City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

From Burbank, the media capital of the world.

To participate in a public comment period, please join via Zoom using the link on the agenda. Or call now at 818-238-3335. Speaking times will be determined by the total number of public comment cards and remote participants in the queue at the start of each public comment period. For 1 to 20 total speakers, each speaker will receive up to 3 minutes. For 21 to 39 total speakers, each speaker will receive up to 2 minutes. And for 40 plus total speakers, each speaker will receive up to 1 minute. No additional commenters will be accepted once a public comment period begins.

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Good evening and welcome to a regular meeting of the Burbank City Council on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026. Please join me for a moment of reflection. This moment is intended to begin our meeting with the positive and collective support for our beloved community. The City Council welcomes everyone joining us this evening. We encourage you to take a moment to reflect on our community and the work we will be doing tonight. Although each of us has our own unique reasons for being here, We are united in our passion for our wonderful city. As we pause, let us consider our individual contributions and what they mean to those around us. Let us find solace in knowing that by working together with a shared spirit of community and partnership, we will always act responsibly for the betterment of Burbank.

Thank you.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready, begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good evening, Madam City Clerk. How are you doing tonight?

I'm terrific. How are you, Madam Mayor?

I'm doing well, thank you. Please conduct the roll call.

Councilmember Anthony?

Here.

Councilmember Perez? Here. Councilmember Rosati?

I am here.

Vice Mayor Mullins? Here. And Mayor Tagahashi? Here. Thank you. Thank you.

There will be two periods of public comment tonight. Members of the public may comment in person or remotely for all comment periods. In-person commenters must submit cards before the public comment period begins. and remote commenters must be in the queue with their hands raised before the public comment period begins. The first public comment period is for general public comment on any matter concerning city business and or any agenda item. If you are here in person and wish to speak during the general public comment, please submit a yellow public comment card to address the council to our city clerk here in the front. If you'd like to participate in general public comment remotely, please join Zoom via Zoom using the link on the agenda or by calling 818-238-3335. If you are already participating remotely and would like to speak during general public comment, please join the speaker queue now by using the raise hand feature on Zoom or by dialing nine on your phone. Once the general public comment period begins, no additional comments will be taken. If you are experiencing any issues with joining remotely, please call 818-238-5752 for technical assistance. An additional public comment period will be available following the one report to Council this evening as well. Interpreters are also available for assistance with public comment. We have Spanish and Armenian interpreters here with us this evening sitting in the front row. Please connect with them if you are in need of services. And tonight we have six announcements.

Following our announcements for September 15th, 2026. The Burbank City Clerk's Office and the Burbank Unified School District are happy to host the annual Clerk's Cup. Students at John Burroughs High School and Burbank High School compete to see which high school can register the most voters. The contest will end on September 25th. The Burbank City Clerk's Office is accepting applications for vacancies on the Burbank Housing Corporation Board of Directors, the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission, and the Sustainable Burbank Commission. The deadline to apply for the Burbank Housing Corporation Board of Directors is September 30th, while the deadline to apply for the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission is October 2nd, and the deadline to apply for the Sustainable Burbank Commission is October 5th. please apply online at burbankca.gov backslash BCC application. For more information, please contact the Burbank City Clerk's Office at telephone number 818-238-5851 or email cityclerks at burbankca.gov. The City of Burbank Parks and Recreation Department, in partnership with the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission and the Valley Cultural Foundation, invites the community to celebrate Burbank's vibrant arts scene at the Autumn Arts Festival on Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Johnny Carson Park. Visit BurbankArts.com to learn more about this event and to register. Calling all Burbank adults ages 55 and older. Join the Department of Parks and Recreation for our annual Rockahoola celebration on Thursday, September 24th from 4 to 6pm at McCambridge Pool. Enjoy swimming, dancing, music, food sponsored by the Burbank Senior Apartments, games and raffles. Rockahoola is free to attend, but registration is required. Visit burbankparks.com to reserve your spot. This September, Burbank Public Library, in partnership with the Burbank Fire Department's Ready Burbank Campaign, presents PrepTember 2026, a citywide disaster preparedness series designed to help residents gain the knowledge and skills needed to face emergencies with confidence. Join us for the month-long schedule of free workshops and expert-led sessions covering emergency alerts, go bags, family disaster plans, and more. Some programs will also feature giveaways of essential emergency supplies. For the full schedule and preparedness resources, visit burbanklibrary.org slash preptember. The City of Burbank Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Monday, September 28, 2026 to consider project number 220003509, also known as the Media District Specific Plan Update, and will provide a recommendation to the City Council on several project actions. To review the staff report and meeting agenda, as well as learn about the project's background and milestones, visit the project's website at burbankmediadistrictsp.com. This concludes the announcements for the evening. Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. We have four presentations tonight. And our first presentation is the presentation of declaring September 15th, 2026 as National Voter Registration Day in the city of Burbank.

This is what these stickers are for.

And tonight, I invite Madam City Clerk, Kimberly Clark, to join me. She got more. DIFFERENT STICKERS TONIGHT TO JOIN ME AT THE PODIUM. MADAM CITY CLERK, HERE YOU GO. DO I READ THE PROCLAMATION FIRST OR DO YOU WANT TO TALK FIRST?

IT'S UP TO YOU. YOU'RE THE MAIN.

HOW ABOUT YOU TALK FIRST AND THEN I'LL DO THE PROCLAMATION AFTER.

I'M GOOD AT TALKING. GOOD EVENING. KIMBERLY CLARK, CITY CLERK. TODAY IS NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION DAY. WE HAD A ONE IN 365 CHANCE OF THAT HAPPENING OR MAYBE NOT. Math is not my strong suit. Last week I participated in a student voter registration drive at the University of Redlands, formerly known as Woodbury University. We registered or re-registered more than 20 students. Most of the students we re-registered are coming to school here in California and needed to re-register because they're registered in their home state.

We also recently kicked off the Clerk's Cup, which ends September 25th.

This wildly popular initiative was started by my predecessor, former city clerk and current vice mayor, Zezette Mullins. This is a friendly contest between our two comprehensive high schools, Burroughs and Burbank, to see which student body can register the most voters. As a reminder, the last day to register to vote by mail in the upcoming November 3rd general election is October 19th. This is very important. If your name has changed or if you have moved, you will need to re-register by the deadline. The city clerk's office recommends, we strongly recommend that residents check their voter registration status at, it's super easy, lavote.gov slash VR status for voter registration status. If you need to register to vote, you can do so online at lavote.gov, or you can pick up a voter registration card from the city clerk's office right downstairs at any Burbank library, or here tonight. We brought some forms with us there in the foyer. On a personal note, for many years, long before I was city clerk, I have worn this necklace that spells out vote. We all know someone who doesn't vote. I know two in my immediate circle. I'm working on them. I got one over the line and the other one yet to be converted. If you want to do something to help our efforts today, talk to them about the importance of voting because remember, your vote is your voice and your voice is important. Thank you.

Absolutely true. All right, so I'm going to read the proclamation, National Voter Registration Day, whereas National Voter Registration Day is a nationwide, nonpartisan civic holiday dedicated to ensuring that eligible Americans have the opportunity to register to vote, update their voter registration information, and access trusted information about the registration process, and... Whereas collaboration among election officials, civic organizations, libraries, and educational institutions can help expand access to reliable voter registration information and reach eligible voters where they live, work, study, and gather. And whereas National Voter Registration Day provides an opportunity for election official offices and community partners across the country to work together in a coordinated, nonpartisan effort to promote voter registration and civic participation. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Burbank hereby recognizes Tuesday, September 15, 2026, as National Voter Registration Day, and be it further resolved that the City of Burbank encourages eligible residents to verify their voter registration, register to vote or update the registration as needed, and seek election information from trusted state and local election officials, and be it further and lastly resolved that the city of Burbank joins election officials, civic organizations, educational institutions, and other organizations nationwide in recognizing National Voter Registration Day and supporting nonpartisan voter registration and public education efforts. Yes, congratulations. I guess this is yours to hold. Let's take off these little sticker guys. Yeah, they're pretty pink, but I don't think they belong in the picture, yeah. I want to take a picture.

Oh, yeah.

Thank you. Do I take this home? Yes, I think so. Go to your office.

All right, so who wants to be stickers distribution? Had to do some kind of sticker passing out today. All right, second presentation today is a presentation of a proclamation declaring September 20th to 26th as National Forensic Science Week in the city of Burbank. I invite Police Chief Raphael Contero and Forensic Specialist Supervisor Carly Lott to join me at the podium. Okay, you're gonna join me. Okay, so please introduce yourself and say a few words about this proclamation.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Eddie Ruiz. I'm the captain of the Investigation Division, and our Forensic Services Unit falls under my command. I would like to take this moment to recognize our outstanding Forensic Services Unit in observance of the National Forensic Science Week, September 20th through the 26th. This week gives us the opportunity to recognize the dedicated professionals whose expertise and attention to detail plays such an important role in investigations and in helping us deliver justice to victims in our community. Forensic science is an essential part of modern policing. From documenting crime scenes and preserving evidence to providing the scientific analysis that helps solve cases, this work often happens in the background, behind the scenes. but it's critical to ensure justice and accountability. We're fortunate to have five dedicated professionals serving our department. Supervisor Carly Lotz here. Unfortunately, the other young ladies are out on a call right now processing a scene, so they couldn't be here with us. Again, on behalf of the Burbank Police Department and our community, I want to thank all of you for your dedication and recognition for this important work you do.

All right, did you wanna say a few words too? Okay, so I'm gonna read the proclamation, then we'll take pictures, all right. So proclamation for Forensic Science Week, September 20th to 26th, 2026. Whereas access to quality forensic analysis greatly improves the investigation of criminal activity, and can lead to the exoneration of the innocent as well as the prosecution of the guilty, and whereas forensic science plays a critical role in public safety and crime prevention and continues to evolve in its role as an important component of the criminal justice system, and whereas forensic practitioners provide unbiased, accurate, and reliable analysis of evidence, And whereas the forensic personnel of the Burbank Police Department perform their duties with professionalism and dedication, providing a vital public service to our community, now therefore I, Tamela Takahashi, Mayor of the City of Burbank, do hereby proclaim the week of September 20th through 26th as Forensic Science Week in the City of Burbank. The Council of the City of Burbank recognizes and honors the outstanding service the City's forensic personnel provide for the safety and welfare of our community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Who wants to hold the prop? I will.

Okay, great.

It's all hers.

She does the work. Let's have you in the middle since you're holding the prop. Where's the rest of the snacks?

Oh, everybody else. Yeah, come on over.

That's right. They're on a scene.

They're on a scene. Unfortunately. Do we need to even out?

Yeah. One more person on this side.

He's shy.

And on a similar theme, the next proclamation is for National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day. I invite, was the police chief this time? No, okay, again. Backup and crime analysts Alexis Gobble and Brittany Lirian to also join me at the podium. You wanna read your next round? You do, okay.

It's still on.

Awesome.

Again, Captain Ruiz of the Investigation Division. The Crime and Intelligence Unit also falls under my command at the department, so just a couple of words. Again, I would also like to take this moment to recognize our dedicated crime analysts in observance of National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day on September 20th. Our crime analysts play a vital role in supporting our officers and investigators by analyzing crime data, identifying trends and patterns, developing investigative leads, and turning information into actionable intelligence that helps us prevent and solve crimes. We're fortunate to have two outstanding Professionals Alexis Gobble and Brittany Lirian, whose expertise, dedication, attention to detail make a meaningful difference every day. Please join me in recognizing and thanking them for their important contributions to the Burbank Police Department and the safety of our community. Thank you.

Wonderful, great. So for the proclamation for National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day, whereas crime analysts play a crucial role in the safety of the city of Burbank by collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, as you just mentioned, Whereas the work of the crime analyst helps to identify crime trends, predict criminal behavior, and optimize the allocation of law enforcement resources. Whereas crime analysts employ advanced technologies and analytical techniques and problem solving skills to provide law enforcement with vital insights. And whereas contributions of crime analysts in the city of Burbank have a lasting impact on the community, helping to reduce crime rates and promote justice. Now, therefore, I, Tamela Takahashi, Mayor of the City of Burbank, do hereby proclaim September 20th, 2026, as National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day in the City of Burbank. The Council of the City of Burbank recognizes the essential role that the city's crime and analysts play in enhancing law enforcement efforts to maintain the safety of our community. Thank you. Thank you. You want to hold it? Yes. So you're gonna be in the middle. Good job, all right.

One, two, three.

And one, two. Who's that in the back? That's my son, that's my son.

That's right, go mom, that's right.

It's always awesome to see your mom get recognition. And our fourth and last presentation is for the proclamation declaring October 4th to 10th, 2026 as Fire Prevention Week. And I invite Fire Chief Danny Alvarez to join me here to read some words before I read the proclamation. Welcome.

Good evening. I'll quickly share a little bit about our Fire and Life Safety Division. First, we have a few of them up here. Why don't you come on up and stand here? So our Fire and Life Safety Division, a little bit about what they do. So last year, for example, they conducted over 6,500 inspections, investigated 274 fires, conducted over nearly 500 plan reviews. issued over 500 annual permits and 880 film permits. So they're a very productive group. But I think what makes them special isn't necessarily their productivity, but it's their approach to their work and the way they do it. And so I'm going to read really quick an example of this. This is a letter of appreciation I just recently received. It says, I'm writing to share my positive feedback about Inspector Adam Aguilera, who happens to be here with us tonight. His professionalism and readiness to work with us to complete our project on Riverside Drive is greatly appreciated. Please pass along my thanks and let him know that he's doing a wonderful job. Personnel like Inspector Aguilera allow us to build great relationships with the City of Burbank Fire Department and allow us to run our projects smoother and be delivered on schedule. Thank you in advance and looking forward to working with your department in the future. And the reason why I think that's pretty special for our fire prevention folks is When your job consists of enforcing codes and laws, especially during these major projects, and I know this because I worked as an inspector, it's easy to be viewed as an obstacle, right, in that process. And so we have a philosophy in the Fire and Life Safety Division that our role is really to be there to help facilitate these projects and, of course, to do so in a safe manner. And I think that this letter and the way that every one of these folks works really reflects that. And I'll add one more little piece because when we think of our Fire and Life Safety Division, we really focus on the fire prevention work they do And we forget the critical role that they play in fire operations when we have a significant incident. And an example is about a month ago, we had a significant fire on a Saturday afternoon on our hillside. And I get to the fire, and we had several of our members from our fire and life safety division that showed up there to provide critical logistical support for our firefighters on the hill. And I can tell you that on a day like that, in the absence of that logistical support, that entire machine stops working, right? And so they play a critical role, sometimes in front of the scenes and sometimes behind the scenes. So greatly appreciative for all the work they do.

Absolutely. So Fire Prevention Week. Whereas fire remains a significant public safety concern with the greatest risk occurring in the home, making fire prevention and public education essential for protecting our community. And whereas the 2026 Fire Prevention Week theme is charge into fire safety. Safe charging is a superpower. Okay. Reminds me that many of the devices we rely on every day, smartphones, tablets, power tools, toys, and other rechargeable electronics are powered by lithium ion batteries, which must be used, charged, stored, and disposed of properly, reduce risk of fire. And whereas to charge devices safely, always use the cord that came with the product, Follow charging. Even in this, he's doing fire prevention safety. To charge devices safely, always use the cord that come with the product. Follow charging instructions. Charge devices on a hard surface. Do not overcharge a device and unplug a device or remove the battery when fully charged. I need to check all that when I go home. whereas to reduce the possibility of fires do not throw away batteries in the trash or recycle bin we do collect them at the recycle center only recycle lithium ion batteries through approved household hazardous waste facilities such as the burbank recycle center now therefore i tamil takahashi mayor of the city of burbank to hereby proclaim october 4th through 10th 2026 as fire prevention week in the city of burbank And I encourage all residents to learn and practice the safe use, charging, storage, and disposal of lithium ion batteries, participate in fire prevention week activities, and join us in making our homes and communities safer for everyone. And if you didn't write that all down, because I know you were all taking notes, but I was speaking very fast, that is available online, right, to learn more about that. Or you can just connect with the fire department, and they'll give you the rundown on how to keep your electronics safe. So thank you very much.

CONGRATULATIONS. THANK YOU.

YOU MADE IT THROUGH ALL THE PRESENTATIONS. NEXT UP, CITY MANAGER REPORT. DO YOU HAVE A REPORT TONIGHT?

