Frutos loses seat on Police Commission

Mayor casts the swing vote that puts recent Burbank transplant Richard Warmack on board.

May 20, 2011|By Gretchen Meier, gretchen.meier@latimes.com

Burbank City Council Candidate Robert Frutos attends…

[Editor's note: This story has updated from an earlier version]

Former City Council candidate Bob Frutos lost his seat on the Burbank Police Commission this week after failing to garner enough confirmation votes.

Frutos, who lost to Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy in the runoff general election last month by less than 100 votes, expressed surprise at the decision after Mayor Jess Talamantes on Tuesday cast the swing vote to appoint someone else to the commission.

“It’s going to take some time to process,” Frutos said the next day during his last commission meeting.

Recent Burbank transplant Richard Warmack was picked to take Frutos’ seat after an initial tie vote in the first round in which Talamantes did not vote for either applicant before voting to appoint Warmack in a tie-breaking round.

“Those appointments are very difficult, and there were a lot of qualified individuals who applied,” Talamantes said.

He said his decision was partially based on Warmack’s 31 years of law enforcement and security experience as a police officer and executive with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Talamantes and Councilman Dave Golonski endorsed Gabel-Luddy during the election.

In his eight years on the Police Commission, Frutos served as chairman for the past two.

During his last commission meeting on Wednesday evening, he thanked his colleagues and members of the community for their support during his tenure.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Frutos said. “Change is always good. The past two years have been traumatic times, and it’s with great, deep emotion that I accept this difficult decision.”

Councilman Gary Bric, who supported Frutos on Tuesday and endorsed his bid for City Council, also spoke at the meeting.

“You obviously came up on the short end of the stick, but I’m proud to say I supported you in 2007 and supported you [Tuesday] night,” Bric said. “You have led with integrity, and I have the utmost respect for you.”

During the annual appointments to boards and commissions, 12 Burbank residents applied for three spots on the Police Commission.

Incumbents Hagop Hergelian and Nathan Rubinfeld were unanimously reappointed to their commission seats.

Frutos thanked those who came to speak, but maintained that changes to the commission during his tenure, such as moving the meeting location and upping their frequency from quarterly to monthly, was a group effort.

“It’s a time for change, and I welcome it, but most of all I thank my colleagues and my friends,” he said.

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