Bell activists now want entire City Council to resign [Updated]

After watching as the top administrators in Bell resigned in the face of growing anger over high salaries, activists in Bell have asked the mayor and three other council members to step down.

Members of the group The Bell Assn. to Stop the Abuse said they would drop their demand only if council members agreed to slash their own paychecks to be on par with Councilman Lorenzo Velez, the fifth member of the council.

[For the record: An early version of this reported that the activists asked the entire council to step down] 

While four council members make nearly $100,000 a year for their part-time work, Velez draws a salary of about $8,000.

Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo said Velez is paid less because he was appointed, not elected. Velez said he was unaware his colleagues were so highly compensated until he read a report in The Times.

The activist group BASTA – “enough” in Spanish – was formed after The Times reported that the top administrators in Bell were among the most highly paid municipal employees in the nation. City Administrator Robert Rizzo makes nearly $800,000 a year, twice the pay for President Obama. Police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia earn $457,000 and $376,288, respectively.

During an hours-long closed-door meeting Thursday, all three agreed to resign.

-- Steve Marble

Comments

[sethook]

Do you think the voters in Bell will start participating in their government and ballot items in the future? Oh yea, someone close the barn door.....

[Fred]

Pitchforks are available at Osh and Home Depot - go get em boys!

[ceaandtee]

i don't blame the citizens of bell for being outraged at these salaries for part time jobs. nobody makes that much money working part time unless self-employed. and the worker that only earned $8,000 may have a discrimination suite.

[NorthernCA Teacher]

This is the least that could happen-- the removal of these folks.

Now, we need to be sure they (the overpaid employees) do not get retirement from these bloated salaries.... that would be a case of two criminal acts: getting the ridiculous salaries first, then the monthly retirement check until they die.

[ana]

Why are we as tax payers putting up with this type of behavior? When is this going to end? The system is broken and the wrong people are benefiting at the expense of others. The working class is getting the bad end of the deal while administrators take advantage. We need to stand up for what we believe in and take action. Other wise this will never end. Revolution now!!!

[My opinon means nothing]

Then what? The fine City of Bell is still going to owe these crocks their pensions!

[Disgusted]

No way would I settle for a 90% pay cut. They're crooks. They can't be trusted not to find another way to screw the public. They should be fired immediately. Without pension, 401k or anything else they might be getting. That's just disgusting.

[M. Passer]

This is exactly why it's a bad idea to let any pubic servant of this nature determine their own pay. There should be a cap on the salary of all jobs like this or at the very least a very strict watchdog group to monitor them.