YES. THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I DO HAVE ONE ITEM. I'D LIKE TO CALL UP THE POLICE CHIEF, AND I'D LIKE TO HAVE HIM CLARIFY THE DEPARTMENT'S PROTOCOLS AND PROCEDURES AS IT RELATES TO FEDERAL ICE ACTIVITIES IN THE CITY.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. Before I state the facts on ICE activity outside our jail, I want to speak to something personal. This past week, a video posted on social media questioned my honesty and my integrity. If I am to be judged, then let me tell you how I lead. In my hand is a challenge coin. One side reads, with power comes responsibility. With power comes responsibility speaks to how I and officers exercise authority that affects the welfare of others. Any power we hold can be abused if it is used irresponsibly, violating the very ethical obligations that we swore to uphold. As a police chief and leader, my reputation and credibility mean everything, probably no different than you up on that dais. Credibility is built when actions match stated values, especially when those decisions are unpopular, resulting in personal and professional cost, that cost being popularity, relationships, or even political capital. I hold myself accountable for my actions and my words. I may not always have the best answer or the complete answer, but I will give you an answer based on what is known to me at that time. That answer will be honest, in my voice, and designed to inform. What it will not be is untruthful or deceitful. For anyone to question my integrity or character without taking time to seek understanding is a distortion of the truth. So tonight my intention is to give you the facts, transparency, and the truth. You may not agree with my decisions or my position, but you should never have to guess or question my values. So here are the facts. We do not coordinate with ICE or notify them of arrests, releases, or release times except for serious felonies where state law requires it under the California Values Act. ICE learns of a person in custody when we book someone. Their fingerprints go to state and federal databases that ICE can access directly. We do not give information to ICE as a favor or as a tip. Government Code Section 7923.610 requires us to make basic arrest information public to anyone who asks. That is the same information posted on our daily arrest logs on the city website. The steps along Third Street are considered a public space. My challenge, and as you've heard me say before, is that we have no legal authority to remove federal agents from that space. Interfering federal agents performing their duties is a federal crime under Title 18, USC 111. That risk falls on my staff and this city, and interfering is something that I will not do. In regards to the camera outside the jail door, our release door has one fixed camera that shows the immediate area just outside the door. No one is posted to watch that camera around the clock scanning for people to come into view. The feed is there for situational awareness. Jailers use it as needed to operate the secured release doors to answer the call button and give direction to staff or a member of the public at the door. Our written policy, jail manual section 422 states our surveillance equipment is used primarily for the safety and security of inmates and staff. That is why a staff member could see and speak to the person in the video. In that instance, a jailer had noticed an unknown male pacing back and forth and acting suspiciously, which is exactly the situational awareness that camera is for. If my earlier words created some confusion, I apologize. This past week was proof that we do not collaborate with ICE. For those that were present on September 11, ICE's unannounced presence disrupted our memorial ceremony, and we had no advance knowledge of it. Had I known, I would have done everything in my authority to make sure that it does not disrupt what that event meant, especially recognizing the 25 years that have passed since people lost their lives. And finally, I will be agendizing a presentation to the Police Commission in the near future to address ICE and the activity outside of our jail. If you have any questions, I am here for you.

Thank you for your presentation. You have your hand up, Vice Mayor. I see you going.

I don't have any questions. I just want to applaud you for coming here tonight and addressing the rumors, miscommunications, or questioning your integrity. Because I, as a council vice mayor, support your action 100%. And I know you were telling us the truth. But I do appreciate you standing here addressing the community, addressing us, and telling us the truth. So thank you for doing that, and I can tell you there's a lot of people in this community who supports you 100%, and they're behind you, and they know you are telling us the truth.

Thank you, Councilmember. Okay.

Councilmember Anthony.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Chief, for coming down. I was at the event on Friday, and there were things I learned seeing it in first person. the amount of leeway that these federal agents are taking, the liberties that they're taking for themselves and pushing the limits, if not breaking them, it was astonishing to watch. So I appreciate you coming down here and talking to us tonight.

Councilmember Press?

Thank you, Chief. I know it's not easy. You and I have talked at length, and I know you have an open-door policy for anybody who wants to talk to you at length, any resident who has questions. So I appreciate that because that is an opportunity for you to share exactly where we're at and the challenges we're facing. And I want to stick to that word you used, challenge, because that is the time we are in. I know there are things that folks would like to see. I can tell you there are things I would like to see. I would like to see ICE abolished. And I know that there's a lot of frustration because of that. And sometimes that frustration is pointed at places where things can't be done. I think in this position, it's very hard. And in your position, it's very hard to turn to the public and say, I can't do X, Y, or Z. It has been very hard to tell people, hey, us not collaborating with ICE and us, for all intents and purposes, having language that is similar to sanctuary city language does not mean they can't come in the city. That's been very hard to tell folks, because I know there's an expectation or a hope that there's something we can do to combat the federal level. So I know, I want to say I appreciate the challenging situation you are in, because it is, I do not think anything that any other police chief in our time has been asked to face. I have not seen that at any other point. The question I have for you is if release times are publicly available and basically it's publicly available information, can a resident in the community, can a citizen call in and ask about releases?

They can. I mean, all that information, the section that specifically governs that that I mentioned, 7923.610, outlines several subsections. And real quick, so what we shall release if we get a call, full name and occupation of every individual arrested by the agency, the individual's physical description, including date of birth, time and date of arrest, time and date of booking, location of arrest, factual circumstances around the arrest, amount of bail, and the time and manner of release of the location. where the individual is currently being held, and all the charges the individual is being held upon. That is information that we shall release per that section.

Thank you, Chief. And switching gears, can I ask you a hypothetical? If ICE were to call in under all of the statutes and laws that you just mentioned and ask for information on somebody's book that they saw on the website and you all said no, what could happen?

So that refers to the section that I mentioned within 18 USC 111. You're looking at obstruction of justice. And I had a conversation with one of the agents. I was able to get a hold of them, the deputy agency responsible. But aside from that, at our last year's chief conference, we had someone from Homeland Security specifically tell all the chiefs, we don't want to put ourselves in a bad position where you take an associated action towards a federal agent in turn We will arrest your people. It's counterproductive. It's bad policy as far as creating a situation of that manner. And that is something that we are trying to avoid.

Essentially, one of the folks on your watch could go to jail.

Correct.

And that's why I want to just point that out for the community, the challenge, right, that we are under in this seat, in your chair, because in many of these situations we may, and I'll speak for myself, but I know we've had conversations on this, We may feel that something occurring is not right. Obviously, we're not aiding in any way. But there are the federal laws that preempt where we can stop the buck. And so again, I will say it. I do think this is incumbent on the federal government to stop putting us in these situations. They have the absolute power to do so.

And that was my conversation with the agent today. I think I've had a conversation with each of you. I cannot control what they do when they show up. The only thing my ask of them was to be professional and respectful. And them showing up on 9-11 was tone deaf, completely disruptive of the incident, and definitely took away from that day's event and what it meant to the community and everybody else.

And I want to be clear, they were combative towards anybody asking questions in that moment in place and time.

So it's unfortunate that I've seen it firsthand. They lack the professionalism that is expected of us. That's what I've seen personally. I do not have no control. And you're absolutely right. It is a challenge, especially when you have no control or jurisdiction over someone having a presence within the organization.

And that's what I want to put out there. I want to be very clear about the challenging situation that puts you in, that puts your entire department in, all of us in here, and And I thank you for every day getting up here and doing your best to meet the moment. Because again, this is not something anybody in our shoes or in your shoes has been asked to do. So thank you. I appreciate you speaking with members of the public, coming here to speak with us. And for what unfortunately will be a continued situation as we try to find a way to mitigate it at the level that we can here. Thank you. And on a personal note, I know what this means to you and to our community, the Latino community. Thank you.

Council Member Zotti?

Chief, thank you for always coming and being transparent and answering questions. I thought it was extremely unfair and reckless for someone to post that video. Obviously, your department's being used for political gain, and it's sickening. Did it say anywhere on the video that your department, through an independent auditor, OIR, reached a gold standard of policing, one of the best in the country? No, it did not. No, it didn't. Did it state that the department reached a CLIA accreditation for the next four years?

No, it did not.

No. And did anyone reach out to you prior to posting that video to ask you some questions before they went live?

No.

No. Like I said, it's really disappointing that you're being used for a political tool on this issue. I got your six.

Thank you, council member.

Thank you all. Thank you for your presentation on this today. I can imagine how hard it must be to say what you said. I was there at the 9-11 event as well. And I agree, it was extremely disrespectful to our 9-11 event for them to appear at that time. They did not care whether we were in the middle of an event. It was frustrating for us all around. And you were in the middle of talking when they drove up. So what I also want to say is that after it all went down, that I have to say that you stayed. Myself and Councilmember Perez, we stayed until every single community member left. So we talked to community members and you stayed until every single one of them left. So really appreciate you staying and talking to everyone who came up to you to speak. I also today I was on a call with the National League of Cities with electeds from all over the country. And this is exactly what we talked about for an hour. And this is what communities all over the country are facing. And I use that example as an example during that conversation. and there are many other examples of things that have happened in other communities and this is it's a frustration and a challenge and a difficulty for us all it's a difficult time to navigate when we have so little control here we do what we have what we are what we are capable of doing what the law allows us to do and you have been willing to have these conversations about what the law ALLOWS US TO DO, AND YOU'RE ALSO EXPRESSING YOUR FRUSTRATION WITH IT, AS WE ARE ALL FRUSTRATED. AND I ALSO APPRECIATE, AND IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE SAID, AND I'M ASSUMING YOU CONTINUE TO BE WILLING TO TALK TO ANYONE WHO HAS QUESTIONS FOR YOU, THAT IF THERE IS CONTINUED QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS, YOUR DOOR IS OPEN FOR THOSE CONTINUED COMMUNICATIONS, JUST AS YOU SAID STAYED AFTERWARDS TO TALK TO FOLKS.

ABSOLUTELY, MAYOR. I THINK I SAID IT OUT THERE. Jomo and I must say that I was I really appreciated his approach in how he came up and looking for understanding of the situation not being judgmental and you know we I think it's easy to get a certain bias just by the very nature of people that come via public comment and being able to break those barriers down and connect as human beings it was important and it was good.

Yeah, I agree. It was a very problem-solving-focused conversation, I felt like, even through all the challenging questions, so appreciate that. And I just want to finally say that I also agree that ICE has no place in our community, and ICE should not be here, and their tactics have absolutely no place. I have no objection to the rule of federal law of them. There's federal law that there's ways to go about that that is not the tactics that they use. And so for me, that I do not... I do not think they have any place here, and it's very frustrating. But I appreciate your having been there and being here tonight to talk to the community and being willing to continue to talk to the community about this impossible bind that we're in. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council. Okay, that's the last of the city manager report. Okay, mr. City attorney. Will you please report on closed session?

Yes, madam mayor vice mayor members of the City Council for the benefit of the public the city Council convened a closed session to discuss three items of existing litigation at 5 p.m. this evening pursuant to Government Code section 54956.9 . The three matters were Terry Eileen Desmarais versus City of Burbank trip and fall case, Friends of the Equestrian Bridge versus City of Burbank, which is a challenge to a development project approval at 910 South Mariposa Street, and also Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority versus City of Burbank, which is a CEQA and breach of contract action. The City Council took no reportable action on these items this evening.

Great. Thank you for the report. All right, now is the time for general public comment. I'll be calling out the speaker's name as well as the person who is next in line to speak. In order to keep public comment moving in a timely fashion, we have a designated seat in the front row for speakers who are next up at the podium. Remote participants wishing to speak during general public comment who have not yet joined the speaker queue may do so now by dialing star nine by telephone or using the raise hand feature in Zoom. Please note, if you are calling from a blocked or private number, you will be introduced as anonymous. Please be ready to unmute when prompted to speak. This is also the last call for anyone who needs an interpreter, or the staff will be released for the evening in a minute. We don't have any interpreters tonight? Okay. The general public comment period is now beginning, and no additional cards or remote participants will be accepted. And I think we might have a few folks here tonight who haven't been here before. So I just want to remind folks, as we speak through the public comment tonight, that our protocol here, if you like what the speaker has to say, jazz hands. If anyone wants to practice, jazz hands. Got a few in there? OK. And if you don't like what the speaker has to say, thumbs down. And the reason why we do that is several reasons, but one of it is so that when the speaker is speaking, that they aren't hearing your talking. We can see you, but they aren't hearing your talking or your yaying or clapping or thumbs downing while they're speaking. And also when they're done, the next person coming up won't feel the pressure or any uncomfortableness from those. Okay, so let's keep it that way for the respect of our speakers. Thank you very much. All right, for the in-person speakers, a timer is available on the podium, and please speak directly in the microphone and adjust it up or down if needed. And for both in-person and remote participants, please state your name for the record. All right, Madam City Clerk, how many public comment cards do we have for in-person and how many remote do we have?

We have 22 cards for in-person, and we have seven speakers online.

All right, so that's 29 speakers. That means you have two minutes each, all right? Two minutes each. Okay, first up we have Wendy Vitilich, followed by Cynthia Pease. Wendy, there we are. Okay, welcome, you have two minutes.

I'm Wendy , a Burbank resident, and I want to thank the Chief for saying everything I was going to bring up about ICE. I appreciate your transparency very much so. One thing I wanted to put out there is I know some detainees that were released from ICE, and the treatment is horrific. That happens behind the cell walls, horrific. I mean, your jaws would drop. I would love to see ICE out of Burbank. I know that you can't stop them from coming, obviously, but does Burbank have the control of facilities, of them coming in and out of Burbank? places in our city. I mean, do they have to, can they wait on the street? Do they come into banks? I mean, don't we have control over that is a question. Maybe I need to ask the chief. Also, I would love to see Burbank adopt a ordinance to ban masks for the ICE officers, ICE agents. I don't know if that's happened yet. I don't think it has. I looked it up. Again, the chief really discussed about the transparency, and I do understand, again, the conflict that happens here with what we can do, what we can't do. And I'm hoping that everybody in Burbank wants to keep this place safe. and comfortable living here. I love living in Burbank, and my eyes are open all the time when I walk to see if I can see ICE agents, and I'm not afraid to report them, and I'm not afraid to take video. I know what goes on, again, behind those cell doors, and it's awful. They treat them worse than animals. But again, I'm not going to even read this because you addressed everything, Chief, and I really appreciate what you said. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Oh, I appreciate those jazz hands. Well done. Next up is Cynthia Pease, followed by Liz Rossi.

Good evening, Cindy Pease speaking tonight on behalf of the Cultural Arts Commission, Arts Forward Collective, and all the artists and community members in the city of Burbank. I'm just going to try and bring the tone up a little bit and say that tonight was really the Emmys of the city of Burbank, you know, talking about police and fire because they are wonderful people. And, yeah, we're all right about ICE. We all know. I'm from New York. I opened a store in the World Trade Center, and I have a poster of that, and then I have the poster of the World Trade Center coming down. So I do understand what's going on. And so may the force be with you all. You have a very challenging job. But tonight, I wanted to sing your praises, okay? First of all, I don't know if you realize it, but the four promises on the wall behind you, which do not have ice in there anywhere, you are realizing those promises. And the reason I'm talking tonight is, of course, it's always about money.

Hello, city manager, money.

But you talked about forensics. And money is also about forensics, what was, what is, what will be. And now you're working on the budgets. So first of all, a big thank you for our Cultural Arts Affairs supervisor. Thank you for giving grants. You are one of the few area cities that do this now, even to support arts on the different levels. And I will pass out, she's going to copy that out, but in the Washington Post, it's asking Washington to create a department for the arts and culture. which you have already done. You have started that initiative. And every dollar that you invest from your budget on that comes back to you threefold. In my past career, I had to guarantee an ROI on every transaction over a million dollars, which means we had to really, okay. Thank you for your comment. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Have a great night with the budget.

Next up is Liz Rossi, followed by Ron Bax. Welcome.

Good evening, Liz Dracey, Burbank resident of 25 years. I do love it here. I love my street here. We have a very diverse street and greet each other with all the various holidays that are going on. Happy Ramadan, Shana Tova, Happy Easter. And we support each other when someone has a baby. We do a food train and everybody on the street brings food to support that family. Someone has surgery, the same thing. So I love Burbank. There is absolutely no need for these flock cameras. And hello, if Florida and Texas can get rid of the flock cameras, I think that we can too. Am I right or am I right? Hello. So my concerns about these cameras is that they don't just photograph your license plate. They can create a record of where you've been, where you're going, and allow that information to be transferred to other people. Who is it being shared with? What other organizations is it being shared with? And once that information leaves Burbank, do we really have any control over where it goes? And again, I'm not anti-police. Love you guys. Love everybody in the blue. Love the fire people. Thank you so much. But I am pro-privacy. So I don't want my movements to be recorded because I drove to my church or I drove to the store or I drove to the doctor or I drove to visit my friend Wendy. I just don't think that that is... it seems it should be illegal for that to happen. I totally support Councilwoman Perez and I'm just asking you to please get rid of these flock and automated license plate readers from Burbank. We do not need them and we shouldn't have to choose between being safe and being free. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Ron Bax followed by Gary Brick. Welcome.

