Letter: Site offers report outside of meetings

I’ve posted an update to my council calendar at WillRogersBurbank.com. I created the site as an alternative to City Council members delaying meetings by describing every event attended in the previous week.

An example from the most recent period: I attended what’s known as the NACOLE Conference, hosted by the National Assn. for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. Sessions run the gamut, from internal affairs-type teams based in departments across the country sharing what they’ve learned about problem officers by studying statistics, to small-town and big-city police chiefs who explain what activists have done right and wrong.

Burbank was mentioned at several sessions because NACOLE participants in recent years have included not just elected council members, and appointed police commissioners, but also Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse, as well as several members of the BPD’s command staff.

The calendar I’ve posted includes time returning calls and meeting with constituents. No, the content of calls, and the names of every constituent, are not spelled out. I don’t believe citizens are entitled to that much detail. But if there’s a meeting with developers about a project, that’s listed. If I attend a charitable nonprofit’s event, that’s noted. And if I attend a ribbon-cutting for a new business in town, that’s on the calendar.

All of those are part of the job, and the public should know what we’re doing as council members when not in public meeting. But I’m glad to have a way to do that without also making the citizen attending a 6 p.m. council session having to wait until 8 p.m. or later before the council gets around to the first council deliberations.

Will Rogers
Burbank

Editor’s Note: The writer is a member of the Burbank City Council.