BURBANK MAYOR, COUNCIL MEMBER LEAVING CITY HALL.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

BURBANK -- With two City Council members choosing retirement over re-election, the stage is set for high-stakes politicking as seven candidates battle for the wide-open seats.

Mayor Todd Campbell and Councilman Jef Vander Borght will vacate the dais for the winners of the Feb. 27 primary and April 10 runoff election.

Each is departing after four-year stints that saw significant downtown development and the signing of a 2005 agreement intended to restrict expansion at Bob Hope Airport for a decade.

But when asked about his accomplishments, Vander Borght was circumspect.

``Accomplishments are always the result of the work of a lot of people,'' he said. ``A council person just has the opportunity to carry the banner at the forefront.''

Candidates vying for their seats include the husband and wife team of former Planning Board member Carolyn Berlin and former Burbank Airport Commissioner Philip Berlin; and steakhouse owner Gary R. Bric, who serves on the city Traffic and Transportation Committee and was a council candidate in 2003.

Also running are attorney Vahe Hovanessian, who sits on the Burbank Water and Power board; Whit Prouty, a real estate agent and finance committee member with the Burbank YMCA; attorney and city Police Commission member Anja Reinke; and Margaret Sorthun, who serves on a task force reviewing the city's fencing ordinance.

After four years of late-night meetings and commuting to his job in Seal Beach, Campbell said Thursday he needed a break. Still, he wouldn't rule out another go at politics in the future.

``I don't think you've seen the last of me,'' he said.

A former environmental policy director who now works for a green energy company, Campbell has pushed conservation and sustainability in local planning and governance since joining the council in 2003.

``The staff in my time knew of that but needed the leadership from above to move in that direction,'' he said. ``We have to think three, four, five steps ahead to maintain the quality of life people that chose Burbank as their home expect.''

Campbell pointed to expansion of the city's bus system and the rise of mixed-use development downtown the past four years as putting his ideas into action.

``This is an oasis from L.A. sprawl,'' he said. ``That approach has really enabled us to keep and preserve our own town feel for generations to come.''

Vander Borght was appointed to the council in 2002 to succeed Bob Kramer, who resigned to become the city's ombudsman. He won the seat outright in 2003.

``I recognized the limitations that I had to maintain my business,'' said Vander Borght, who has an architecture practice in the San Fernando Valley. ``I still have to make a living. This is a part-time position that could easily become full time.''

Before serving on the council, he spent 17 years in public service, including six on the city's Building and Fire Code board and 11 on the Planning Board. He said he looked forward to ``a period of reflection and stepping back.''

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