Good evening, council, Ron Becks. Has the city council directed staff to report where all these evictions we are hearing about are occurring? Has the council directed staff to investigate if housing provider expenses that have been presented during the last three and a half years are reasonably accurate? I think what we need is a split screen here so we can see the engagement of the city council to the speaker. I noticed that the Landlord Tenant Commission that met yesterday, item three on their agenda was staff update regarding council direction issued at October 28th, 2025 city council meeting. Overview of the October 28th, 2025 city council direction related to tenant protections. I was a little surprised that the Landlord Commission, the city staff was presenting that and they haven't even returned to you. About a year and a half, two years ago, maybe three years, maybe two and a half, we talked about housing provider protections. Ms. Perez said that she was willing to have the conversation. We're still waiting. Please, let's have a conversation. Because, for example, I recently had a tenant that's harassing me because she didn't want me to follow Civil Code 1950.5. That requires I write the refund for the security deposit to all three or all tenants, in this case, three. And she couldn't process the check at her bank. I went to my bank to try and help. And what came out of that was it might be that not all three of them have a joint account. So the bank, Chase, wouldn't honor it. So I gave her options that she could have an account opened with all three of them. She could go, all three of them, and present themselves to her bank. They could go to my bank because I set it up and present themselves. And she still didn't want it. She kept wanting to have it sent to her. This went on for days, text after text after text. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Gary Brick, followed by Strawn Martins. Welcome.

Good evening, Council, City Manager Hess, City Attorney McDougall, along with staff. I was prepared for three minutes, but I'm only getting two now, so kind of bear with me. But first off, I want to thank Chief Quintero for what he had to say, and that's why I'm here tonight, okay? I'm here tonight to contradict Councilman Anthony's post on Facebook, what transpired last Friday regarding our remembrance ceremony for 9-11. He claims that the service was interrupted by domestic terrorists kidnapping someone off the street. Constantine, there is no truth to that whatsoever. It's a lie, and you know that. With the service about to start, I noticed the fire chief and police chief were standing at the podium, and even the first responders hadn't lined up in the back yet, and you were already walking 54 yards down Third Street to where prisoners are released, okay? I didn't know what was going on. I just saw a bunch of people down there, and then I found out later on. You said you were distraught about what happened that day, and why did we have to do it of all days on 9-11? Well, I'll tell you what, all the people in our country on 9-11 didn't seem to bother them, did it? I'm really sorry that I have to come down with this, but there was no disturbance, there was no disruption, nothing of that happened whatsoever, and I'm betting the chief would back me up completely. With all that being said, I'm sorry that I have to come down here and say what I have to say. I don't enjoy this whatsoever, but I can't just sit back and allow it to happen.

My word is my bond.

It's yours.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Strawn Martins, followed by Jim Lane. Welcome.

Does everyone have a copy? OK. I just want to take a moment to thank the chief for coming up and speaking and hearing the council members talk about the event that happened. That is separate. I just really appreciate hearing you all stand up for us.

Sorry.

I'm actually here to talk about the Olympic living wage ordinance that was put in place by the city of Los Angeles in order to support those working in the tourism industry, which includes the airport workers of LAX as well as Van Nuys Airport. Burbank is just about to open up its brand new terminal. It is long awaited and overdue. And our workers there are currently earning $17 an hour on average. This is far below the compared wage of $30 an hour that LAX and Van Nuys are earning. Many of these people are working far over 40 hours a week, closer to 70, in order to make ends meet and to live somewhere close to the city that they work in. I'm asking the city to consider taking a stance and creating an ordinance that would reflect that something similar to LAX in order to support those workers. They are out there day and night. Burbank is unique in the sense that we are exposed to all elements. We are on a smaller side, so many of our agents do everything. And with that extra work and extra stress, we're actually that they are recognized and that they are showed that they are valued. We've got the 2028 Olympics coming up. And with Burbank, again, opening up its new terminals, this is an opportunity to show the world that Burbank stands and values hard work and dedication to their jobs and that everyone deserves a living wage that they can support their families and self. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Jim Lane followed by Mark Scroggs.

Five weeks ago I came here and asked Ms. Mullins to give us proof of her claim that people protesting at the Moms for Liberty event were the same people who called into the Burbank Association of Realtors and delivered racist threats. Her response immediately went to her claiming that I was calling her a liar. She also went on to enter a resume citing 39 years plus of public service. Eventually, she told me to call the B-A-O-R and speak to the person that this happened to. I do not have the burden of proof here. Ms. Mullins publicly accused people at a demonstration of terroristic threats with an add-on of a hate crime. I never called her a liar. I believe that Ms. Mullins believed what she says. I also believe that Ms. Mullins wants to believe what she says. After I made my comments, I sat down in the front row. Mr. Rizzotti stared at me for a long time. He then mouthed something to me. His microphone was off, so it wasn't picked up. I would like to say to Mr. Rizzotti, please say in the microphone what you said to me from the days. It was because of Ms. Mullen's theatrics and Mr. Rizzotti's performance that I left before Ms. Mullen finished her comments. I was not going to participate in that bit of hand-wringing. We have just learned this past week that a woman accused of assault at the BOR demonstration has been under investigation for seven weeks by the Burbank police. This has been encouraged by Ms. Mullins and Mr. Rizzotti. On September 3rd, the judge threw the entire case out in less than one minute. Coordinated efforts of accusing people of crimes without proof on the part from some Burbank citizens and someone running for city council and some city council members have got to stop. I have a few minutes. I want to say something about the chief's comments. He used the word disruption. He just said the ice disrupted the event. So I hope Mr. Brick was listening to what he just said. because Mr. Brick completely contradicted what the chief said, all right? And then also, we had a moment when the chief was talking. We can reach some common ground here. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Mark Scroggs, followed by Maxine. Welcome.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Mark Scroggs. I want to start by saying I support the funding flock in similar companies in Burbank. When even, as she said, Florida and Texas bans this equipment, there's something rotten about them and how they operate. There's got to be a better system than that. People should look into it. There's about 30 companies that do this stuff now. Also, on my favorite topic, Parabros, don't believe the leaks coming from Paramount on the merger talks. The parties are meeting next week and then in October. following the rules and the structure. Last weekend, a Paramount commissioned report draft, it was a draft, was leaked to Politico and then to the trades. It was vague and possibly AI written, and it was not very accurate compared to the LA EDC thing from last month. Paramount is threatening to move Warner Brothers. It's just another scare tactic to get the Ellisons, get people worried about everything. The Ellison's have created a fake consumer group called Neighbors for a Stronger Community to spread misinformation. They say that the merger would be good for the community. It would be good for the children. So just remember that. It's good for the children. That's bullshit. Of course, the White House is now involved. That happened today. They're butting in and doing stuff. So just keep that in mind, too. It's going to go on for a while. Nothing's going to change. If they all move, they all move later. That's just them. I brought up some more no-concession buttons if people want them. I'll have them to share, and we can talk about that later. And also go to www.noparamountconcessions.com for more accurate information. But again, they're just saying all this stuff that's just crazy. So have a great evening. Thanks.

Thank you for your comments. Next up is Maxine, followed by Diana Pulver. Welcome.

Thanks. Good evening. I'd like for some members of this commission to consider what's political gain and what's servant leadership. I believe that you, Chief, want to be a servant leader, but an open door is only open if questions get answered. So I appreciate you coming here and answering the questions here. I'd love to see that more elsewhere. Now to why I'm actually here. I don't want flock or any ALPR in the city. I've been pretty open about that. I've been on the record in this chamber about flock, about ALPRs. So rather than rehash what I've said here and in police commission meetings, let me clarify again something that keeps being misrepresented. Have a phone. I'm sure you do too. It's kind of impossible to be a modern citizen without one. So you, as any modern person, must be familiar with the terms and conditions that come with every new device and app you download. This is where we all sign away our rights to be tracked, as everyone loves to bring up in a false equivalency for automatic license plate readers. But here's the thing, if law enforcement wants access to that data, they need a subpoena, they need a warrant. So how is it that our police force and the police force in places that I don't live across California get information on where I drive without any such agreement between me and them? If I don't want to be tracked by companies, I can theoretically get rid of my phone. But I can't opt out of going outside in Burbank, and I can't trust that this data isn't going to be misused. As members of our own police force have said, it's still people prone to temptation who have access to this data. Stop this warrantless surveillance of Burbank residents and visitors. Ban ALPRs. As has already been established, it's election season. We'd simply love to get this done before November. And for those of you who aren't up for re-election right now, don't worry. Our memories are long.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Diana Pulver, followed by Liam Moody. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members. My name is Diana Pulver. I'm a housing provider and lifelong Burbanker. Rather than approve more new apartment builds, Burbank should look into loosening regulations and approve more condominium builds instead. Because as housing analysis has shown, condominiums are one of the most affordable paths to home ownership, a path that mirrors my own. But in Burbank, like the rest of the state, condominium construction has fallen. The majority of new construction in Burbank are rentals. Burbank, it seems, has prioritized building rental units, and for a city that relies on property tax revenue, it would seem that building affordable entry-level housing would be a good thing. And how does this help housing providers, you might ask? It helps the rental market by increasing the overall housing supply, which leads to lower rental prices, and removes the threat of rent control, which, as Swedish economist Saar Lindqvist said, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique known to destroy a city, except for bombing. So again, AB 1482 is sufficient, and do not LA my Burbank. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Liam Moody, followed by Katie Moody. Welcome.

What's up? Hi, everyone. I support canceling the flock contract. Get that out of here. What is that doing here? Literally, what's going on? I would also love to support agendizing that item so that we can continue to make progress on that. I think there's a lot of... questions and concerns about the software that these cameras can use and how the software is being used and how the company uses the software and how the software could be changed down the line to be more mass surveillance-y than it already is, which is crazy, but I guess that's always possible. But for now, let's just really focus on getting the hardware, the physical cameras, out of the city. That's a pretty good start to that problem. Then we can address all of the other private and civic surveillance tech that I'm sure will continue to crop up It's going to be a big conversation for a while. But for now, this is one that we can kind of whack on the head by just getting the cameras out of there. So cancel thought contract, or at the very least, please let's agendize that item. Thank you so much.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Katie Moody, followed by Susan O'Carroll. Welcome.

Hello, my name is Katie Moody. I'm a Burbank resident, and I'm also here to speak out and say that I think we should deflock Burbank. When it comes to these tech companies, as we talked about early in the evening with what Chief was talking about, we are no longer in control of this data once it goes to those companies, right? And so why would we willingly get involved with something we now have no control over instead of being able to keep control in our community, not have it be a, oh, this company now has your data. What are they using it for? You don't know. You don't have access to it. All of these tech companies have used this mode of move fast, break things where they'll lie about what they're using and wait for regulations to catch up with them. Personally, I don't feel safe going outside knowing that there are tech companies snooping on me that that information is public. And for the phone comment, I have a dumb phone, right? I've like fully opted out of everything. I've deleted my social media, but unfortunately I can't do anything about the flock camera at the end of my block. So I would really like if we could agendize that discussion item. I support Councilwoman Perez. Deflock Burbank, thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Susan O'Carroll. followed by Rosalie Salvato.

Senate Bill 79's transit-oriented upzoning mandates will force thousands of new units, largely unaffordable, into Burbank, triggering massive infrastructure deficits, including potentially $439 to $775 million waste water plant upgrade, and hundreds of millions in electrical grid upgrades. Because developer impact fees under the Mitigation Fee Act and AB 602 cannot legally cover regional utility expansion, local rate payers will be left on the hook for over 96% of these capital costs, resulting in significant rate increases for all Burbankians. Even if Burbank is successful in stopping dedicated bus lanes on Olive, there will still be two SB 79 stops in our city. Burbank doesn't have to absorb this bill. In 1979, voters fought back against this type of thing with Proposition 4 and established an administrative remedy in the form of Californians Commission on State Mandates, which is charged with enforcing the California Constitution's ban on unfunded local mandates. I say we make use of this remedy. By filing a test claim, the formal application used to challenge a state law as an unfunded mandate, we can ask the Commission to rule on whether SB 79 imposes unconstitutional financial burdens on cities, forcing the state to either reimburse Burbank and other cities or suspend the mandate. The media district specific plan EIR provides good data to start a test claim. I'm asking council to agendize consideration of the city preparing and submitting a test claim before the deadline to shift SB 79 induced costs back to the state expires. We need to pursue every option to take back local control. I urge you to act on this item. Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the City Council, and I have a handout for you providing more information. Thank you for your comment.

Next up is Rosalie Salvato, followed by Mike Stage. Welcome.

Good evening. My name is Rosalie Salvato, and I live in Burbank. Flock cameras. are a violation of our civil rights and privacy. They are invasive. You don't fight crime by creating another crime. Was there a public hearing on this? Did the community get a chance to comment on this? I support the police. You have traffic cameras right now. The problem with these flock cameras is not the police department. It's all the other platforms that are beneath it. This information goes down and goes spread out, goes to DHS, goes to ICE, and we have no control of it. Is anybody monitoring these cameras? I'm going to get personal. I was born in Sicily under Mussolini fascism. My family and I immigrated to this country to run away from stuff like that. This cuts to my core.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Mike Stage, followed by Ali B.

Thank you. Thank you very much. But first, before I start, I would like to offer a gift to the Burbank City Council, a copy of George Orwell's 1984. Take it, read it, have a group read, if you would, and find out, well, we've got to get these motherfucking cameras out of here. We don't need them. They're not going to do any good. And they do corrupt. Absolute power corrupting absolutely. And that includes the police. All across the country, dozens, if not hundreds, have violated their oaths and followed women, political opponents than anybody else they can. And it's not just the police, of course. Anybody, anywhere will violate their oath because of the power. They cannot resist it. And we can't resist it. But we can stop it. Or rather, you all can stop it. Sorry about that. You're on the hot seat. You can make the decision. You can pull the plug. Get the flock out of Burbank, keep it out of Burbank, and while you're at it, keep all the other surveillance slot out. That includes Axon, Motorola, and anybody else. Our freedom is at stake here, and we are very, very close to losing everything, including our privacy. So get these bloody flockers out of here. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Allie V., followed by Nolan Sutherland.

Hello. Good evening, everyone. I would like to add my name to the chorus of community members who are once again, after almost a year, telling you to disable the FLOC contract, ban ALPR technology, and keep mass surveillance out of Burbank. However, tonight I want to address something that happened between myself and Mayor Takahashi this weekend. I made a comment on Mayor Takahashi's campaign account, and shortly after it was posted, I was blocked from her profile altogether. Because I believe in transparency, I will be reading my deleted comment on your campaign page out loud here so that anyone in this room or tuning in can decide for themselves and form an opinion on what I shared. My comment as follows. Supporting community stabilization and protecting 60% of your constituents would truly be progressive. Housing stability is suicide prevention, reduces financial strain, and increases funding for our public schools. Displacement is a major cause of funding issues at BUSD and improves the local economy significantly reduces homelessness and allows tenants to spend their money on priorities outside of housing costs. You know as well as I do that among your constituents, half of Burbank residents are rent burdened and over one-third of Burbank tenants are severely rent burdened. This is not an issue that one can play both sides on. For many in your community, this is the difference between having a roof over our heads or living in our cars. However, you have chosen multiple times to stand on right-wing conservatives on this issue. I fail to see how you are calling yourself progressive when housing policy, which should be any candidate's highest priority because housing is a fundamental right, is dictated by corporate landlords and AGLA." End quote. I want to invite you to consider the power dynamics between us. You are the mayor of this city, and I am a member of the public. You know that I have been fighting for tenants in my community for over four years to be shown time and time again that property owners who live out of town have more weight than myself, a constituent in this city. Please sit with what I have said, and I hope you can consider tenants in future discussions. Next comment is Nolan Sutherland.

I'm Nolan Sutherland. Since I only have two minutes for public comment, I will instead refer you to a more detailed email I sent each of you about some of the problems with Flock. The email has an ACLU report, among other sources cited. Also in the email are some of my concerns about the police department's transparency regarding ICE operations in our city. For you to find the email, look for subject line cancel flock camera contract, and this was sent December 12th, 2025. Let me say it again, 2025. Myself and many others have been raising these concerns for almost a year. Why are we moving so slowly? I personally have sent several emails and spoken here at City Hall, in both City Council and at the Police Commission and so have others. Mayor Takahashi, I have had in-person meetings with you and phone calls and when presented with mounds and mounds of data, you have refused to make commitments regarding ALPRs. And let's be clear, tonight is also not a commitment. It's a vote to agendize to have the discussion that the public has been trying to have for a year. If you really have a commitment to ending ALPR mass surveillance, you need to ban ALPRs before the election. If that is not feasible, then that is your own fault for ignoring this so long. You have created this timeline. And I will say regarding the video that the chief referred to earlier, I am the person that posted it and I stand by every word in the video. The department and the chief have not been sufficiently transparent regarding ICE. And for them to come out here and say it now because of the video, I'm glad the video happened to get you to talk. Many people have been trying to speak to you. I won't necessarily say you were lying, but you were at the very least uninformed and did not take efforts to be informed and to communicate it to the public.

