Council ‘Retreats’ on Issues : Government: At their annual getaway session, members decided on municipal priorities for the coming year. Waste management, public transportation and affordable housing topped the list.

Waste management, public transportation and affordable housing emerged as key issues during the annual Glendale City Council retreat last week.

The five-member council informally gave the nod to city planners to pursue innovative methods of reducing the amount of trash dumped into the city’s only landfill, Scholl Canyon. They also charged commission and staff members with setting priorities for transit and housing decisions.

Proposals for waste management include a multimillion-dollar facility in which recyclable material would be separated from trash, and “landfill mining,” in which reusable materials are dug up to make room for more trash and extend the life of the landfill.

Council members endorsed a staff proposal to hire a waste management consultant to explore recycling alternatives, although Mayor Ginger Bremberg balked at the idea of hiring another specialist to deal with the rapid urbanization that has transformed Glendale from a bedroom community in the last decade.

Glendale currently has about a dozen consultants.

“We will never be a bedroom community again,” said Councilman Carl Raggio during the opening session of the two-day retreat, which took place in Glendale rather than at a resort in Oxnard for the first time since the annual brainstorming ritual began four years ago.

The Friday-Saturday marathon session was at the Verdugo Club to save money and be more accessible. Still, only a few activists sat in on the conference.

Difficulties in communicating with 190,000 residents were the focus of one session. Tim Nolan, a strategist from Wisconsin retained by the city, suggested that a public information bureau be established to advocate citizen involvement in governmental affairs. “You can’t afford to have deterioration from where you are now,” he said.

Public transportation and the city’s attempt to deal with congestion were key considerations during the conference. City officials said they are besieged with demands for expansion of the Beeline shuttle bus service to Glendale College and Montrose.

The buses, which provided free rides last month for a record 95,000 passengers around the downtown area and into south Glendale, are often full at peak hours and pass by waiting riders. Residents also are demanding longer hours of operation and weekend service, officials said.

“We are in a sense paying the price for success,” said Kerry Morford, assistant public works director. He proposed a series of new routes for the bus system, each of which would cost about $230,000 a year to operate.

After a presentation of alternatives by staff members, Raggio said: “Everything I see makes sense. The question is, what do we do about it?”

Bremberg called on the city’s new transportation commission to study alternatives and recommend priorities.

Council members again considered mortgage subsidies to average-income families, particularly city workers who cannot afford to buy a home in Glendale.

Madalyn Blake, director of community housing and development, suggested that some redevelopment funds be used to build affordable condominiums or convert apartments and preserve older homes, with the city sharing in the equity.