BURBANK — Changes to security at City Hall could be forthcoming as the city is about to enter into its annual budget negotiations.
In May, officials will start negotiating the city’s 2008-09 budget and funds for added security at City Hall figure to play a role in the negotiating process, Mayor Marsha Ramos said.
“I think it will certainly be a part of our budget discussions and appropriations,” she said. “We will likely include a line-item in the budget to enhance security one way or another.”
The issue of security has played a prominent role in Burbank since Feb. 19, when officials erected a metal detector outside the council’s chambers following a fatal shooting at the City Hall in Kirkwood, Mo. The return of Edwin Guerrero, a Burbank resident who was banned from the council for four years in 2004 after his aggressive conduct in the chambers, has also raised the ire of staff members who sit inches from the speaker’s podium. The metal detector, and two staff members from security firm Andrews International who operate the machine at each council meeting and at two Town Hall meetings the city held in March, has cost the city $12,500, City Manager Mary Alvord said.
The money comes out of a special, $75,000 city manager fund available for exigent circumstances, she said.
Any continuation of the metal detector, and other security enhancements at City Hall, would have to be approved by the council and discussed during budget negotiations. In the past, city officials have met with security experts who have recommended moving the public speaker’s podium farther from staff members and making City Hall offices less accessible, Alvord said.
On Tuesday, the council discussed security during its closed session meeting, but details of what transpired were not disclosed due to the nature of the talks.
In addition to the metal detector, officials have assigned another Burbank Police officer to the meetings, increasing the number of officers from one to two, not including Police Chief Tim Stehr, who usually attends the meetings as a member of Burbank’s executive staff.
Because the department has not added any new officers since an extra one was assigned to cover City Hall, the department has been left without one officer to patrol the streets, Sgt. Travis Irving said.
“We have minimum staffing levels and we maintain that,” he said. “There is no threat to public security. We have adequate coverage.”
While the conversation about adding more security elements to council meetings has gained traction in recent weeks, the discussion is not unprecedented.
The first time a metal detector was considered for City Hall was in 2003, when a series of public speakers left staff and council members in a state of trepidation, Alvord said.
“We were going through a rough period when we had some angry speakers,” she said. “People were slamming the podium and one brought a paper bag just to intimidate us. We’ve always had an incredibly accessible City Council, but you never know when it could be us.”