Next comment is Eric Hawk followed by Joe Pimienta Well hey hey and a very good evening to the great members the Burbank City Council wonderful terrific City staff and elected representatives and everyone else who's taking time out of their evening to participate in this evening's meeting. My name for the record again is Eric Hawk. I'm the current president board of directors of the Burbank community band. And I wanted to let y'all know that the Burbank community band has been rehearsing Friday mornings in preparation of its first performances of the 2026, 2027 season. The band's next show will be its annual Halloween concert. This is going to be a lot of fun. The free concert for the Burbank community will be held on Saturday, October the 24th at 5 p.m. at a great location, the main stage at Dolores Huerta Middle School at 420 South Mariposa Street right here in Burbank. The concert will feature music to move your spirits with music of eerie waltzes and wonderful festivals as well as familiar pieces from the big and small screen with the Addams Family and Monster Mash. Of course, a wonderful community tradition that the band has woven into our annual Halloween concert has been a Halloween costume contest for children and also those who remember being children in Halloween's past. So last year we had our biggest turnout of costumed, I should uncover that, costumed audience members, and we expect this will be a wonderful highlight of this performance again. If you cannot make it to Saturday's performance, we will have another show for the community, sadly without a costume contest, but that will be the day before, Friday, October the 23rd, at Jocelyn Adult Center at 10.30 a.m. and that's at 1301 West Olive. We're also right here in Burbank. Both performances are free and highly entertaining. Well, given the time, I would certainly love to see any and all of you at one or both of these shows if you can be possible. And I have flyers to pass out to all you wonderful people. So thank you very much. A good evening to you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Joe Pimienta followed by Val. Welcome.

You got to see his shoes. Yeah. Some people come here with style, others, I don't know. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members, staff, and everybody present in the chamber. A lot of comments, but let's see. First and foremost, one of the most important things that I want to say today is that today is also the Mexican Day of Independence. So if anybody is looking for an excuse to celebrate, please do. But just remember that it starts at midnight. So the thing that I really want to talk about, let's see if I can get through this. So there is a phrase that is very familiar amongst anyone who talks about the law, which is, you can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride. So for those of you who have heard this phrase, you know where this is going. But for those of you who have never heard it, what that means is that if you ever get detained by an agent of any sorts, Once you're detained, you're not beating that ride. Now, we do live in a country where you have legal tools that you can beat whatever you're being detained by in order to beat being on that rap sheet. Hence, you can beat the rap, but you cannot beat the ride. Because once you're detained, you're going in. Now, usually most people try to make that argument and say, well, sometimes when you're detained, that can be for like a minute, a couple of minutes, or a couple of hours. However, why am I bringing this up? Because when it comes to Flock, this is a technology that has proven faulty at best, means that it has given us a lot of false positives. So if you're going to get detained and you will not beat that ride, that can go for days or weeks. And that is something that I don't think is worth, I don't believe is the price worth paying for. So, this is another reason why I believe it's important to ban these ALPRs and to ban these flexiciders because again, we have seen this happen time and time again throughout the country. A lot of false positives that have gotten people detained for, I cannot stress this enough, weeks. And the reason why I bring this up is, so yeah, so, That's basically kind of what I'm getting at is like once you're on that ride, you're not getting out. And that's why I do think it's important to take that into consideration. So once more, thank you for your service. Thank you for your work. And I'll keep seeing you because I do have a lot more things to say later. Thank you for your comment.

Next up is Val, followed by Dustin Blakenship. Welcome.

Dear members of the City Council, I'm pleased that at the last meeting you placed on the agenda a proposal to place on a future agenda a discussion about banning flock cameras sometimes into the future. Apparently that's how things work. So now that we're in the agendizing phase of the planning process after the agendizing ritual inevitably runs its course, I'd like to suggest a way to save some time and to stop running out the clock and speed this up. To be fair, you're playing catch up. Just a few months ago in June, you anonymously approved a budget renewing the program. Yet today, in response to a public records request, the Burbank police stated, I quote, our most recent purchase order of 2026 isn't complete yet. All signatures and payments should be finalized in about one month. Is this why you're running out the clock? Anyway, you've heard from the residents, you've seen the concerns raised across the political spectrum, and you've realized that this issue is much bigger than it first appeared and would likely be the key issue in November. Since I have a confidence that you would actually finished this agendizing ritual, I would like to propose that you speed up the next phase, which is don't just agendize the vote to ban them, agendize what happens after the ban. Instruct the staff, prepare the reviews, the resources, whatever the ritual is, start it now. More than 100 communities have already removed these cameras, and many learned that the vote was the easy part. Some ended up in disputes with Flock. Others fought the contract terminations, and some literally have trash bags over the cameras. Do you want the trash bags to be a monument to your inefficiency? So we don't need trash bags in Burbank. Get ready now. Get the bucket trucks ready. Get the screwdrivers ready. Whatever the city manager or the attorney needs to do so that after you vote, you remove them quickly. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next up is Dustin Blakenship followed by Gemma.

Good evening. First off, I want to support my strong unbridled support for agendizing the city's FLOC contract to consider its cancellation in the unsecure, unhelpful, essentially useless AI surveillance state. But mainly I'm here to talk about ICE at our city jails. Chief, since you made comments tonight, I'll address those comments. You said a suspicious male in front of the door made Bob watch the camera. Are you telling me that ICE is not suspicious to you? ICE is not the situation where you're aware someone is standing around? The questions you haven't answered tonight, because you staged this as a hypothetical, Is ICE calling the jail? Are you giving ICE exact release times? Because we've seen ICE officers arrive at the exact release time on days when multiple people are being released and they only take that one person. When you're obfuscating your answers, I don't know what truth you're spinning. Burbank Community Defense has tried repeatedly to meet with you, and you keep putting conditions on that meeting. The one thing I hope comes out of this disgrace of a situation is that you buck up and schedule a real meeting with the members of the community who are trying to defend their neighbors. You said you have an open door, so open it. Commit to that right now, in this chamber, in public, for us to see. Or did you just lie right now on a ward you swore by? How much is that challenge coin worth?

Thank you for your comment. Next up, and my last card in person, is Jomo. Welcome.

Hi. Yes, thank you. I dressed up. I know you got the flock cameras on, so I wanted to look my best. Thank you. I know I have my own opinions about policing and the history of policing that I don't think we can opt out of in our relationship. And however we feel about police, I know at Burbank we have a very effective and efficient police force, why we honored them today at the various awards. And my understanding of part of being a first responder is to anticipate contingencies of things that could go wrong and then addressing those contingencies. And when it comes to flock camera, we don't have to pretend to know or understand what these contingencies are. We already know because they've already happened. across the nation. And it doesn't stop at Flock. It starts at every ALRP. A lot of surveillance tech. We don't have to guess of what could go wrong because it already is. This technology is not reliable and they bring problems that we can't even imagine at this point. We're still learning how this technology works and we're still learning the extent and the implications of this technology. For that reason, we need to halt this contract and future contracts and future militarization of our police and future technology in this way. I'd like to spend the rest of my time just kind of going over, I know you all were there at the 9-11, 30 seconds commemoration. I subducted a 20-year-old Russian-Armenian neighbor as he was being released from BPD custody. He was arrested and charged with a felony, allegedly for doing donuts without a license. just wanted to name him and that he was a person and inject the humanity back into this conversation. Thank you.

All right. That was my last speaker card in person. We have completed in-person general public comment and will now be moving to remote comment. For remote commenters, it's recommended that you are in a quiet area with audio turned off on other devices, including your TV, to avoid feedback when you deliver public comment. Participants will be identified by either their name or their last four digits of their phone number. As a reminder, if you are calling from a blocked or private number, you will be introduced as anonymous.

When it is your turn to speak, you will be promoted to unmute yourself.

Please be prepared to dial star six on your phone or follow on-screen Zoom prompt at that time. Please note that your name will be listed on the record exactly as shown in Zoom unless otherwise introduced when speaking. Madam City Clerk, how many speakers do we have on the line?

We have seven speakers now.

Okay, please patch them through.

Our first speaker is The Priss Show.

Hello. Yes, you are on the line.

Thank you. We demand a ban on all surveillance technology and real-time intelligence centers. None of these dozens of surveillance technologies, including Axon, are ethical or compatible with living in a free democracy. Residents, remember our taxes pay the police department salary, and City Council's duty is to represent our interests. Be aware, even when a flock contract is canceled, they don't care about consent. Flock leaves cameras up and running. Should make you wonder why a company's services would be active without payment. California as a whole has steadily decreasing crime rates. Burbank has no need of any surveillance technology or demilitarized equipment. Burbank PD should focus on strengthening community trust and humanitarian training instead of trying to turn Burbank into a cop city. Trans rights are human rights. Land back.

Our next speaker is telephone number that ends in 3754.

Hi, good evening. I'm calling to support Council Member Perez's motion to agendize a discussion on banning the use of ALPRs in Burbank. ALPRs have been under public scrutiny for over a year now, and in that time, the reasons to ban Flock and other ALPRs have only increased. Every week, there are new examples of stalking, misidentification of suspects, and other privacy concerns. An escalating number of people have had their lives negatively impacted by a piece of technology that is at best shoddy and at worst abusive. This is not a case of the public being afraid of a new technology that it doesn't understand. We understand it very clearly, and we can see it negatively affecting our quality of life. I'm not safer now to flock, camera, or any other ALPR on our streets. In fact, if I happen to meet the wrong person who has access to flock, my life is less safe. Safety would be investing in our community resources like education, housing, and mental health services. Our civil liberties are in danger. We want our civil liberties protected. To finish, I want to thank Councilman Perez for bringing this discussion back to Council. Best of luck, and let's get a band vote agendized. Thank you for your time.

Our next speaker is Ashley Ramsey.

Good evening. My name is Ashley Ramsey. I'm calling tonight to urge city council to agendize a vote to ban the flock and all ALPRs from our city. Many folks tonight have stated the problematic nature of these cameras, but just in case you missed them, I'll reiterate. These cameras have proven to be unreliable. They surveil and track people. They've been used by DHS and ICE to deport innocent people. And there are numerous reports of police officers abusing their access to stalk and harass women. And we do not have control over who gets access to this data. During a recent audit, it was also recently discovered that three former BPE officers had access to the surveillance database after leaving the department. This is unacceptable, in my opinion, and mass surveillance does not make it safe. Burbank deserves better. Keep Flock and all ALPRs out of our city. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jess Dahlbehr. Just all bear, please start your comment.

Hello.

We can hear you go ahead.

Thank you. Like so many of my fellow residents, I'm here tonight to speak in support of council member Prez's request and in support of banning flock and all their ALPR cameras. In the last month, I have seen two new flock cameras go up within a thousand feet of my home. These flock cameras are not making our city safer. As I am being subjected to this surveillance at the behest of this council, I have questions that I would like the council to answer. Flock's own training videos show their condor cameras physically tracking pedestrians. Are you all here taking responsibility for what Flock does with the images they capture of my children walking down the street? Other cities have reported up to 70% inaccuracy in Flock's scans and reporting. Do we have quality control or an auditing process on the accuracy of these flock cameras running in Burbank, the information that is being given to our law enforcement to act upon? Who is accessing information these cameras gather? Who outside of Burbank is accessing information? Does ICE have access to the info flock gathers here in Burbank on Burbank residents? As I wait on Zing with my turn to speak, we've heard our police chief, many of the members of our council, talk about how important it is to keep our residents safe, how we stand against ICE, the value of actions following our words. We have heard a lot of words tonight. The action that we want to see is the City Council banning flock cameras and removing them from Burbank City streets. Thank you.

Our next speaker is anonymous.

Hi. I'm calling in support of agendizing the discussion of terminating SOC and really any ALPR with cloud storage, AI dependency, unencrypted data, list goes on. There's so many faults with this system. And this also leads me to a concern with last month's Burbank Police Department city community meeting from August 19th. It was not being televised and it was only open to in-person viewing and participation. They claimed that they wanted to engage with people who live, work, and visit Burbank, but they chose to hold it at a time when most adults were at work or at school between 4.30 to 5.30. So essentially what they did was they excluded a vast majority of people with a day job, college students, single parents with kids, people that have disabilities or health conditions that prevented them from attending in person. And I just wanted to state I'm not anti-police. I think it's a very difficult job, and I do have respect for the ones that, you know, do it well and are very transparent and honest. Honestly, I would rather have the money that's being allocated to block right now going to get another officer in our community, not out on our streets. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Kristen Gish.

Hello. I just want to say that I'm very anti-flock. I find the technology very disturbing and very invasive. And I think if anything, this city council meeting has really shown the importance of a trusting relationship between the Burbank police and the community. This block technology really erodes that trust. And I think it is, you know, absolutely a bad thing for this community. Thank you.

Our last online speaker is David Raver. David Raver, it is your turn to speak.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can hear you. Please go ahead. You have two minutes.

Great. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council members. I wish I could have been there tonight in person, but... work prevented that. I really felt strongly, so I wanted to call in and just say we need to agenda as a vote on ending the city's contract with flood cameras. My fellow residents have already covered all the points. They've done an excellent job of articulating that, but despite whatever our best intentions or practices or restraints may be, we've already seen firsthand that these systems facilitate potential violations of citizens' privacy and constitutional rights with little to no transparency, oversight, or accountability. Given the federal administration's and their agency's willingness to test the limits of and openly violate legal authority, we can't afford to wait to see how this data will be misused. We need to pause or ban the use of the flock cameras immediately and indefinitely until we can evaluate and weigh in as a community on their use. Thank you very much.

That was our last speaker.

All right. Thank you. THERE BEING NO FURTHER PUBLIC COMMENT, I NOW DECLARE THE GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED. NOW IS THE TIME FOR A BRIEF RESPONSE FROM CITY COUNCIL, CITY MANAGER, AND CITY ATTORNEY. CITY MANAGER, CITY ATTORNEY, YES.

YES, THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. JUST A COUPLE THINGS. FIRST, THE FIRST SPEAKER TALKED ABOUT MASKS RELATED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT. SO IF YOU RECALL, THAT'S BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF A LONG PROCESS AS FAR AS STATE LAW. SO STATE LAW, WE ACTUALLY, THE STATE ACTUALLY PASSED A BILL IT WAS SB 627 LAST YEAR, AND HOWEVER, FEDERAL JUDGE ACTUALLY BLOCKED IT EARLIER THIS YEAR, BACK IN FEBRUARY. SO HOWEVER, DURING THIS LAST LEGISLATIVE TIME PERIOD, THERE'S SB 1004, WHICH ACTUALLY WAS, THAT ACTUALLY GOT PASSED AND NOW IS ON THE GOVERNOR'S DESK FOR A SIGNATURE. SO THAT'S KIND OF IT'S NOT BEEN A CITY OF BURBANK ISSUE, BUT IT'S BEEN HANDLED AT THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA LEVEL. AND THEN THE OTHER ITEM IS MS. O'CAROLLE. So hopefully she's still here. We owe her an email back. She did send us an email last Thursday afternoon. We just haven't got back to her. We are following up. That's our SB 90 unfunded state mandate process that we do annually every year. and we have to determine whether those are actually eligible expenses. We're not sure that is actually now. I've assigned that to our finance director, who we have a whole team that actually will review unfunded mandates to see if there's anything that we could get reimbursed for. So we will email her back soon, hopefully. It's been busy. But we are in the process of following up on that. So keep your fingers crossed on that one. And that's all.

All right.

We collaborated.

Okay. Sounds good. All right. Who would like to go first, Council? Council Member Anthony.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you for all the speakers coming down. First off, Mr. Bax, you probably already know this, but if one tenant is trying to get the deposit from the other two, they're probably trying to run a scam on their friend. So you stick with what you're doing. You're doing the right thing. Gary Brick, Mr. Mayor, you've sat in this seat So I know you've served this community and I want to give you grace here. I watched a young man, I believe he's Russian born Armenian, on a work visa, here in Burbank, aspiring to become a singer. He came here for music. He was taken away to God knows where. There are people being deported to Central and South America, to Africa, not to the places where they come from.

So Madam Mayor, because there's potential for extended responses, I just want to remind the public that the city council members are limited by the Brown Act to brief responses to public comment. So I just want to let the public know that the law limits your responses to them.

I'll be brief. I wanted to get to the end of this. what is happening not just around the country but to this individual in particular on Wednesday was deeply disturbing to watch in real time. And the last thing I just want to say is to compare that young man to the 11 Saudis 25 years ago killing thousands and thousands of Americans. It's deeply disturbing to see that comparison. I'm happy to talk with you about this offline, but there are so many other things that are happening that are locked in with this conversation. It's not lost on me that 9-11 was the direct result that created ICE. I would encourage you to contact me tomorrow. And we can have a conversation about this. This is not the place for that. Thank you.

Who would like to go next? Anyone else? All right.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just want to thank our forensic science folks and our evidence team for all you do for our community and solving crimes. Your work is important and you probably never get the recognition for what you do. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you to our fire chief and fire prevention week. Again, it's preventing fires and trying to figure out ways to stop fires from happening to begin with is key. I know in my community we have safety checks all the time because we're in a high brush area. Ms. O'Carroll, you got your response and thank you for your email today. from the city manager to Mr. Lane who wants to keep the assault protest fiasco alive. I had nothing to do with that court case, and I'm sure you know that because that's public information. If you can find my name anywhere in that court case, I'll scratch a check for $10,000 to the charity of your choice. And to the other person that wanted to talk about what happened at the office, you know, I think all your rage is fake. None of you have checked on the three women in that office who were harassed and were called racial slurs. All this that happens here is performative. So, each and every week when you come, keep that in mind. Keep in mind the three women that no one's ever asked about, no one's ever looked into. It's all performative. Mr. Southland. You have no credibility. Your video was a bush league. And to all the phone calls regarding the license plate readers, I have 70 hours in looking at these license plate readers' information, attending police commission meetings, appearing, watching videos. listening to presentations, I don't expect everyone to have the same level of knowledge I do, but it's really sad to me how misinformed people are that have no idea what our city does, what our contract says, You can put your thumbs up. I don't care. You're completely misinformed. And if you go on...

