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Council, LaSala, attend congressional conference
By Jana Seshadri
All the Sunnyvale City Council members and the city manager attended the Congressional City Conference held in Washington, D.C., March 8-12.
"It was very valuable," said Sunnyvale Mayor Fred Fowler, adding that all council members have been attending this conference regularly for the past few years.
Focusing on federal issues affecting cities and towns countrywide, the conference offers several seminars and training workshops that city officials can attend and gain knowledge from.
"I thought it was an outstanding way for our city officials to interact with congressional representatives and legislators at the state and federal levels," said Sunnyvale City Manager Robert LaSala.
City officials were able to attend educational workshops on important legislative issues and policies, LaSala said.
"I attended two training classes--crisis management and transformational leadership," Fowler said.
A man who had dealt with several crisis situations in the past, like the Exxon Valdez and Hurricane Andrew in Miami, taught the crisis management class, Fowler said. The most important point he made was that cities have to treat every situation as a crisis, so that when and if a major crisis happens, they will be ready and able to tackle the situation with their quick and immediate response, Fowler said.
The transformational leadership class taught officials how to deal with conflicts and strong opinions among city officials, he added.
Members of the Sunnyvale City Council are also faced with conflict challenges, Fowler said.
"There are strong feelings and opinions on the council," Fowler said.
With outreach efforts, Fowler said he would continue to try to identify challenging issues and resolve them. Members of the city council are elected to represent and work for the citizens and they should not get distracted from city issues, he said.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
