous effect on our planet, the environment and the other species who share this Earth with us. While no change is ever effected without resistance, it is clearly past time for the switch to be made from oil to other cleaner and less invasive forms...