So the comments about Flock should be held until... Right.

So we're going to get to Flock and how we're going to make our community less safe. We'll get there. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Who would like to go next? Okay, that's for Chris.

All right.

Well, thank you for those of you who came to speak. I know there are new folks we had in the room, and thank you for all of you who this is your first time coming here. Thank you for the folks who spoke on ICE and the incident that happened. To Wendy, I believe she spoke, she asked about the mask ban. Thank you, Mr. City Manager, for answering where that is right now in the process. And I do want to add that Congresswoman Friedman right now has a federal mask ban going through the works, if you want to follow that piece of legislation. And then thank you, Chief, for clearly stating it was a disruption to our 9-11 ceremony. It was a disruption to our 9-11 ceremony. Everybody there turned their heads. And many understood what was happening at the moment. And if you didn't understand what was happening, I invite you to see what is happening throughout the community, because it is a disruption. And when I talk to folks, it is one of the number one concerns that people have in the community, ICE's presence here. And I want to address one last thing there, which is I I think a lot of what I'm saying right now is very negative. I say a lot of no or what we can't do. And it's not incredibly inspiring. And it's because I think my job in this seat is not necessarily to inspire you. It is to tell you what is possible and what is not. Because my job is to make sure that people like the señoras who I know in our community are not going to have false expectations. I want them to be safe. That is my number one here. And I know there's a lot of promises. I know there's a lot of false hope. At the end of the day, those mask bans, I don't know that they will be upheld. Because at the end of the day, the ICE agents are not beholden to state or local law. They're beholden to federal law, which right now is a complete chaos. They don't follow the standard that our department follows. And I think a lot of you heard the chief's frustration in that today. because they're held to a certain standard that those folks are absolutely not held to in any way, shape, or form. And so I say that because I do want to keep our community safe. I want you all to know what is possible and what is not. And I shared this on social media not too long ago, but it's also an invitation for all of our cities, for all of our residents. If you see something, if you have questions, if you have ideas, I think it's something we would all not like to see in our, well, I'm gonna speak for me, but something we don't wanna see in our communities, right? It's something we don't want to see here. And I invite you to keep the conversation open. I think this is a time we all have to work together on this. I know tensions are high. Believe me, I feel that it is hard to sit up here and talk to you from this microphone. It is hard because this is deeply emotional and personal to me. So please continue to work together. Don't let this break us. Don't let this break you. Because the community is the only tool we have against ICE. And to the folks that came to speak on flock, it's an additional agenda item. We'll talk about it when we get there. Can't talk about it now. And Joe, if you're still around, it's not just Mexican Independence Day, it's Central American Independence Day. Salvadoran and Guatemalan right here.

Thank you. Vice Mayor, you want to go next? Yes.

Thank you. Well, first, I want to start off acknowledging all our city staff and their great work. Madam City Clerk, thank you. Good job. Keeping the election alive and going out after the students. It's a lot of work, but thank you for doing that. I know. your heart is in it, so I appreciate it. Also, congratulations to the police department, both the forensic team and the crime, I think it's National Crime Day, but... The department is, what's the department section that we recognize? Forensics. So to the staff in both areas, thank you for all your work. I know your job is very complicated and difficult, but it must be also very exciting and rewarding dealing with all the evidence and things they do. And to the fire chief, thank you for all you do and for your staff. This city is as wonderful as it is, no matter what people might think, because of the hard work of our staff, police, fire, and every single employee here in this city. So thank you for all your work you do. Everyone else that addressed the item that's coming later on the agenda, we'll talk about that. Mr. Brick, former Mayor Brick, I do want to acknowledge you as a former mayor being here in the audience, so thank you for coming down tonight. And acknowledge Eric as usual. Hello, Eric. Thank you. I didn't get to see your shoes, but maybe I'll get a glimpse at him later. Okay, here we go. Thank you. We always enjoy lighthearted conversations, so I appreciate you for all the work you do. I do want to ask the city attorney to quickly maybe address the flyer regarding Elevate Burbank Airport Worker from the representative that came up earlier. Do we have any authority over the airport authority's decisions and what they do with their contract?

So we are not a contracting party with regard to the airport. They are a separate independent government agency under the Joint Powers Authority. Council does appoint three members, but the other six members are from Glendale and Pasadena. So that's a matter that we generally don't opine on because their contracts are there for, We don't have privity of contract with them, so we don't have the ability to control them per se. The subject of wages was something that this council considered and did not fund as a priority this budget year for a study. So on that topic citywide, it is within your jurisdiction You did not make it a budget priority this year. But specifically with regard to the airport, there is one important distinction to make, and that is that LA World Airports, LAWA, which is one of the acronyms on here, that is an entity of the city of Los Angeles. So the city of Los Angeles has more control over the airports than Burbank has over the Hollywood-Burbank airports.

Thank you for that explanation. And I wanted to clarify that even though we appoint three representatives that represent us at the authority and the airport, they make independent decisions Go ahead.

One further comment is that it's my understanding, I don't have full details, is that the airport authority has asked their staff to have this subject matter agendized for a future meeting. I don't know what meeting, perhaps this fall. The 21st.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you for the information, but so thank you. Mr. City attorney. I just wanted to clarify What our authority as council members over the airport authority and the decisions they make with their contract And missile cars already we got the answer so stay tuned the city manager promised to get back to you I Know they will And I think I addressed everybody. Thank you for coming.

All right. Thank you all for coming tonight, spending your Tuesday night with us. And thank you all for who called and those who emailed and met since our last meeting. It's been a minute since we had a meeting, so it's been a lot of community meetings since then. I want to also thank the audience for using the jazz hands and the thumbs down. Really appreciate it. It makes the meeting go smoother. We all are seeing it, and so appreciate that. And most of you spoke on the item that's going to be coming up at the end of the meeting, so we'll get to it then. I have some comments for individual speakers, but I want to generally say that I 100% support free speech at the dais, so everything you say, I support it 100% to have the right to say it. Ms. Pease, she's still here, but if you're watching online, thank you for always bringing in the arts into this space. I appreciate your support for the arts. For Mr. Bax, you mentioned a tenant harassing you and there were some details you gave. If you haven't already, please connect to our Housing Enforcement Unit to find out if we can help you. And then Mr. Scroggs, your update on Parabros. I like that name. I always appreciate your updates and your emails that you send us to and the meetings that you have with us and being really on top of all this. Really appreciate it. There's not always a lot we can do, to your point, but to know what's going on and having you as our information point is really helpful.

Thank you.

And then I'm glad to hear that SB 1004 is for the masks is up on Governor's desk. I'll be writing a personal letter to ask him to sign that. And then Mr. Hawk, always appreciate you talking about the community band. I'm going to do my very best to be there. I'm like triple booked that day. If I can't make it to that one, I'm going to come to the one at the Dawson Center the day before because I don't want to miss it. It's so much fun. It was there last year. I'll wear my pumpkin jacket again this year. And then we still have to decide what we're going to wear for Halloween. Oh my gosh, we have to decide what we're going to wear for Halloween. Just made me think that. Okay, I've got to get on that, put that on my list. And then for Mr. Pimienta, Mexican Independence Day, thank you for happy Mexican Independence Day. Happy Central American Independence Day, but not until midnight. Right. So fortunate. Hopefully we won't be here to actually celebrate that day. Hopefully we'll be done by then. But, you know, if we do leave before midnight, know that in my sleep I'll be celebrating with you in the morning. That's all I got. Thank you again for coming out tonight and speaking. Everybody really appreciate everybody speaking. Okay. Now that that is done, we are on to the consent calendar and may be enacted in one motion. Madam City Clerk, please read the consent calendar. It's a little bit on the longer side, so as she's reading, I'm going to run to the restroom.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. We have seven items on tonight's consent agenda. Item one is approval of the City Council minutes of the joint meeting of August 25th, 2026, and the dark meetings of September 1st and September 8th, 2026. Item 2 is adoption of a resolution approving contract documents, plans, and specifications, authorizing execution of a contract for bid schedule number 1537, I-5 corridor arterial signal improvements, phase 3 project to International Line Builders Incorporated. and a finding of CEQA exemption. Item three is adoption of a resolution authorizing the execution of the 2025 grant agreement with the United States Department of Justice for law enforcement equipment, acceptance of grant funds in the amount of $20,918, and amending the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget by appropriating funds. Item 4 is adoption of a resolution designating the City Manager or Assistant City Manager as the authorized agent for the State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. Item 5 is adoption of a resolution acknowledging receipt of the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Fire Inspection Performance Report. Item six is authorization to accept a donation in the amount of $5,000 from the Strickland Family Foundation and to amend the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget by appropriating funds towards the Burbank Fire Department's health and wellness program. And item seven is approval of a support position on a resolution to be considered at the 2026 League of California Cities Conference, establishing a working group to evaluate a state constitutional amendment or other initiative to ensure final local authority over housing and land use decisions. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar?

Move to approve.

Second. All right. Please take the roll. We have a motion by Councilmember Anthony, seconded by Vice Mayor.

Councilmember Anthony?

No on three, abstain on seven, yes on the rest.

Yes on everything.

For me.

Sorry. Noting the absence of Councilmember Perez, Councilmember Rosati? Yes.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mullins? Yes. And Mayor Takahashi? Yes. Thank you.

Next up is our one report to council this evening. So after staff's presentation, city council will proceed with public comment. Speakers will be allowed to speak on the item at the conclusion of the presentation as long as the speakers have not spoken on the item during the first period of general public comment. Please be sure to submit your public comment card now as no additional public comment cards will be accepted once the comment period commences following staff's presentation. If you would like to participate in remote public comment for this report, Please join via Zoom using the link on the agenda or by calling 818-238-3335. Please join the speaker queue by using the raise hand feature in Zoom or by dialing star 9 on your phone. So our first report to Council and our only report to Council tonight is an update on the City of Burbank's greenhouse gas reduction plan implementation and 2024 greenhouse gas inventory and I welcome Sustainability Officer Drew Johnstone to please present the report. Welcome.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor. Thank you for the introduction. I'm Drew Johnstone, your Sustainability Officer at Burbank Water and Power. And as you mentioned, I'll give the update on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan, which I'm going to call the GGRP for efficiency throughout this presentation. I want to start with just sort of a high-level recap of what the GGRP is. It was adopted just over four years ago, a few months after I was hired, and it was a really large community-led effort and resulted in council adoption of this plan, which lays out a path to reduce the community's emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and that's to meet the state's goal outlined in Senate Bill 32. Implementing the plan takes major investment and effort. The GGRP includes 12 strategies, 21 measures, and 124 action items. These are things that are aimed to reduce planet warming emissions, but also improve residents' quality of life and prepare the community for adaptation and resilience. The results we are seeing and will continue to see are more carbon-free energy, healthier, more efficient buildings, water-wise landscaping, zero-emission transportation options, safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists, and less waste through reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting. Now to track progress, staff provide the community with annual progress reports. I try to come to council and boards and commissions every year to talk about this. And I'm gonna include implementation updates and an accounting of our community's emissions. So you've been presented...

Sorry, pardon me. We do not have a quorum right now, so we need to wait until Council Member Rosati comes back.

Okay.

All right. All right, he's back in the zone. Okay, please continue.

Great. So I'm going to be presenting a greenhouse gas inventory, which is an accounting of our emissions. Then I'm going to talk about the council priorities as they relate to sustainability over the last year. And then I'll touch on some highlights from staff in the various departments on all the measures that were implemented recently. So with that, I'll start with our greenhouse gas emission inventory results, which offer a new snapshot in time for how much emissions can be associated with the community of Burbank. So the calendar year 2024 was the most recent comprehensive year of data that we were able to analyze last year. And we are emitting just over a million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or about 10 metric tons per capita. We are about 12.8% below 1990 levels. And as a reminder, our goal is to get to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. So if we can reduce our per capita emissions by another three tons per capita, we'll hit our 2030 goal. The good news is that city emissions are the lowest they've been in over 30 years, but we've got significant work to do to meet those goals. Here's the same data but in a color-coded bar chart with the different colors representing the different sectors or sources of our community that pollute the environment, air, and the atmosphere. Community-wide emissions have declined overall since peaking in 2010 despite fluctuations in weather, our energy supply, economic activity, transportation behavior, and waste generation patterns. So that's good. The emissions ranked from most to least impactful are shown in the upside down pyramid. Tailpipe pollution from on-road vehicles is responsible for about half of the city's emissions. By 2024, passenger vehicle travel rebounded as the economic and social activity normalized following the pandemic. And if you're thinking about what sort of individual actions can be taken in Burbank, I'll give you a little tidbit here. Replacing a gas car with an electric vehicle or human powered transportation like walking or driving can reduce four tons of emissions per year. Electricity generated and delivered by Burbank Water and Power is responsible for 31% of emissions in 2024. If we break that down further, business customers account for about 22% of that, residents, 8%, and city facilities are only 1%. The next major source is methane gas delivered by SoCalGas and combusted at homes and businesses, typically for heating. That's about 11% of the community's emissions. Again, when we think about individual action, things people can do are electrifying heating, installing solar and battery to offset that energy. That'll reduce individual emissions by about two and a half tons per year. Next is fuel combusted to power off-road equipment and construction vehicles. That's about 4% of our emissions. And then waste from landfills and compost facilities is about 4% as well. And then lastly, treatment of wastewater and importing water is less than 2% of our community's emissions. So now let's look to council priorities from this last year and how they align. Starting with number one, council priority was to integrate solar power in new developments and new buildings. I'm happy to report that solar and battery storage is actually required in most new building developments as a part of the state's energy code. And there are very limited exemptions for very small structures, shaded buildings, or high rise buildings. The second is requiring 100% electrification of new construction. This one is a little bit tricky. Requiring all new electric construction is actually on hold right now due to recent state legislation that put a moratorium on local reach codes for residential construction. The good news here, though, is that the state code already requires all-electric readiness and makes electric heating and water heating the baseline. And those were historically the two largest sources of gas in buildings, and those are basically electric from the get-go. The state code also requires EV infrastructure in new construction. And that takes us to number three, to encourage additional EV charging stations. So to encourage that, at existing facilities and on city properties, Burbank Water and Power has a really popular rebate program, and we also self-install EV chargers out in the public for the community. We maintain over 100 EV chargers throughout the community, and they're heavily utilized. And we have plans to expand with a focus on DC fast chargers to enable customers to charge quicker, which is especially valuable for folks who don't have home charging or charging at work. The next is addressing urban heat. We felt this over the last couple months for sure. This is being addressed through city code. We have cool roof requirements, so any new roof or roof replacement has to be a cool roof material with high reflectivity. We've also installed new shade structures over picnic areas and shade tree planting. Both Burbank Water and Power and Parks and Rec administer programs that offer free shade trees for residents and businesses on private property and in parkways. Then when it comes to the urban tree canopy and green spaces, my colleagues in Parks and Rec continue to maintain the canopy and enhance public landscaping. There are actually also upcoming regulations banning the irrigation of non-functional turf grass with potable water, and that's going to drive additional landscape transformations at several municipal sites in the coming year. Six is considering restrictions on landscape equipment. We've heard a lot from the community about the noise and pollution from gas leaf blowers. And we can expect maintaining landscapes to be a lot more quieter and less polluting as well. We have our leaf blower ordinance that's in place. And this is the first year of implementation. So staff is focusing on educating property owners and landscapers. Burbank Water and Power stepped up this year to host a live event with hands-on demo of electric equipment. And we continue to sponsor rebates for landscapers to get spare batteries to keep those electric equipment going throughout the day. And lastly, when it comes to water and power conservation, Burbank Water and Power continues to administer education and incentive programs. And this last year, We added incentives for our low-income customers to upgrade their homes. We hosted numerous water conservation workshops. And just this last month, we relaunched our low-income refrigerator exchange program. Last fiscal year, we issued over $415,000 in rebates back to our customers. So I'm going to transition a bit into some of the greenhouse gas emission reduction measures. The city has completed 14 measures in the GGRP so far. We've got an additional 54 initiatives currently being implemented and another 53 pending initiation. I'm going to now run through some of the highlights from the last year and a half. with some photos. The top left one is a photo of a slide from a presentation I gave to the Burbank Housing Corporation tenants that live in a building that we're going to be retrofitting. We're going to be upgrading that building. This is a cornerstone project of our GGRP to utilize Burbank Water and Power's public benefits funds in our sustainability programs to help our affordable housing provider, Burbank Housing Corporation, upgrade their buildings from gas to efficient electric buildings. We sought out state and federal funding, and we were awarded $120,000 from two programs that we're really proud about. We aim to continue this work throughout the year with another two to three buildings slated for upgrades later in 2026 and in 2027. And then with car tailpipes causing so much pollution in Burbank, we need to support zero-emission EV adoption in the charging that those vehicles need. Charging up businesses for employees and customers is a great convenience. And to assist small and medium-sized businesses, Burbank Water and Power continues to offer no-cost consultations and generous rebates. Last fiscal year, we issued $550,000 in rebates to commercial customers in Burbank. This last year, we also launched a new battery energy storage rebate for our solar customers. We've processed five rebates so far, totaling $40,000 in rebates. And we've got a few more in the queue, which is really exciting. We have $155,000 remaining in that rebate program for the rest of the fiscal year. And speaking of rebates I already talked about, in total, our energy efficiency programs have helped save the community 5,900 megawatt hours. That's equivalent to 7,800 homes usage for a year and about 3,500 metric tons of emissions. This year, we also had the ribbon cutting at the regional intermodal transit center, the solar and storage project, which is our city's largest. And as of this summer, we can now brag that all of our public street lights have been converted to LEDs. That's 9,451 lights. These new lights reduce maintenance activities and the amount of energy Burbank Water and Power must generate or purchase during the evening hours when we experience peak demand. Here is a photo from the event Burbank Water and Power hosted earlier this year to educate the landscaper community about the gas leaf blower ban and promote clean, quiet electric alternatives. The event included a classroom session with a presentation from Michael Cacciotti, who's the chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, who's in the blue shirt there. We also had outdoor hands-on demonstrations and even a raffle that gave away seven pieces of electric equipment to local landscapers, and they loved that. It was 100% grant funded as well. City landscape workers, we've been in touch with them as well. And I've learned that they've expanded their use of battery powered equipment for their routine maintenance tasks in Burbank. Speaking of landscaping, Burbank Water and Power led this effort, but we also collaborated with Parks and Rec and Public Works to publish a new parkway design guide with landscape templates. Because people were asking us, what should I do with my parkway landscaping? And so we outlined some great ideas in this guide. And then on the regulatory side, when it comes to landscaping, our colleagues in building and safety continue to enforce the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, or MWELO, for newly permitted landscapes. These are a couple of examples of how the city and BWP continue to implement our urban water management plan, conservation programs, and offer resources to residents to make water-wise landscape choices. Oh, and here's a photo of some purple pipe going in at Georgia's Zayt Park. CDD Planning and Parks and Rec, et cetera, they've incorporated recycled water into their objective development standards, and all city-owned irrigation controllers have been modernized to reduce water usage. Then when it comes to public works and our efforts to reduce organic waste, there have been measures that have been put in place in alignment with Senate Bill 1383. And lastly for this slide, parking management is actually a strategy in the GGRP. The goal there is to price all public parking so that at least 20% of parking supply is available at any time of day. And in March of 2025, the transportation staff here implemented a paid parking program downtown and staff are continuing to evaluate that performance and provide periodic updates to council. Additionally, transportation staff continued work to expand public transit stops such as the downtown Burbank Metrolink Station and the Burbank Airport North Metrolink Station. So as far as presentations and outreach, I've already presented this presentation to the Sustainable Burbank Commission as well as the Burbank Water and Power Board. Some of the feedback that we received included that the GSRP is a very overwhelming document. There's so much good stuff here. They would like to see potentially how we could organize all the measures and put them in order of priority, excuse me, put them in order of effectiveness as well as cost. So that's something that I'll be working on. Staff continue to implement the ongoing pending actions and measures, and any new work that requires budget will be reviewed and considered at future city council meetings. And of course, we will continue to seek out grants and other funding opportunities to implement our goals, policies, and programs. And we will also be considering innovative educational campaigns for how our residents and businesses can do their part to save a ton of emissions, or in this case, save three tons of emissions in order for us to meet our 2030 goal. And with that, I will wrap it up, and I'm happy to take any questions or feedback.

