Burbank Airport Agency Seeks Cooling-Off Period in Drive to Videotape Sessions

Burbank Airport commissioners on Monday delayed a decision on whether to allow videotaping of their meetings.

Commissioner Brian Bowman, who represents Burbank, said Burbank city officials and airport authority President Robert Garcin need a cooling-off period of at least 30 days to work out their differences before a vote.

The Burbank City Council is considering videotaping the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority meetings with or without the airport agency’s cooperation. The council voted to look into videotaping after the authority refused repeated requests to switch its regular morning meetings to evenings so more observers could attend.

City Atty. Douglas C. Holland said that under law, Burbank or any other party can videotape the authority’s meetings if the proceedings are not interrupted. Nevertheless, the council is seeking the cooperation of the authority before considering whether to proceed on its own.

The council intends the videotapes to be played at night over a cable television channel that carries Burbank public affairs programming.

“There is a confrontational situation that has come about,” Bowman said. He added that Burbank is “using the hammer of television” to force the authority to accept videotaping in retaliation for the authority’s refusal to meet at night.

He said Burbank and the authority should establish a middle ground to make the meetings more accessible to citizens, but offered no specifics.

The authority, which sets policy for Burbank Airport, is expected to take up the videotaping issue again at its Sept. 5 meeting.

Burbank Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard, who is also an airport commissioner, speculated that the authority would hold periodic night meetings rather than allow videotaping.

“I think they’ll do anything to avoid being televised,” said Howard, who favors videotaping and night meetings.

Garcin and other commissioners oppose the taping, some saying it would encourage more disruptions by gadflies who regularly berate the commissioners at their meetings.

The cost of the videotaping could be as high as $33,048 annually, Burbank officials said. The City Council has not determined whether it wants to bear the cost. If the council refused to pay, the videotaping proposal would likely die.

In other action, Garcin was elected to his sixth term as authority president. Commissioner Leland Ayers was elected to his 11th term as vice president and Howard was reelected treasurer.

In addition, the authority approved a $22.1-million operating budget for the 1989-1990 fiscal year. The budget was $2.8 million less than last year’s budget, said Mike Salamone, manager of properties and contracts for the airport.

He said the reduction was prompted by a drop in the number of passengers from 3.16 million in 1987 to 3.04 million last year. He anticipated that 2.8 million passengers would use the facility this year. The airport is delaying some capital improvements, such as a parking lot, because of the drop, he said.

However, Salamone added that the reduction did not signify an ominous financial picture for the airport. “We are balanced in costs and expenditures,” he said.