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The City Council has set aside $50,000 to pay a law firm to assist the city in labor negotiations with the Burbank City Attorney's Assn., a newly formed bargaining group that includes 10 attorneys and a paralegal at City Hall. The group has been in negotiations with the city since shortly after it was formed last month, officials said. The Los Angeles-based law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore will represent the city in its business with the group. Prior to the formation of the bargaining group, the employees were unrepresented and their compensation was set by resolutions passed by the council, said Interim Management Services Director Betsy Dolan.

I grew up and went to school in Burbank and have always thought highly of the town. I would like to share an experience I recently had with the city of Burbank. With so much negativity in the press, this is most refreshing. On the morning of Feb. 28, I went to get in my car parked in Burbank and there was a parking ticket on my window. I apparently was in violation of the street cleaning. The charge was $45. I returned to Kern County and wrote the check for $45 and then decided to send a little note with the check.

For years, City Council members-elect have been invited by Burbank officials to sit in on closed-door meetings prior to being sworn in. But City Atty. Amy Albano has issued a memo saying that the practice violates state law. Even so, the City Council next week is slated to discuss bringing Bob Frutos - who won election outright during the February primary - into the fold for closed-door meetings prior to his swearing in. In her memo, Albano said meetings cannot be “semi-closed,” citing that “interested members of the public may not be admitted to a closed session while the remainder of the public is excluded.” She added that people “without an official role in the meeting should not be present.” At a council meeting last week, Councilman David Gordon - who on March 5 initially proposed inviting Frutos to a closed meeting - said Albano's opinion differed from what Burbank has done in the past, when elected council members were invited to observe the meetings before being sworn in. In closed-door meetings, the council may discuss pending litigation, performance evaluations or labor negotiations.

With the election of Bob Frutos to the City Council last month, Burbank stated that it wants change on the dais. With the general election fast approaching, voters should continue that trend. We endorse David Nos and Jess Talamantes for City Council. Nos, a businessman, and Talamantes, a retired fire official, are the best suited to give the council a new start, unencumbered with the long-standing and mostly pointless grudges between Council members. Both have had their share of controversy.

Assume you are elected onto the City Council, and city staff says you need to cut $3 million, or roughly 2%, from the General Fund to balance the budget. What would you cut and why? Dave Golonski Age: 54 Profession: Burbank Councilman This year's budget deficit is $1 million, not $3 million. That's because of the reduced spending over the last five years through a balanced approach that included employees paying more of the pension cost, finding ways to deliver services more efficiently, and paying down our unfunded pension liability.

I'm curious why the city of Burbank encourages water conservation for its homeowners, even asking them to landscape with native drought-resistant plants, when on Bel Aire Drive and Magnolia Boulevard, an out-of-service fire hydrant has been spewing water into the sewer system at the rate of 5 gallons per second for the last four days. Do the math and see how much water is being wasted. I figured more than a million gallons. With the rate increases of water usage and continual reminders to conserve water on your water bill, why is the city of Burbank wasting this water?

If voters elect 24-year-old Steve Ferguson to the Burbank Unified school board on April 9, it's widely believed that not only would he be the youngest elected official in the city's history, but the first openly gay man to hold public office in the city. While he says he didn't set out to make his sexuality a cornerstone of his campaign, Ferguson also hasn't shied away from it. “It's important to be transparent and honest. This is who I am,” he said. Among the field of current candidates, Ferguson is also the only one without children.

Tensions ran high at Thursday's City Council candidate forum, with two longtime incumbents David Gordon and Dave Golonski unleashing confrontational jabs at each other's on-the-job performances throughout the night. Gordon blasted Golonski's idea of outsourcing city services, while Golonski explained why he's never voted to appoint Gordon, a seven-year councilman, as mayor. The forum was hosted by the Burbank Assn. of Realtors and moderated by its president, Eric Benz. To Golonski, outsourcing services is a better option than raising fees or cutting services to balance the budget, and would save money for repairing the city's deteriorating streets and to pay down the unfunded pension liability.

Dave Golonski has been our councilperson for the past 20 years. During that time Burbank has flourished while other cities have floundered. Golonski has been a leader and innovator on the council. He has put forth ideas that have benefited our community, including infrastructure enhancements, creative financing plans and projects to benefit our children. He has led the way for controlled growth, limiting airport expansion and large multi-family projects while helping bring in business and retail establishments that have helped keep Burbank progressing.

It was extremely disappointing to read your critique of the Burbank city clerk's office regarding the February election (“ City revises vote-count plan for April election ,” March 16). For years, this office has done incredible work for the citizens of Burbank, properly placing the highest priority on the accuracy of our election results. They have been very proactive in working with the post office to be sure that the maximum amount of ballots can be delivered on a timely basis to their office.