All right. Thank you for the presentation. Madam City Clerk, do we have any public comment here or online?

We do not.

Okay. Then we will go straight into council questions and comments. Council, do you have any questions? Yes. Council Member Anthony.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I wanted to just quickly get your Just overview and it doesn't have to be specifics, but I know we've adopted a lot of rebates over the years for people to turn in lawn equipment and appliances and basically change over their household into a more greenhouse friendly or greenhouse gas reduction friendly. household, how is that going generally? Are we seeing improvements? Are they marked? Can we measure those numbers?

Yes, we can. I mentioned we've issued over $415,000 in rebates last fiscal year for efficiency and electrification, as well as water conservation, and then $550,000 in rebates for electric vehicle infrastructure in the last year, which is great. And we do see measurable savings. We can attribute each and every appliance that's replaced. We know that it replaced a less efficient unit, and we track kilowatt hours anticipated to save for each of those appliances. So we do track that and we actually report that to the state every year.

Yes, Vice Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation and for all the efforts that you guys put into this program. I do have a question and it's on slide number five, I believe. And it's under encouraging installation of additional EV charging stations. Can you talk a little bit about what kind of efforts and do we have any kind of incentive programs? And how successful are you in doing it? Because from my understanding or I hear from individuals that own electric cars, It's very difficult to find stations that are available throughout the day, even in the evening. So it seemed to be, if you don't have your own electric charger at home, it is a challenge finding those stations. So what are we doing and what incentives are we giving and how fast, how responsive the community is back to actually install those stations?

Thank you for the question. As I mentioned, we have... It's a loaded question. No, it's happy to answer it. We have over 108 public EV charging ports throughout the city. It's a combination of curbside, at our parking garages, at our parks, in front of BWP, scattered throughout the city. And they're heavily utilized, as you said, which is a great thing. And our goal is to install more. We recently at Burbank Water and Power just approved a contract, for example, to bring on a new design build contractor to get more stations. We've budgeted for more stations to be installed publicly. And we want to focus on DC fast chargers because people's time is valuable. A lot of folks that don't have home or workplace charging, they want to be in and out quick. So we want to give them a fast, reliable charge. So that's what we're going to be focusing on. primarily, as far as public charging goes. We also want them to be connected to the internet and apps so people can see in real time if they're available or not. That's what people expect. They have that in their cars now. So we want to have our chargers connected to systems like that. And when it comes to incentives, we have both residential and commercial incentives for electric vehicle charging. As you mentioned, if you live in a single family home with a garage or driveway, it's kind of an easy button to get a charger installed. But if you live in an apartment, that doesn't have charging, it can be a lot more difficult. We have our technical assistance program that offers no cost consultations that is available to small and medium sized businesses. And we are actually open to multifamily buildings if they are interested in participating in that as well.

So if I have a business and I may have a couple of parking spaces that I can convert that into the EV charging stations, what is the cost? How much does it cost? Is it I have to incur the cost to install those chargers or what incentives? I think that's what I'm looking for. Like how much are we giving them? Hmm. And what kind of encouragement are we actually going out there and saying, here, go ahead and install and we'll pay for it. Here's how much you're going to get back from the city.

Yeah, thank you. So cost varies widely depending on the existing conditions, how many ports you want to install, the distance from the parking space to the electric panel, because you're going to have to physically connect it with wiring and conduits. Sometimes that involves trenching, cutting concrete. So things like that can really add to costs. But there's also other solutions to... to deal with that. So we would highly encourage people to get quotes from electricians to figure out what that cost might be. And as I mentioned, we've got this no-cost technical assistance program where a consultant will go to the site and talk with the property owner about how many chargers they're interested in installing, where they would go. And then they'll look at this electric panel to see how much capacity they have available Because if they don't have spare breaker space, they might need to upgrade their panel, and that would be an additional cost. When it comes to what we provide as far as an incentive, it ranges depending on if they need a service upgrade or not. We'll give an additional incentive for that. And we will incentivize up to 40 ports per business. So we've had a couple businesses that have maxed out their incentive with us, and doing 40 ports There have been some multi-family buildings. There have been some medical offices, some studios. So a lot of employers are looking at it as an option. And the rebates, again, vary based on how many ports are installed and if they're public or not. So the incentives vary. But we have our Burbank Water and Power electric vehicle rebate website with all the details.

Thank you. And as you mentioned, you could see that there's a lot of challenges facing the businesses, whether they have to upgrade the panel, dig in the drenches to get the wires running how far. So it's a little complicated, but there is a need, obviously, in the community. So if we do it under the public, I mean, our own spaces, it's a lot probably easier for us to do that than having businesses or even apartment building. Cause I hear from folks that live in apartments and saying, I can't charge my vehicle. The line is too long. We're supposed to have electric vehicles. And, um, it is a challenge. So I want us to keep an eye on that because if we're putting it down as part of our solution, I need really to make sure that we're addressing it to have a solution, not to make it difficult. My other question, when it comes to the rebate for the solar batteries, Why do you think so far we only have, because we've had that program, I think it's been almost since January, if I'm not mistaken, when you guys came to us and it was effective this year. Correct. Why do you think we only have a very low turnout with only five so far and you said like might be four in the queue waiting when come to installing batteries and people taking advantage? I mean, have they shared with you any reasons why? Is it the cost of the battery? Is it just too expensive?

I mean, batteries are definitely an added cost to a solar system. But we have a very generous rebate. And the folks that are applying are very happy that they're being offered $530 a kilowatt hour, which is offsetting about half the cost. So the folks that are taking advantage of it are very thrilled. We could do a better job of getting the word out. We'll continue to push the word for folks that have solar or considering getting solar to add batteries.

530 kilowatt hours. So on an average battery, how many kilowatt do they have?

Often they're 10 or 13. So they can get up to 5,000. And it might be $10,000 for a top-end battery system.

So you think it would cover about half of the cost. OK. And when we run out of the funds, are we going to come back for next year and ask council for additional funds? We have the program that would continue funding that?

I certainly hope so. I'm going to definitely propose it in our budget to keep it going. Yeah.

OK. OK. Those are my questions. Thank you. Council Member Rosati, did you have any questions? Okay, you want me to go first? I can go first? Okay, I have a few questions. Okay, first of all, thank you for this report. I know it takes a lot of work to put this all together, and the 54, list of 54 initiatives, I don't know how you and your team have time to do all of these in the report, so well done. It's a citywide effort. In fact, this sheet right here of all the pictures of all the things, I want to have this framed. and put on my wall. It's like, yes, that's awesome, that's awesome, that's awesome.

Very excited. Thank you.

Okay, so in the report, I have a few questions. One is about the new solar array that was just installed above the parking lot. So is that a predicted impact in the report? And if so, what do we see as potentially the impact of that?

That ribbon cutting, that commissioning of that two megawatt solar system took place after this greenhouse gas emission inventory from 2024. So it's not technically included in this emissions inventory. But any new renewable system will have a positive impact on the emissions associated with energy generation in Burbank. So it will make an impact.

OK. And the next report cycle, remind me, was going to be when? It's in two years? Every two years?

That's the cadence I've been comfortable with. It's a big effort to collect all this data. Many of my colleagues are here. Yes, it was a big effort that took over a year to do. So try and turn around 2025. It'd be very quick, but I think 2026 data would be inappropriate. calendar year to look at. So we would probably start that in 2027. Okay.

And it was just brought online in August, July was when the solar array was brought online, right? So that may just be at the end of the 2026 that we'll see some of the effect. Okay. I'm really excited to see how that gets, how we see the impact of that for our missions.

Could I just ask, Madam Mayor, that clock, that two-year clock, is that an internal clock we've set for ourselves? Is that state law doesn't require us to absolutely?

No, it does not. No. It's kind of a best practice. A lot of cities do buy-in. But I looked at some of our neighboring cities, and they haven't done inventory since 2021. I'll wait five years. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, I love to have the information every two years, obviously, if it takes a lot of effort to put it together, but things move quickly and our goals are quickly coming up that we're trying to achieve. So keeping a close look on how we're doing and also keeping the community informed as much as we possibly can. So really appreciate that, that turnaround. And then we also are planning an upgrade for our magnolia power plant, right? And that's not going to be in this report, but can you speak a little bit to maybe the expected just general impact that we might see moving forward on the upgrade for the magnolia, and what the magnolia plant is for maybe the community that isn't aware?

Sure, I can do it. You want me to try? Okay, so the Magnolia Power Project is a combined cycle power plant that's on our campus. So it relies on natural gas to spin a turbine, and then the waste heat generates steam for a secondary generator. So it's one of the most efficient power plants in the country. It has a capacity right now of 323 megawatts. We actually received a $49 million in state funding recently for upgrades to the plant, which will have the opportunity to add another 54 megawatts of peak capacity. And so the project is in two parts. There's going to be an upgrade to the gas path that's expected to upgrade output by 24 megawatts, and then upgraded compressor expected to increase output by 30 megawatts. So it's going to be able to increase the capacity, but the emissions per megawatt hour will go down, which is great.

Yeah, that's great. And that's a shared plant, right? All the energy doesn't come to us. We have several cities that buy.

It's a shared asset through the Southern California Public Power Authority. Burbank Water and Power is the operator of the plant. Got it.

So it'll benefit everybody who participates. Great. And then about the airport, I got a question or two about the airport. So the airport itself and the power that the airport itself generates or how it uses power is in the report, but not the airplanes or the flights or maybe neither?

Thank you for the question. So the airport, the electricity and the natural gas that the airport uses would be included in our emissions inventory. However, yeah, air travel is not included in our inventory. We're primarily looking at, in our industry, we call them scope one and scope two emissions, so the emissions that are generated within our community or emissions that are generated outside but we import in, for example, electricity generated from outside of Burbank or waste that's generated here but sent to a landfill out of Burbank. Air traffic, for example, most of the emissions are happening elsewhere. It's just the takeoff and landing here in Burbank. So it's not something that we would count because air traffic emissions are calculated by other entities and they're regulated by the federal government, for example. The airport's doing some really cool things, though. I was looking on their sustainability website, and they have sustainability initiatives and goals to reduce their emissions very much in line with the city of Burbank's goals. They're doing a great job of electrifying their ground transportation. They have outlets at each of the gates to power battery-powered vehicles. And I know they've converted four of their passenger shuttles to be electric, zero emission. And, of course, they've got their new terminal that's going to be opening soon, and it's going to be very energy efficient. It's going to be LEED certified, and they have rooftop solar as well to help offset some of the energy consumption.

Great. Okay. And all that, what you just described, is that in our GHERP, or is that their own separate?

No, that's just bonus material for tonight. Bonus material. Yeah, they have their own reports that they publish.

Okay, and those reports are available online?

On the Hollywood Burbank Airport's sustainability webpage. Cool.

Well, well done on all this, and thank you for providing this report. I know a lot of work into it, and this is also available. Besides being in our agenda today, it's available online for folks to find later.

I wanted to present tonight. I was going to see if there was any feedback or major changes, but it sounds like there isn't, so I'm going to be publishing this on the City of Burbank's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan website. I'll publish the presentation, the report, the emissions inventory, and all the attachments.

Perfect. Okay, thank you.

Council Member Perez, you have a question? Thank you.

I selfishly wanted to hear your questions because I know you've worked on the GGRP for a while. So I did have just kind of an overarching question. On page three of the staff report and in the, I forget which slide it is, but in the presentation, we talk about the goal of 40% below the 1990 emissions by 2030, and we've hit 13%. And look, to your guys' credit, we're going so well incrementally, but we know we're still not going to necessarily hit that, like at the rate we're going, if we keep going at the same rate. Just in your opinion and in your department's opinion, what is a major thing the city could do? Because we talked about a lot of things that individuals could do, and that's great, but what can we do as a city? What's probably the most important thing we need to start talking about, looking at?

Yeah. Yeah, thank you for the question. That's a big question. I think a lot of the answers are in the plan itself. I mean, a lot of great things are published in there and we're working towards them. We need to decarbonize transportation and our buildings are the two biggest sources. So transportation, we've talked quite a bit about, but electrifying transportation, encouraging more human modes of transportation as well, getting people out of single occupancy vehicles into carpooling, public transit, bikes, walking, and electric vehicles. That's going to be big. And then decarbonizing our buildings by promoting electrification and reducing the amount of gas that we're burning in our buildings. So we've got to continue incentivizing electrification, high efficient electric equipment, and of course we're doing that at Burbank Water and Power. So we've got to just keep pushing on. transportation, electrification, building electrification, and then, of course, powering that with an increasingly amount of carbon-free energy. And, of course, Burbank Water and Power is looking for opportunities for renewables and carbon-free energy every day.

Yeah, I know BWP looks at so many of the alternatives available to us, and I appreciate that because I so often hear that we are leaders regionally and nationwide in looking at alternatives. So I'm really grateful for everything you're doing. And the only other question I had is I know that it was a suggestion, I think it was from Sustainable Commission, to organize the goals kind of in order of most impactful or most doable. Are we looking at that for kind of the next time we talk about this in a couple years?

Yes, we have a spreadsheet, and it's sortable. And so what I'm going to be working on of next year and two are looking at the carbon emission reduction potential for the measures. A lot of great work was actually done in the original GGRP update. in one of the appendices. So I'm just going to transfer that over to this electronic version and try to make it sortable and easy to understand. And in addition, I'd love to expand our online dashboard, which is public facing. I'm going to be looking for other solutions so that we can increase transparency into all the measures and, again, have it be a sortable tool and a dashboard for the community to utilize.

