By Mary O’KEEFE

During Montrose’s Harvest Market on Sunday, construction was being done at the former Faye’s building at the northeast corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue. The construction was unpermitted. This issue was presented by Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian at Glendale City Council on Tuesday.

“This weekend a lot of us were informed about some work being done in Montrose at one of the marquee storefronts at the intersection of Ocean View and Honolulu. I would like to know what transpired and what is happening with that so the public is aware of it as well,” Kassakhian said.

“There was some illegal construction and work that was going on at the former Faye’s store and as soon as I was informed we sent the police officers out there to issue a stop work notice order,” said Roubik Golanian, Glendale city manager.

There was work being done on the exterior of the building in addition to what appeared to be work on the interior as well. They had applied for a permit but it had yet to be approved, Golanian added. They did not have approval to move forward.

“Code enforcement has been notified. They are aware of it [and] will go out on a daily basis just to be sure,” he said.

“I want to make sure they are following all of our rules and guidelines,” Kassakhian said.

He added the building does not appear to have had work done on it for many years and he was concerned toxic materials, like asbestos, might be present.

Mayor Dan Brotman said he was not there during the incident; however, did see a video of what occurred.

“What are the consequences for someone who does something that is this egregious?” he asked. “[It was] an extremely dangerous situation with people and their families walking right next to this site.”

He added that materials were seen being thrown from the roof down to the ground where people were present.

“It is unbelievable that someone would do that. There should be consequences,” Brotman said.

Golanian added it was extremely dangerous for people and for workers.

“[The owners of building] will be dealt with accordingly, I assure you,” Golanian added.

Golanian then introduced the appointment of Gregory Fish to the position of Glendale fire chief. Fish is returning to the department where he not only started his career but where he served as fire chief from 2015 to 2018. Fish had been the acting fire chief since Nov. 1, 2023 after then-Glendale Fire Chief Tim Ernst was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 27, 2023 due to a confidential personnel matter.

Fish started with GFD in 1987 and, after his departure in 2018, served as fire chief of the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District until his retirement in September 2023.

Golanian presented a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that had been reached between the City of Glendale and the Glendale Firefighters’ Association (GFFA) then asked the Council for approval of its adoption and implementation.

GFFA and the City had been in negotiations since June 27, 2023. During the negotiations they compared Glendale to fire departments in other cities. At the time the City was ranked 10^th out of 10 cities.

Kassakhian said the 10 cities looked at for comparison were not random but areas where those cities were looking at “Glendale’s talent pool.”

The cost of living increase negotiated included a 5% increase in July 2024, a 5% in July 2025 and another 5% increase in July 2026. This moves the Glendale Fire Dept. to rank fifth in those comparable cities.

“We believe [this agreement] strikes a fair balance between offering competitive compensation and upholding fiscal responsibility,” Golanian said.

The Council approved the agreement.