Kelsey New Burbank Mayor : Quieter Approach Seen as Flamboyant Howard Term Ends

Mary E. Kelsey, a soft-spoken grandmother who has been a fixture of Burbank government for 15 years as a volunteer and councilwoman, will be named the new mayor of Burbank today, bringing to an end the flamboyant and controversial one-year mayoralty of Mary Lou Howard.

The five-member City Council is expected to appoint Kelsey, 69, during a “changing of the guard” ceremony at City Hall. Michael Hastings, an advertising executive who, at 33, is the youngest member of the council, is expected to be appointed vice mayor.

Kelsey and Hastings were elected to the council last year when they were supported by Howard, who engineered the defeat of two of her opponents on the council. The mayors are traditionally appointed for one-year terms on a rotating basis.

Different Styles

The personalities and leadership styles of Howard and Kelsey are dramatically dissimilar, but they have been friends for several years. Kelsey, a former president of the city Planning Board who had made two previous unsuccessful bids for a council seat, received the most votes in last year’s general election when Howard backed her.

“What I want to do is continue all the things which this council and Mary Lou have started,” Kelsey said in a interview Wednesday. “My theme of the year will be ‘continue the progress.’ I want this city to begin to show in the next year what we’ve worked so hard to bring about.”

Kelsey said she was especially eager to officiate over the ground breaking and scheduled start of construction of the Towncenter shopping mall and the completion of a 10-screen movie theater in December.

“These are things which Burbank has waited a long time for,” she said.

Her more personal goals include bringing more harmony into the tense relationship between the council and the Burbank Unified School District board. The relationship was further strained two weeks ago when the council at first refused to give the district any of the city’s share of federal funds that the district sought for classroom improvements. The council this week agreed to allocate $50,000 to the district for the repair of windows at McKinley Elementary School.

‘More Harmony’ Sought

“I also want to improve our relations with our sister cities, Glendale and Pasadena,” Kelsey said. The three cities form the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, which owns Burbank Airport, “and we should try to have more harmony in that situation than we have had in the past,” she said.

Much of the tension was heightened by Howard, who has criticized the school board and the neighboring cities in the past for not cooperating with her and the council.

Kelsey said she would also be as accessible to citizens as Howard. Kelsey and Howard are housewives and spend most of their working hours at their City Hall offices.

Kelsey said she does not believe that residents will mind her more subdued style and mannerisms.

“I’m lots more low-key than Mary Lou is,” said Kelsey. “She’s charming and can charm anyone. I’m not that outgoing, but I try to be nice to people. I have a lot of friends.”

Howard spent the last day of her term in much the same manner as she spent the entire year--praising the “people-oriented” candor of her administration while attacking past administrations.

She said that, unlike previous councils, “This administration has been willing to face the hard issues of the 1980s: the lack of overall planning, the parking problems which have spilled over into our residential neighborhoods and traffic congestion and gridlock which has surfaced in our West Olive Media District and elsewhere.”

Howard said during a “State of the City” address she delivered Wednesday at the Burbank Hilton that she felt the real legacy of her leadership has been “in the approach, the attitude, the philosophy of openness, candor and trust that now exists in your local government, and has made City Hall the heart and soul of service, dedication and commitment to the people.”