Burbank Police Commission to meet more often to provide greater public access

BURBANK— City Council members Tuesday authorized the Police Commission, mired in recent months by repeated charges from the public that the oversight body is aloof and ineffective, to meet as often as it sees fit.

The Police Commission was granted the authority to determine the frequency and place of meetings, roughly one month after commissioners voted to move their meetings from quarterly to monthly.

Regulations stipulated that the commission hold meetings in September, December, March and June or at the behest of the council, which appoints members to the body.

“In the times we’re in right now, I think they need to decide when they need to meet,” said Vice Mayor Anja Reinke, a former police commissioner. “I think we need to give them as much flexibility as possible.”

Commissioner Elise Stearns-Niesen last month suggested a more rigorous calendar in keeping with most other city boards and commissions. The public perception, she said, is that the commission doesn’t do anything.

“And in certain respects, meeting every [three] months, we don’t,” she said. “As we move into a new era of this commission, we’ll start to find our way.”

The last meeting, which saw the first public comments in more than two years, took on a more formal approach, with Chief Assistant City Atty. Juli Scott providing a primer on the Brown Act, the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights and the city charter.

The charter gives commissions the power to initiate studies and surveys, conduct hearings and investigations at the request of council, act in an advisory capacity to the council, field non-traffic related complaints and examine department records that aren’t deemed confidential.

The more frequent meeting schedule was an important avenue for public comments to boards and commissions, and to provide confidence in knowing there will be follow through with any concerns, Councilman David Gordon said.

“The lack of public awareness and participation at the Police Commission, thus far, has limited its effectiveness,” he said. “The Police Commission can serve a very important civic function by carefully listening to community concerns, clearly identifying police issues, and seeking direction from the council when it seems additional authority may be needed to credibly address them.”

But Councilman Jess Talamantes recommended a bimonthly schedule to avoid confusion and conflict.

“I would leave it up to staff to see how much business needs to be done,” he said.

“If there’s no business to be done then you don’t have a meeting. But I don’t want to have a fight between the board members.”

The Police Commission, which for years conducted meetings outside the public eye, made a series of headlines following a May e-mail from then-chairman Joe Gunn reminding commissioners of a “major investigation going on within the Burbank Police Department” and asking them to “please refrain from asking City Council members and the city manager about this investigation.”

Gunn was not reappointed.

Councilman Dave Golonski then requested that the council consider the possibility of an unprecedented revote on four recently appointed commissioners.

The council then dumped new appointee John Brady, a well-known civil rights activist and president of the Burbank Human Relations Council, amid revelations that he was on unsupervised probation through June 2010 for a drunk-driving offense.

“I also think a lot of the attention came out of the [multi] million-dollar lawsuits that have been brought against the department and the city,” Stearns-Niesen said. “I hate the perception.”

She said an uptick in meetings would keep the commission abreast of the lawsuits as well as crime statistics, police operations and community affairs.

“With a drastic change in direction, you might want to change the requirements of who would be on that commission. You might also want to change the nomination process. I may not qualify,” she said. “For now I am happy we are moving in this direction.”

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