At no time in the present century has a mayor of Culver City attempted to be the kind of aggressive problem-solver that Jim Clarke is becoming.

The more civic problems that Mr. Clarke identifies, the clearer it becomes why he has spoken so wistfully of a two-year term in the Hizzoner High Chair.

At the moment, it looks as if that will happen only when September precedes August.

Rules are unlikely to be flipped to accommodate Mr. Clarke’s wishes anytime in the near term.

Even though he will not have served anywhere close to two normal four-year terms, Mr. Clarke will be term-limited in 2018 – two years early — because of a miscalculation by ex-Councilman Scott Malsin that backfired.

Mr. Malsin tried to outsmart the system.

Carefully announcing his resignation one month, only to declare his long-planned comeback the next month, Mr. Malsin was rejected by voters three months further on.

One month from Friday, Mr. Clarke will convene his four City Council colleagues in a tornado of a one-day retreat in the Helms District.

Their two-step assignment:

• Identify Culver City’s several thorniest problems.
• Bring a strategy for conquering them.

The mayor says he is tired of trying to solve complex challenges inside of 20 minutes at a fatigued late-night hour in a Council meeting.

By taking a day away from their professional duties, Mr. Clarke hopes to catch his four teammates at their freshest, their most productive junctures.

Following the retreat, the mayor is planning a series of non-traditional community meetings. The public will be invited, and they may ask sporadic questions. However, the thrust of the sessions will be to hear the problem-solving views of non-government experts on troubles plaguing the community.

Some of Mr. Clarke’s suggested topics are eternal:

• “How do we create affordable housing?”
• “How do we deal with parking and traffic and development at the same time?”
• “How do we make Culver City a more sustainable community?”

Mr. Clarke condensed his motivation into one sentence: “Thinking outside of the box,” he said.