Thank you. I appreciate this so much. Four and a half years ago, when I was a lowly busy bee in the community, I was working with Sunrise on a Green New Deal for Burbank, and a lot of it was getting these goals to be more ambitious and getting all electrification, which I know is like our white whale right now. But I'm so glad to see that so many of the things that I worked on, so many of the things that you worked on, Madam Mayor, are being implemented, are being put forward, and I'm really grateful to all of you for making that vision happen, because I know it's a lot of work. especially now. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Any more comments or questions for staff? No? Well, thank you so much. This is a note in file, so we don't make a void on this one. So thank you so much for your presentation and all the hard work.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Well done. Yeah. All right. Next up, we will hear council comments, including reporting on council committees, assignments, attendance at conferences, and regional meetings and community events. Who would like to go first? Yes.

I will be quick because I was a little sick this week. So on Thursday, August 27th, I went to the VICA annual local office holders luncheon. It was great. They ask every office holder a question. I got a question about what we're doing for the entertainment industry. So it was great to talk about that and see leaders from across the valley.

On Wednesday, September 9th, I missed the library board of trustees meeting because I was sick with a fever and I didn't want to get anybody else sick, so.

And then on Friday, September 11th, of course, along with my colleagues, I attended the commemoration of the 9-11 at the police and fire headquarters. And today I sat on the APPA Policymakers Council call to talk about energy. Yeah, that's all I did.

Who would like to go next? Council Member Rosati?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. On September 1st at 6.30, I attended the Masonic Lodge First Responders Dinner, which they put on every year. They do a fabulous job, and I think that they do that every year for our first responders. On September 10th, I met with a council candidate that night, the Park and Rec Board, Commission meeting, and then on Friday 11th, I attended the 9-11 Police Fire Headquarters Memorial, and then later that day, I met with a council candidate, and on Monday, September 14th, I didn't attend the Planning Board meeting, but I did listen to it, and then I have something later on tonight about that meeting, so thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I attended a number of events, but I only want to highlight one. I went to the Domestic Violence Task Force on Wednesday, September 2nd. During that meeting, there was a little bit of a discussion about the issues that the DV Task Force handles and whether or not we should include women's issues, gender-based violence broadly, It was a robust discussion. The last few weeks, our country has been talking a lot about issues facing women, specifically young mothers. If you're out in the community and you've had a child recently and you are suffering, if you're having problems, if there's issues, please reach out. Talk to somebody. Talk to your family. Talk to your friends. Please do everything you can. Talk to your doctor, your therapist. We have a real problem in this country, and I think everyone is waking up to that fact right now. And anything you can do to be heard, and everyone else, listen. Thank you.

Vice Mayor, you want to go next?

Thank you. On August 26, I attended the meeting with L.A. 28 Warner Brothers to go over the plans for the upcoming Olympic. The same day I had a meeting with Miss Jamie Keyser from the chamber. Then I attended the senior citizen board. um then on the 27th there was the chamber mixer on the 31st i had a couple of meetings um one with a council candidate and one with the mayor of glendale and on september 1st i attended a zoo meeting for women achievers it was a meet and greet And on the same evening, I attended the Burbank Masonic Lodge, which they acknowledged our first responders. It was like Council Member Rizzotti said, it was a really great event. Then the following day I attended a small business coffee chat at the chamber which met almost 32 businesses that joined the meeting and it was good conversation about city services and assembly and Nick Schultz, Amanda was there also representing his office and talking to the businesses and what we can do to help them. The same day I had an interview from the leadership Burbank the 2027 class they interviewed me for a group of individuals for their project and Then the same evening I had the domestic violence task force and councilmember Anthony talked about it and then the next day I had scat transportation committee meeting and I had also following on 9-11 the meeting with Arroyo Verdugo Joint Power Authority with their staff to set up the agenda for our upcoming meeting. And that was it.

Let's see, on August 26th, I went to the LA County City Selection Committee meeting for the Metro Board seat, and we should be meeting soon about that, I guess, to finalize that selection. Yeah, haven't heard from them. August 27th, I went to the BWP Key Accounts event, which is the larger BWP accounts, and they gave her an update on a lot of our public works. On the 28th, I went to the Valley Economic Alliance's fifth annual appreciation breakfast. On September 1st, I also attended the Masonic Center's first responders night, but I could only stay for a little while. And then on September 2, I had a visit with a local company, AOA, and some of the cool technology and production work that they're doing. And then later on that day, I had a meeting with a community member about the EV charging stations. And then on September 3rd, I attended the SCAG Energy and Environment Committee meeting. On the 8th, I met with Warner Brothers Studio about workforce development. And then on September 9th, I met with the National League of Cities subcommittee that I'm on working on national funding for workforce development and making sure we get that. September 10th, I attended the Burbank Cultural Arts Commission as a liaison. On the 11th, I attended the 9-11, 6.30 in the morning, the 9-11 recognition at the police department. And then today, earlier today, I met with, again, with the National League of Cities regarding the federal level immigration policy and advocating for that. And I also had a Zoom, right before this meeting, I had a Zoom call with the National Animation Museum. Here's some progress on that. Okay. Moving on to our last item and why many of you are still in the audience. Now is the time for the consideration of previously introduced agenda items. As a reminder, this is council's process for adding additional agenda items. There's one request tonight from August 25th, 2026 council meeting. The council member who introduced the item will have two minutes to provide a brief explanation of the request along with how the request ties to city council goals. After that, Council will vote on whether or not the item should be added as an additional agenda item for consideration at a future meeting. If needed, Council may provide clarification or additional information to staff regarding the agenda item request. The first item is a request and the only item is a request from Council Member Perez to agendize a discussion on banning flock and automatic license plate reader systems in Burbank. Council Member Perez, you may begin your two minutes.

Okay. Thank you. Oh, my God. Don't look at me. So much pressure. Okay. So for me, this is really because we have been hearing, and we heard it tonight, we've heard it multiple nights, a lot of concerns about ALPRs and private mass surveillance technology from different facets of our community. It is not lost on me that we had members of our community here that have never come before. We had members that are regulars. We had members that have come for other issues, like the Rancho, members that come for other issues, like water and power rates, but they were here for flock tonight. And those are the emails we've received as well. So I think it's time we talk about it. Look, the reason I also put this forward is because I took the time to do my own research in the last few months. Flock cameras have a bad track record. We know now that they've been used for immigration enforcement and have ICE contracts. They may be going to acts on next, which is a concern with ALPRs. And we know that This is a technology that exists in a cloud away from us, and it is difficult to find a way where you can absolutely and 100% certainly say that you know when somebody else, this company, is tapping into that data. We also know that it's been used to track women moving across state lines to have abortions and being used to implement other states' abortion bans. And we have 50, 50 well-documented and currently prosecuted cases of officers and former officers who still have access across the nation using it to track current and former romantic partners and to commit domestic violence. Now, I don't think this speaks at all to our department in any way, shape, or form. I think it speaks to a technology that we have seen abused nationwide. And that's why I propose this agenda item to ban Flock AND SIMILAR POLL MOUNTED ALPR TECH USED FOR SHARE SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES. OUR COMMUNITY DOESN'T WANT IT, AND IN THE RESEARCH I'VE DONE THE LAST FEW MONTHS, I'VE FOUND THE COSTS TO SEVERELY OUT BENEFIT THE POTENTIAL GOOD, AND THAT IS WHY I'VE AGENDIZED THIS.

COUNCIL MEMBER ROZZATI.

It was just disturbing to me to hear tonight some of the misinformation. I was wondering if we can have the chief come up and just talk about a few issues, just kind of refresh us how we, our department, uses license plate readers.

Can this come into a discussion item to that level, or is this more of a question to vote on what Councilmember Perez suggested based on what she said?

So under the Brown Act, it's agendized. But under your procedures, in order to give staff time to prepare for full discussion, typically you do not have staff presentations as part of this. But it's within your discretion.

Can I ask questions?

It's up to this body. The mayor is the presiding officer.

Can I ask questions of our chief?

Okay. I want to keep this limited to whether to agendize this or not. So if you could keep your questions limited to making a decision of whether to agendize it.

Well, I think it benefits all of us so we can make that decision.

If you could keep your questions to whether to agendize this or not. We don't, rather than getting into a full discussion of the pros and cons of it and focusing on whether it helps you make your decision on whether to agendize, I would say. That would be my, that would be my.

Thank you. Chief, can you just tell us how we use our system and how our contract is different from than other communities and how we use license plate readers with Cletus and talk about the information sharing that some of the rumors that information is getting out to the wrong people.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, Rafael Quintero, Police Chief. I'll try to do my best in remembering several of those questions. First, as far as what the system, the automated license plate reader system is used for. One is to locate and identify missing persons. More often than not, especially what we, outside of someone missing, you got human trafficking component. Two, you got solving crimes. Although it is a point in time system, it is also designed to be proactive in certain situations, which requires a longer discussion. Three, you got the generated hot list that depending on those crimes that are being investigated, information can be entered into the system which would allow you then to be notified when a vehicle in question comes across one of those cameras so we can detect or identify those people or even hold them accountable if they're wanted in certain cases and then Last is stolen vehicles. It has made it very easy to identify those stolen vehicles taken from residents, not only within our community, but other parts of the community. And why do we use Cletus? CLETS?

Is that the name?

CLETS is the criminal law enforcement system. I mean, there's several acronyms associated with the criminal justice information system. It's just one component of, as far as I don't have the expertise, to best answer that question. I don't think it would be helpful in the purpose, for the purpose of this system. KLEZ is just the system that we use to access other functions of outside. So what we're talking about is DMV information. Not necessarily, were you taking the information from FLOC, the license plate, entering it into KLEZ to determine if that vehicle is wanted? But they operate independently of each other.

And then policy 462 on automatic license plate readers? What specifically? We have a policy specifically.

We have several policies that govern the use of automated license plate reader technologies and any other license plate technology within not only the police department, but then there are also audits that we conduct on a routine basis now on an agreed-upon Last conversation with council is biweekly. And we follow the same best practices that other agencies follow across the region and what has been recommended and suggested by council as far as making sure that we review those policies and they're aligned with the respective other agencies across the region. And surveilling people. Last question. Our intent is not to surveil people. anyone. That is not the purpose of this equipment is to conduct any type of mass surveillance on anyone. Thank you.

And you have one quick question.

Thank you. My quick question is in back I believe April or May when we were discussing the budget and we all approved the budget item to move forward for the contract. I recall that you said you will continue looking for alternative options for the actual system, not necessarily use the company flock, but you're going to continue searching for something else, and you will be coming back to us once you have that finalized. Is that accurate?

Yes, ma'am. If I could, that was the council direction at the time. Yes. That was back in June. Thank you, June. We are evaluating other options. I know this will tweak that potentially direction. The other thing that we also had that we are working on was for Office of Independent Review to review the policies and procedures related to flock cameras. So just wanted to provide some context of what happened in June.

Thank you, and I appreciate the exact reminder because I was asking the chief directly, would you come back and would you provide us the information once you have something in your hand that you're able to do? And you did promise you will continue looking and you will come back. And you haven't been back, it's only been a couple of months, so obviously you haven't had enough time to do enough research to figure out what is needed for you to come back, but you're continuing your search. Is that accurate?

We have been. Even before the budget discussion session, we were already having discussions amongst us between LA Chiefs. We are not the only city agency department experiencing these types of challenges, being asked the questions that you as council and the community have asked. We're trying to be proactive and transparent in a sense and making sure that we do our due diligence, and are responsible in vetting out any technology. Specifically, when it comes to automated license plate readers, there are several other companies in this space, and we were exploring what makes them different than our current provider, Flock. What are the safeguards and guardrails that the council and the community expects want in place, and how is that data stored and what makes them unique? as far as to be considered for possible use to shift away from flock.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Okay.

Yes.

I just, cities as large as Los Angeles and as small as South Pasadena have been making changes. If we were to agendize something, would that give you enough time to come back and give us more of a broad overview? I know we talked a little bit about some of the stuff that affects our policies, but just for my sake, I would like to see a full report. If we agendize this and move forward, would you be able to give us some pros and cons and see what people are working on?

Absolutely, and provide a sufficient amount of time to be able to do that, because there's a lot of information out there. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Just a question. Thank you so much, Chief. It's a question for Council Member Perez. When you said shared surveillance activities, are you referring to passive public monitoring and data sharing? Is that what you meant by that?

Yes. And to clarify, the reason I'm bringing this up is, again, I have no questions for the chief on this because it's not a question of our department. It's a question of a private corporation that has its own agenda, which they have shared very publicly, and other private corporations. And it's a question of, do we want those people having our data on the cloud? Because we can place restrictions, but that doesn't stop them. We don't own that. Our traffic camera data, we own. We have. I trust that our processes are being followed. I cannot trust that from this company. I trust our department. I don't trust the company. And that's where that, say it again.

Passive public monitoring and data sharing outside of our jurisdiction.

Yes, and it's something that I think a lot of cities are looking at right now because this is an AI tool like so many others that is unregulated.

Yeah, and it was June that we last talked about it, right? Yeah. Since June, there's been so much discussion within our community here and what we've heard at council, and I've had so many discussions with my colleagues all across California, across the country, and of course, obviously, the online discussions and just... We're learning more as a kind of humanity around how all this technology works. And having had a pretty deep background in technology, even though AI is not my area of expertise, knowing a lot of people who have it, that the back end of the data collection and sharing is much more than we have the capacity to understand it. here. Again, I agree. It's not the police department. It's not. I trust our department 100%. And we can have all the safeguards here. But we without certain kinds of looking at in certain ways, we won't know whether that back end information is being used. So one of the things about social media data collection and on our phone, on our computer, which I'm very much a participant of, so I'm aware of it, and everything else, is that we are often considered customers of these companies, but actually we are not customers. Our data is the product. And so looking at how the product that we are providing with our community, how that product is being used, and I think it's only fair that we have this discussion about being really honest and as much as we possibly can understand how that product is being used. And that will take a little bit of time and digging. We're never going to become AI experts or information experts, but I do think that at this moment with the amount that our human experience Awareness is understanding this technology that it's we we deserve it to the we owe the community to have this discussion around the use of ALPR cameras public the passive public monitoring data sharing and in particular the pole-mounted ALPR cameras and it's not just about taking the pictures of the of the the license plates, but the aggregate data put together in combination and how it interacts with all the other data, which we are not participating in that. So I'm trusting 100% how our police department uses it, but I'm still thinking that we need to be careful about how we put our data in the world. And that's actually been a conversation I've had with our city manager in the past about our AI data use. We've got to be really careful that our data, as we collect it in all different ways, is not being put into the universe in a way that is putting our data out there.

And Madam Mayor, I want to clarify that I'm also coming from two places, one having watched, again, the rhetoric around all of us. For Christ's sake, there is a Republican bill from the federal government right now running through the chambers about banning or funding to cities that use flock. That is in Congress right now. They are talking about that. And on the other side, I read our contract. I asked the chief for it. He sent it to me, had a chance to look it over. I had questions. And there are several places where I see I have concerns, where there are holes in that contract. And I think we have to talk about it out here. and do it in a public space because we did talk about the funding piece. Well, it is very hard to talk about that when there's one line item that, mind you all, and I want to clarify this for everybody, we never voted on flock. Flock never came before us. I'm so tired of seeing, like, the council voted to approve flock. We voted to approve our entire city budget, which I'm not going to put at jeopardy for one item that we should discuss individually, you know? It is one item that we should discuss. And that line item that we were talking about that night doesn't just hold money for flock. That also held our body-worn camera money. That also held money for other items. There was no way to parse that out.

That's why we need to have this discussion. Yeah, I agree. And I think this is a much bigger... Do you have a question or comment? Okay, yeah. So Council Member Rosati and then Vice Mayor.

So we're asking for perfect, right? So what's perfect? Madam Mayor, please.

Just remember the thumbs down. You're doing great with the thumbs down. Thank you. Just the thumbs down.

So we're asking for perfect. And where is there perfect? Are there perfect clergy? Are there perfect attorneys? Are there perfect firemen? And we don't even ask the question about what about victims? What about the victims themselves? that have benefited from this. Last week in Glendale, there was a hit and run. A woman was killed in a crosswalk, and within two hours, they were able to find her using license plate readers. Here in Burbank, 40 mailboxes were broken into. Followed the guy to another city, using license plate readers. They found driver's licenses. They found all kinds of identity theft items. So we're talking about one end of this, but we're not talking about the other end of it. I remember watching the whole Nancy Guthrie case and Savannah Guthrie. And a Secret Service agent comes to the microphone and says, You know, we're in a rural area, but if we had license plate readers, we would have found her within hours. And I look at that, and I look at my child and our children and our community, and we're going to make it less safe. I don't think our chief would ask for something that was detrimental to our community. And they're asking for tools that keep us safe. And lastly... If you get rid of this, then what are you going to supplement with? Are we going to hire 15 more officers? It takes three or four officers to investigate crimes, where using a license plate reader might take one. So are we going to increase our budget and hire 15 or 20 more officers? These are all the questions that need to be answered before we remove something from our public safety.

