The city of Bell California is a Charter City

[malaise]

so they could pay themselves what they wanted. WTF????? Well the working class citizens have demanded that they all resign or they will recall the bastards.

--

Charter schools, charter city council - WTF is going on?? Is it fascism yet?

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Six-Figure-Salaries-in-Tiny-SoCal-Town-99282249.html
<snip>

Attorney General Jerry Brown's office is also looking into the case. Brown said Monday he has subpoenaed hundreds of records from the city. He demanded to see employment contracts from the city of Bell within 48 hours to determine whether to file criminal charges.

"These outrageous pay practices are an insult to the hard-working people of Bell and have provoked righteous indignation in California and even across the country," Brown said. "I'm determined to get to the bottom of these exorbitant payouts and protect the state's pension system against such abuses, and today's subpoenas are an important step in that process."

The salaries exploded into public view after a Los Angeles Times investigation, based on California Public Records Act requests, showed the city payroll was bloated with all sorts of six-figure salaries.
The council salaries were made possible by a little-noticed ballot measure that passed during a special election five years ago.

A state law enacted in 2005 restricted council pay in "general law" cities, but that same year the Bell council authorized a special election with one item on the ballot -- converting Bell to a "charter city." The LA Times reported that the measure's language did not mention the effect the change to charter city would have on council salaries.

The measure passed. Fewer that 400 people voted.

change subject

[mike r]

1. Former Bell police officer alleges serious voting irregularities in 2009 election

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/former-bell-cop-alleges-serious-voting-irregularities-in-2009-election.html

A retired Bell police sergeant claimed in a lawsuit filed this week that off-duty Bell police officers in the 2009 election distributed absentee ballots to voters and told them which candidates to select. The allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed by James Corcoran, who says he was forced out of his job for informing authorities about the officers' actions as well as for a variety of other actions that he says top city leaders did not like.

According to the lawsuit, Corcoran in 2009 reported to the California secretary of state’s chief investigator and the FBI “that off-duty police officers were taking absentee ballots and providing them to voters to fill out.” Corcoran claimed that officers instructed individuals how to vote and that some ballots were filled out for deceased people.

The secretary of state's office declined to discuss the case -- or to say whether the allegations were still being actively investigated. It's unclear whether the FBI pursued the case. The Times revealed last week that only about 400 people voted in a 2005 special election that made Bell a charter city and allowed council members to increase their pay....

[DJ13]

2. Its not just the salaries that are wrong

Now those who got caught and quit will be receiving huge pensions.

[malaise]

3. I'd like someone to explain the notion of a charter city

This non-stop privatization of government is frightening.

[DJ13]

4. Yeah, I never heard that term before now either

It sounds like a ripoff.

[KamaAina]

5. "Charter city" is not analogous to "charter schools"

In California, a "charter city" is one that has, you guessed it, its own charter, which may be amended by the city's voters. A charter city may choose its own form of government, either strong-mayor, council-manager, or (as in San Jose) a hybrid of the two. The term is used in opposition to a "general law city", which is governed by a 5-member city council according to state law.

[malaise]

6. Thanks

:hi:

[joeybee12]

7. No, they're not comparable, other than putting charter in front of each word...city and school..

makes them both shit! :evilgrin:

[DeschutesRiver]

8. I read elsewhere at DU that the city manager is entitled now to a $600,000 annual pension

The question I have is how did a city of 40,000 which isn't affluent find the money to pay millions in these combined salaries for city officials?