Airport Panel Denies Access to Records : Burbank: Commission votes to restrict release of data on legal expenses as City Council calls for audit of the operation’s finances.

Beset by critics of its multimillion-dollar legal expenses, the Burbank Airport Authority has decided to deny all public access to its billing and payment records.

The commission, on a 5-4 vote, prohibited its nine members from releasing data on legal expenses without prior permission from Airport Authority lawyers.

Even with such permission, nothing may be made available to the public unless a majority of the members also approve.

The action came at the same meeting Thursday night in which Burbank City Council members, who appoint three of the airport commissioners, called for an audit of all airport finances, including legal bills.

“This puts a gag order on the commission,” City Councilman Ted McConkey said of the authority’s decision. “Clearly we have the right to inspect anything and everything without [the authority’s] permission.”

A frequent airport critic, McConkey said he will seek emergency action by the City Council to challenge the new policy.

The action raised the stakes in an escalating dispute between the city and the commission over noise and proposed expansion. The commission, which runs the airport, is made up of three members from Burbank, three from Glendale and three from Pasadena. All three Burbank airport commissioners voted against cutting off public access.

The authority’s vote was prompted by a letter from Airport Commissioner Phil Berlin of Burbank, who alleged that the airport was paying too much to three legal firms it employs. Berlin pointed out that attorneys in the firms charged as much as $350 an hour and had collected about $1 million each over the past five fiscal years. Berlin gave copies of the letter and invoices to the Burbank City Council, which then ordered the audit.

“Every one of you, in my opinion, should be aghast at the amount we pay per hour,” Berlin told his fellow commissioners at Thursday’s meeting. “We need to get control over what we’re spending.”

Commissioners who voted in favor of the resolution mentioned that some of the bills contained detailed work done by the law firms, and releasing them to the public would breach attorney-client privilege.

Karen Frederiksen, an attorney with the law firm Davis, Wright, Tremaine in Los Angeles, said there is no California law that restricts legal bills from public access, especially for a public entity. Under federal law, the exemption of legal bills is allowed depending on the level of detail in the billings, said Frederiksen, whose firm handles public access issues. Such information, however, can be edited before the information is released, Frederiksen added.

Airport Commissioner William Paparian of Pasadena, who voted against restricting access, said the commission’s vote was “ridiculous” because he believed attorney-client information is exempt from public access. Regardless, Paparian said the legal fees are a problem and should be dealt with.

Paparian also said he agreed with the Burbank City Council’s call for the audit of the airport’s finances.

“There needs to be an examination of how money is being spent,” he said.

McConkey told authority members and staff that the City Council ordered Burbank City Atty. Joseph Fletcher to conduct a full audit of the airport’s records. The city plans to hire a firm specializing in audits of legal bills to review the authority’s payments to attorneys, McConkey said.

The call for the audit is the latest in a series of public challenges to the Airport Authority. In July, the authority was ordered to turn over travel-related expense records of commissioners to a Los Angeles County grand jury after allegations of misuse of public funds. The grand jury investigation is still pending.

McConkey said a legal audit would “answer questions and additional concerns raised by Mr. Berlin’s letter.”