Vice Mayor. Thank you. So I know there was a lot of discussion during the budget time back in June in regards to flock specifically. I know we did approve the budget, but we also had the chief up here, and he just confirmed for me, And we questioned him and questioned whether he's looking for other options. Would we have alternatives? The reason for it, yes, the company could be very bad. And, you know, we've all been listening to people talking, emails, and we've seen it on social media, on the news. And this is not defending the actual company and what they do. What I want to see is the chief to be allowed the time that he asked us for and not pressure him into coming back with something new. that he's not ready to present to us because we need to talk about it today or tomorrow or next month. He did give us our word. I believe in him, and I believe that he sincerely got up there, and he said, I'm going to continue to look, because I remember Councilmember Anthony saying, had was hesitant to even approve the line item in the budget, because you were like, should we eliminate it? I don't know if we should approve this. And we had a lengthy discussion. And the chief did say, I'm not married to flock. He's not married to the company itself. And he's going to continue looking for options. And we all said, Okay, you promise you're going to come back? He said, Yes, I promise. Sometime, I know the public is anxious to get things done today, but our responsibility is to make sure that we, as a council, we represent other people in the community that, honestly, we haven't heard from. I've gotten some calls on the side. When we have the floor, I really appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Mayor, for allowing me to say this. I really appreciate that council members get to talk. We gave you a chance to talk. So when we're talking, you need to keep it quiet. Thank you. I don't care what you do with your fingers. giving the responsibility to the entire community, okay? We haven't heard from a lot of other people in this community. We have 105,000 plus, we have businesses in here that operate in the city of Burbank. We have not officially talked about it because the last time we discussed it in the meeting, he promised and we let go. We've only been hearing from the same handful of people who come in. Yes, we have some new people that came in today who come in and they talk about get rid of flock. But when my granddaughter gets kidnapped... When your mother, when your daughter, when your friend get raped, kidnapped, when your car is stolen, guess what? You're going to be sitting there on the line crying and saying, why haven't the police resolved the problem? Okay? So it's not that for me personally, I don't care if it's Flock, if it's Exxon, if it's Motorola, if it's any other company, I want to hear from my chief and How can he protect my city? How are you going to protect my grandkids? How are you going to protect me? And if you don't have the answer, I don't want to force you to come back here and just give me a report and say, here's what we're going to do. I have to do it fast because everybody wants me to do it. That is not my goal. I represent 105,000 people. Whether they vote for me or not, I don't care. But what I do care about is I'm sitting up here making policies for our community. And I want to hear from the rest of the community. I want you, and I'm looking directly at the chief, I want you to be feeling comfortable to gather your information. I think you hear it directly. You heard it from us during June. That we mean business and we're serious about what we want from you. Is to look and come back. Take your time. Come back and tell us, I don't want it or I want it and here's what I found out. And let the council make a decision at that time whether we want to continue with it or not. But for me to sit up here today and say, well, yeah, let's just get rid of everything. Let's have you come back in a hurry and offer us something different. Eliminate the whole system. I want to hear how are you going to protect me. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of other people who are going to show up here and say, I've been a victim of one thing or another, and how are you going to protect us? I want you to be able to turn around and look at them and say, here's how I'm going to do it. But so far, we don't have a plan. I did not hear, here's my plan, here's what I've done, and I'm prepared to talk about it. Because we all have been meeting with you. We've all had our questions. We've all had our emails. And we haven't had any answers yet. So therefore, I say all this because I think public pressure doesn't work well for me. I don't care... Honestly, whether they come here and scream, the same handful of people that come here, change it, take it away today. We have not seen the evidence in our city from our police department that we're at any type of violation. I want to be able, not in our city, not in our city, maybe other cities, and I appreciate, Council Member Perez, you mentioned some cities, but so far in our cities, we have, city of Burbank, we have not seen anything happening. And I'm not saying the chief cannot come back and give us an update. What I'm saying is allow him the time to look at it, prepare, find options, and come back and present it to us. So we can make a decision, a wise decision that protect our 105,000 people. Not the ones that are running around scared. You need to think about the victims. You need to think about what happens to the victims. And we haven't thought. We've been very selfish thinking, get rid of it. When something happens to you and you need that police and you need that report and it's not happening, you will be crying and you will be asking and demanding why my case has not been resolved. I'm ready for the chief when he's ready to come back. And I'm sure he's not going on vacation, taking his time and saying, I don't care about it. He's working very hard, very hard to protect our city. That's all I have to say. I'm not saying I don't want to look at it. I'm not saying we shouldn't bring it back. I'm saying I want the chief to put it on the agenda and bring it back to us when he's ready, when he has enough time, when he finds something else. That's the only thing I'm saying.

So I just want to highlight that we have had a data breach with NCRIC and the chief was very forthcoming about when that happened. And it was an issue that you mentioned was a before issue with Flock as a company and then they came back and said oops basically. But it wasn't just our city, it was multiple cities. It was a highlighted issue of how we don't control that, don't control the data. And again, the reason I put this forward and the reason, look, not two months ago, Axon has started making deals with the federal government so that ICE agents can use their technology. So we're going to be here again talking about that later because there are concerns. I am responding to the real concerns and the real threats of potential victims who could be targeted by FLOC. It could be used by a federal immigration enforcement agency. And that's a huge concern for me. That is where I'm coming from. And I don't think we need to agree or disagree on that tonight, but it's why we agendize things. So we can, no, that's my dog's pills. It's so we can have discussions about these things. It's so that we can have the time to talk about these things. It's so that the public can give the input. That's why I wanted to agendize it, and I wanted to be incredibly clear that for me, switching to a different company was not a fix.

Council Member Rosati. Okay.

Council Member Perez, I've just sat through so many meetings regarding, and I have the same fear as you do. But the federal government, ICE, is not tapping into the system, and they cannot tap into the system unless they have a warrant from a federal magistrate. So it's not happening. And I've talked to our IT director. We have audits going on. If it was happening, I'm on board. I'm with you. But I've sat through meeting after meeting after reading and presentation, and it's against the law to share the data, for our department to share the data. So that is not happening. And if it was, I'd be right with you.

I know you have a question. I'll say the breaches have happened. They have happened. It is not, I mean, we cannot say who is tapping into a data or not. They have it on their cloud. If we were talking about an in-house thing, if you told me right now ICE is using our traffic cameras, I'll tell you, no, they're not, because I trust these guys. I know they're not, but they have no control over the cloud. They just don't.

Our IT director said it is 100% that he gave a presentation about Is he here today? No. It is not happening.

I disagree with that. I have reason to believe that it can.

Council Member Anthony.

I want to ask this question. You mentioned that if they have a warrant, they can access that information.

You have to have a warrant from a federal magistrate. I understand that. It's not just a warrant.

No, no, I get that. But why... do we have to actively keep a database that they can use a warrant to access? If the database doesn't exist... We don't. But we do.

We don't. It's gone after 30 days.

We're going to take turns.

No, we're having a discussion. No, we're not. The database.

The way that this works is each person takes a turn. He finishes his comment. And then after he's done, you can have your comment. Because we've had this already in the past happen where there's back and forth. We're not going to do back and forth. You guys can do back and forth after the meeting. Jim, you're making this adversarial. I am the chair.

It's not adversarial.

Council Member Rosati.

Ma'am, it's not adversarial.

Council Member Rizzotti.

It's not adversarial.

Council Member, I am telling you that this is the way the protocol is going to work. I'm asking you to respect me for a second here and let Council Member Anthony finish his turn. When it's your turn, if he interrupts you, I will stop him and tell him it's your turn. We're going to take turns. We're going to take turns, please.

Madam Mayor. Madam Mayor, can I speak for a second? I'm fine with that. I'm just telling you, stop yelling at me. It's not adversarial.

I'm yelling at you to get you to stop talking over me.

I'm not talking over you. You were talking over me. I'm just saying it's not adversarial. Take it easy.

I'm not saying it's adversarial. I'm saying that you take turns. Okay, we'll take turns. So let him go, and then you go. Okay. Thank you.

All I'm saying is... We are not under state mandate or federal mandate to have these systems in place. And if we never have the system in place, then nothing can be used to be searched. And my concern goes back to what the mayor was talking about, where it's not just the data collection. It's the overlay of using artificial intelligence to create searches, patterns, and reasonable cause to conduct police business. I am of the mind that our Fourth and Fifth and Eighth and Thirteenth Amendment rights must be run and adjudicated and dealt with by a human person. A human being who can swear an oath to the Constitution, who can be held accountable if there's a mistake, and to your point, not to be perfect, but just to be better. And I feel that just moving forward on a more rushed timeline, not necessarily waiting for a perfect answer to come to the chief and then come to us, everything that we've seen over the last few months tells me that maybe we need to have this discussion a little bit earlier so that we get something in place. That's all. Council Member Rosati.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Council Member, have you read Policy 462? I'm just asking, have you read it? I mean, there's no AI in here. This is our guardrail. This is our city's guardrail that we put up to protect and use this system for the benefits And we all say, oh, we want to hear about the data. What's the data? You've seen the data. You've seen the crimes that are solved. Over 100 cars have been recovered over and over and over. And the guardrails are here. If we've had breaches, if we had issues, then yeah, I would say, okay, we have a problem. But that is not happening because our contract in the city of Burbank is different than other people's contracts. We have, we can turn on and off certain mechanisms in the system. And Council Member Perez brought up the fact that there was a breach. As soon as we audited and found out, we turned that system, that mechanism off. So the whole AI thing is not happening. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Okay.

Madam Mayor, it feels like we're having the discussion, you know? And that's why I agendize this, because I want to have the discussion. So I would like to move forward, and we can take a vote. And I've said this before, because I know this is a high-tension item. We can agree to disagree. That's why we're all here, you know? And I think we should take a vote.

And these issues that are being brought up here These are the issues that we will discuss in the agenda item when it's brought forward. Yeah. Okay, all of it, in depth. Yes, last comment, and then you want to make a motion?

Yeah, and I agree. I mean, a vote, obviously, we can read the room. There's three council members that want to have this come back now, immediately, or as soon as possible because that's the pressure that's being put on the three council members from the community. Some of the community, not all the community, because the rest of the community have not voiced their opinion. They have not been here. They don't even know that we're discussing this tonight. I'm not saying that we don't need to hear it. What I'm saying is... We have to allow the chief of police that is in charge of our safety in the community, that represent the entire community, allow him time to do his work come back and let him present it instead of me putting a pressure on him because this is not 911 emergency. This is something that lots of cities have been talking about for a long time. You guys want to go ahead and put that pressure on, good luck to you, put it on. The chamber will have enough people here to speak on why we should keep some sort of safety and allow the chief to do his job. I'm not going to interfere with him doing his job.

I just, last comment. I've been hearing so many times that we have to have discussions with the public and they're not here and they don't talk to us. I don't understand what that comment is because I talk to hundreds and hundreds of people every week. They tell me what they want me to do. I hear from everybody. This issue is what people are talking. My scout troop leader pulled me aside. He said, what are we doing with Flock? I'm like, what? Everyone's talking to me about this. I don't know why they're not talking to the four of you about it, but this is what everyone's talking about.

Speak for yourself, man. I was stopped in the street by someone who I don't know, who is not here in the chamber and is not part of you lovely folks. And they were just random mom in the community who was like, hey, I have a question about flock because I've been seeing it in the news every day.

And even regardless of how much we're talking in the community with folks, bringing it to the council chambers... is putting it on the agenda is the way that we let the community know that we're talking about it, and they will have ample opportunity to send us as much information and thoughts and feedback about it for that item. And to your point, Vice Mayor, is that the Chief will prepare for that agenda item. And for me personally, just saying that, to me, this is kind of an additional kind of... in addition to what direction we've already given to say that in addition to looking at Axon and the other things we had talked about with the oversight, that now this is with more additional information that has come in from, at least for me personally, that I have learned since then is that when it comes back, that it comes back with also what it looks like to completely remove them. And I want to see that in the report. I want to see what the impact would be. And I want to see what the impact would be in a realistic, like, how can we make it work? And if we make it work without having those cameras, what would that look like? What would that look like? And that's worth a discussion to have, I think, as part of our coming back. And during that discussion will be very robust. I'm sure it will take a very long, many hours conversation, many, many hours of public comment. But it is definitely one. It is a topic that is being talked about in cities all over the country, and some are shaping it in different ways, in different forms. I believe our city can do an excellent job of having a big, robust conversation with all the concerns that were brought up here tonight, all sides, every different possible way to look at it, and we will dissect it to the point to get to somewhere that will be a good resolution, a starting point. But if we don't agendize it, then it will be a while before it comes back. Also, the part where you're asking for what it would look like without the cameras would not be part of that. So that's what I wanted personally.

I appreciate you saying that, Madam Mayor, because I would love a report that also tells me what that looks like, not just we don't want to do this as staff, because I've been in that boat before. So I'd like it to be neutral. I'd like it to tell me this is what it would look like to ban that.

And I do think that there would be, you know, there's going to be a trade-off, safety and privacy, security. I mean, that is, there is going to be looking at that in some ways. And what would that be? Is the trade-off small? Is it big? I don't know. And without that information, you know, coming back, I have a personal position of what I think that will be. But until that conversation comes and we have that conversation, it's not going to make an assumption off the bat based on that. But I do think, I know where I'm going to vote on this, but it's not about banning it tonight. To me, this is about putting it on the agenda, and I absolutely want to put it on the agenda for discussion. So, I mean, I don't know if someone wants to make a motion or if you want to do one more comment before we wrap up.

Madam Mayor, I'm asking you not to put our public safety on an agenda. I'm asking you directly not to do that. I'm asking you not to put our public safety on an additional agenda. Let me ask you a question. What's changed? We gave our chief direction to go out and look at other options. Besides the election coming up, what's changed? That's it.

I'm not even going there. I'm going there. I'm there. You can go there if you want. I already said what I'm going to say.

Everyone's made it an election issue, so why not go there?

No, I'm not going to. You can ask a question, but I already explained why.

I'm asking you not to put our public safety on the agenda.

I've already explained it.

Let the voters speak. Yeah.

This is going to continue, isn't it, for the next few months? You guys are going to say anything that the folks who are on the ballot is about the election. That's real classy. But you know what? I put this forward, and I didn't do it on their timeline. I did it on mine, because I took the time to research it. I took the time to see what I didn't like, and I took the time to inform myself. I don't know what your process was. We probably looked at different things.

But Madam Mayor, if I may, and I don't want to interrupt you, but we've talked about it at the police commission meeting multiple times. The same people that showed up here showed up at the police commission meeting. They showed up here night after night. It is an agenda. It is an agenda. It's a mission to scratch off flock, safety. Go home and think about what happens if this happens to you. Just go home. And I'm going to say this. I hope to God nothing bad happens to any of you because guess what? You're going to wish that we had something in this city. That's the only thing I say.

We've had it for four years.

If we can move on.

Excuse me.

Let's call the question. I'm going to ask the chair. I'm going to say can we call the question because we can move on. I think we know where everybody stands and we can continue to have this conversation, continue to discuss. I personally want to continue to hear from the community on all the different perspectives. Please send them to me. I've already had so many, but let's just keep talking. And I'll continue to talk with my colleagues everywhere. But if someone would like to call the question, we can do that. No, I'll let someone else call it.

I guess it's my agenda item. I would like to agendize my item for discussion.

I'll second.

Does staff have enough direction and understanding of what her agenda item is?

Yes.

Yes.

Okay. Question. Would that include any fiscal impact if a contract was canceled early? I'd like to include any sort of penalties or anything like that. Absolutely.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right. So we got a first and a second. All right. Let's call the vote, please.

Councilmember Anthony.

Any man who gives up liberty for security deserves neither. Benjamin Franklin. Yes.

Is that a yes? Okay.

Councilmember Perez? Yes. Councilmember Rosati?

No, don't take our public safety away.

Vice Mayor Mullins? Absolutely not. Let the chief do his job.

And Mayor Tagahashi? Yes, I want to talk about this. Thank you. Okay.

It's not time to celebrate Mexican Independence Day yet, so we're still good. Or Central America Independence Day. Margaritas all around. All right. Now, maybe there's another exciting moment. If you want to stay, there's still a couple things left. Now is the time for the introduction of additional agenda items. Do the members of council have any items introduced? I think Council Member Rosati had one.

Yeah, so Planning Board was upset when they have a large packet, thousands of pages and not too much time to prepare. So with regards to the media district specific plan, I think it's coming on the 28th. Is there any way we can get that out a week in advance rather than just a few days?

Yeah, well, is that a public hearing? If it's a public hearing, we always do two weeks in advance. So you would...

But will they have the information is what I'm saying.

Let me look on that. And I will do everything I can to get that. Make sure that they get it many days ahead of time, not just whatever the requirement is.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Anything else to agendize? No? Okay. Well, maybe nothing else exciting is going to happen. Well, we have only 13 agenda items left. So, hey, no, I'm just kidding. We're at the end. It's the last agenda item R, which is adjournment. We now adjourn the meeting to Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 for a regular meeting in the council chamber, 275 East Olive Avenue, second