Thursday Night Is Going To Be Weird...

In what might best be described as "Reverse American Idol" City Council plans to hold "Auditions" for one person to replace Will Rogers place on the council. 

Mayor Rogers passing creates a bit of a "constitutional crisis" if you will for our city Council.  They had 30 days to assign a replacement to serve out the remainder of his term.  Vice Mayor Gabel-Luddy will assume the duties of Mayor until the end of what would have been Will's tenure. 

Instead of offering the position to the runner up in last year's election (That would have been Dr. Gordon), Council has decided to open the opportunity to anyone who has lived in Burbank for at least 29 days.  Yes, you read that right, 29 days and registered to vote in Burbank makes you eligible to apply for the position.  32 people applied by last Monday's deadline and 28 were verified as eligible using those two criteria. 

This may be the craziest stunt I've ever witnessed in my 3 years going to City Council meetings. 

I call this "Reverse American Idol" because in that show people audition to a panel of judges for their chance to go to Hollywood and then after a series of weeks of eliminations, America votes for the final winner. 

City Council has decided to do it backwards.  We voted for City Council members last Spring and you may recall Jess Talamantes swept the primary and automatically retained his seat and Bob Frutos won in the election to retain his seat.  Newcomer, Sharon Springer, won the final seat.  The runners up, in order of votes were Dr. Gordon and Juan Guillen. 

Logic might dictate that the easiest, most transparent and most democratic choice for replacement should be the first runner up, and if Dr. Gordon chose not to serve, the position would be offered to the next runner up, Juan Guillen.  After all, these two members understood the demands of the position, made significant investments in time and money to run campaigns and received thousands of votes, but were just shy of getting elected.  In other words, America (Burbank) voted and instead of appointing one of these candidates, City Council has thrown our votes out the window.  Dr. Gordon has chosen not to jump into the applicant pool and the position was not offered to him.

Now, without any consideration for the Burbank voters in our last election, City Council has asked 28 people to "sing for their lives" (my apologies if you've never watched American Idol) with a 3 minute pitch to the Council on Thursday night.  That's right, our next City Council member will have one chance to impress the "judges" before the council members will decide who goes to the next round.  It only gets weirder and weirder after that.  If you want to read all the details and explain them to me, here's the link to tomorrow's agenda and the "rules for the game show" if you will...

http://burbank.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=6&event_id=6249

I apologize if I sound confused or a bit cynical about this process.  It makes no sense to me.  The rumor is that this is all smoke and mirrors and yes, I will say it to our members, that council has already decided on Mr. Konstantine Anthony.  I've met Mr. Anthony and he is a fine man.  He too ran in last year's election.  He was eliminated in the primary by a margin of around 1,000 votes.  This is only a rumor, but I think it is important to put it on the record with our members.  Remember, WE cannot vote so it doesn't really matter.

Tonight, Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 5:00 PM in Council Chamber at 275 E. Olive, you will have the opportunity to witness this "event" and will have 3 minutes (the same amount of time as each candidate) for public comment.  You will NOT get to vote. 

Council may appoint someone Thursday night, they might not.  They might vote 20 people "off the island" (sorry, another reality show reference), but they might not.  Who knows, there might be a talent contest!

If you can attend, you may speak.  If you attend but don't speak you might get to fill out one of our new "Vote But Don't Speak" comment cards, but remember YOU DON'T GET TO VOTE.  Maybe there will be a cliff hanger with the meeting ending in "To be continued..."  Nobody knows.  Isn't this fun?

If you cannot attend, you can send City Council an email.  Say whatever you want.  Tell them you love this and want this to become a new weekly series.  Tell them who you want to win (click on the link above to see the candidates).  BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT RIGHT AWAY. 

If you agree with me that this is a horrible way to select a new Council Member, copy and paste the paragraph below and email it to Council...

"Dear Council Members, In light of the recent passing of Mayor Rogers, and in lieu of a special election, I would like to suggest the appointment of the next highest vote recipient of the last City Council election to replace him for the duration of his term.  This seems the only fair, democratic and transparent way to honor the people of Burbank who showed up to vote.  Only if that person is unable or unwilling to serve, should the offer be made to the next highest vote recipient in that race." 

Email to: City Council <citycouncil@burbankca.gov>;
Gabel-Luddy, Emily <EGabel-Luddy@burbankca.gov>; Springer, Sharon <SSpringer@burbankca.gov>; Talamantes, Jess <jtalamantes@burbankca.gov>; Frutos, Bob <BFrutos@burbankca.gov>; Davis, Ron <RDavis@burbankca.gov>

City Council does have the authority to appoint ANYONE to serve in Will Roger's place and they have the authority to do it any way they want. 

I hope you can attend!

As always, if you have any questions or would like to share some of your concerns, you can email or call me at 818-641-9050
- Jim Casey