Tuesday, March 4, 2025

No new city spending was approved at the March 4, 2025 Compton City Council meeting; the two substantive action items were lease authorizations under which the city collects rent for space at the Neighborhood Center (600 North Alameda Street). The council approved a lease with Shields for Families at $3.02 per square foot (~$18,295 per month), 4-0 with Bowers not voting, and a lease with Volunteers of America at the same per-square-foot rate (~$10,301 per month), also 4-0 with Bowers not voting — the Volunteers of America motion was first withdrawn and recast after Council member Darden identified multiple resolution errors, including a wrong termination date (April 30, 2027, corrected to April 30, 2028), a misidentified tenant name in one section, and an improperly placed whereas clause. Volunteers of America is flagged as a repeat vendor, appearing in five line items across two agenda entries with a combined contract value of approximately $1.03M; both organizations had been operating under expired leases — Shields for Families for approximately two years and seven months at a prior rate of $1.40 per square foot, and Volunteers of America for approximately four years and eight months at $1.00 per square foot. Four members of the public specifically addressed items 3 and 4: Craig Henry identified himself as a Volunteers of America employee and stated he did not oppose the $3.02 rate but objected to the full 50.7% increase being applied at once rather than phased in; two other speakers called for the Mayor and Council member Spicer to recuse themselves, citing their appointment of Henry to city advisory and personnel committees as a conflict of interest.