Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madoka]

I am formally announcing my candidacy for any public office in the city of Bell, CA as I have learned the following:

BELL, Calif. � City Council members who make nearly $100,000 a year for governing this small, poverty-plagued suburb of Los Angeles must resign immediately or face a recall campaign, a community group warned Friday.

The threat came hours after it was announced that the city manager, assistant city manager and police chief were stepping down following a public outcry over their salaries, which total more than $1.6 million a year.

Council members emerged from an hours-long closed session at midnight and announced they had accepted the resignations of Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams.

Rizzo was the highest paid at $787,637 a year � nearly twice the pay of President Barack Obama � for overseeing one of the poorest towns in Los Angeles County. Census figures for 2008 showed about 17 percent of the city's less than 40,000 residents live in poverty.

Spaccia makes $376,288 a year and Adams earns $457,000, 50 percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.

The three officials will not receive severance packages, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Rizzo will step down at the end of August, and Spaccia will leave at the end of September. Adams will also leave at the end of August, after completing an evaluation of the Police Department, the Times said.

Rizzo would be entitled to a state pension of more than $650,000 a year for life, according to calculations made by the Times. That would make Rizzo, 56, the highest-paid retiree in the state pension system.

Adams could get more than $411,000 a year.

Spaccia, 51, could be eligible for as much as $250,000 a year when she reaches 55, though the figure is less precise than for the other two officials, the Times said.

City Council members who earn about $100,000 a year receive most of that as compensation for serving on city agencies such as the Planning Commission and the Solid Waste and Recycling Authority.

California law limits the salaries of City Council members in most cities of Bell's size to about $400 a month, unless voters approve a higher wage. It also sets a $150 pay limit for each commission, committee or board on which a council member serves.

That law was signed in September 2005. Two months later, Bell held an election � in which fewer than 400 people voted � that declared it a charter city and allowed it to bypass the state law applying to "general law" cities.

The city charter says council pay can't exceed that allowed to similar cities by the state law. But it permits council members to create and serve on any commissions or boards they want � at any compensation they set.

The county district attorney's office is investigating to determine if the high salaries for the council members violate any state laws. The City Council also intends to review city salaries, including those of its own members, according to Councilman Luis Artiga and Mayor Oscar Hernandez.

Full article at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100723/ap_on_re_us/us_bell_salaries

[SeoulNate]

what the hell am i doing in korea