Council discusses drug testing for members, protocol

Burbank residents may not be getting the results they expect with a voluntary drug testing policy under which City Council members are randomly selected for screening every three months, Councilman Will Rogers suggested Monday at a special meeting of the City Council.

Additionally, he said, “it’s far too invasive.”

During the meeting, council members discussed various issues of protocol and policy to decide whether they would like to consider changes in the coming months.

For example, they deliberated over whether they would like to institute a policy barring members from sending or receiving text messages while on the dais. They also discussed whether or not the procedure for selecting mayor and vice mayor each year needs an overhaul — Rogers and Councilman David Gordon argued most vocally that it does.

The idea for the meeting originated with Rogers and included mainly items he and City Manager Mark Scott sought to clarify or address, including issues related to confidentiality of closed session discussions and memos, as well as Scott’s suggested changes to the number and types of council meetings each month.

Those are among the eight items that council members are expected to reconsider in future sessions, along with the possible adoption of new rules of order, certain mayoral “prerogatives,” the process for selecting board and commission members.

Council members also discussed items that don’t require formal action, such as requesting that Scott make available a “monkey list” of pending items so council members can check to see that the item is being tracked.

They decided to leave other items as-is for the time being, such as the lease of a metal detector and contracted security guards for council meetings, which costs about $33,000 a year.

“I know I would feel more secure with it,” said Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy, who suggested the public may also feel safer coming to meetings.

Gordon suggested it was a “false sense of security.” Mayor Bob Frutos, a retired police officer, said he also found the added security measures unsupportable. They are not present at other city meetings, including the Monday meeting, which was held in the Community Services Building rather than City Hall.

Rogers argued the drug testing policy is also a “pointless exercise.”

The city’s policy allows council members to decline to be tested or, if tested, to withhold their results. There’s a “negative inference” for those who volunteer not to participate, Rogers said, which he feels “runs counter to every version of justice we have” and leaves council members open to unfair political smears if they abstain.

They may also feel pressured to explain a positive test result by disclosing medically private information, such as a medical marijuana prescription.

“I do not have a [medical marijuana] card,” he said to his colleagues. “But one of you might and I don’t think I’m entitled to know that.”

Rogers said he’s been tested twice since taking his council seat in May, and “came out 100% clear,” despite taking a prescribed narcotic at the time of one test and having medication in his system from a medical procedure during the second test, both returned results that were negative for controlled substances, raising questions about the validity of the tests.

Gordon and Rogers noted two past council members had serious drug problems. But, Rogers said, “nobody needed a test to figure it out.”

In one example, in 1997, then-Councilwoman Susan Spanos checked herself into an Anaheim medical facility, where she was treated for depression as well as cocaine and methamphetamine abuse.

Gordon, who campaigned in 2005 for the council seat vacated by Stacey Murphy after Murphy was charged with one count of felony cocaine possession, said he believed the drug testing policy should be “revisited” to ensure it complies with applicable laws. He had called for drug testing during his campaign to “restore trust and confidence” in city leaders.

Other council members agreed to review the policy, but were noncommittal about revoking it entirely.

Video of the full meeting was recorded and will be available online, according to Drew Sugars, the city’s public information officer, but said it could take about a week to be posted.