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Feb 4, 2025

city council

The council's largest approved expenditure was a $945,688 contract with NV5 Inc. for engineering design on the Center Avenue green street and storm drain project, funded by state grants and passed without discussion with Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, and Sharif voting yes and Darton's vote not captured in the transcript. A $225,000 three-year contract with JL Group LLC for fraud investigation services (General Fund) and $170,950 to Envisio Solutions Inc. for performance management software — structured as four sub-$100,000 payments, a flagged possible split-payment pattern — both passed with Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, and Sharif voting yes and Darton not recorded. The item generating the most debate was $149,863 to Eadie and Payne LLC for audit services billed outside the original contract scope, structured as three sub-$100,000 invoices including one ($24,246) just below the $25,000 approval threshold; three public speakers questioned who authorized the additional work, the city controller stated the auditor was conditioning progress on the FY2023 audit report on receipt of payment, and the item passed with Duhart and Sharif voting yes and Spicer abstaining, with Bowers and Darton's votes not recorded. The council also approved $200,000 to recurring vendors including Jankovich for fleet gasoline, with Duhart, Bowers, and Sharif voting yes and Spicer and Darton not recorded, and $30,960 to New West Landscaping for golf course maintenance, with Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, and Sharif voting yes and Darton not recorded.

Jan 28, 2025

city council

No new spending was approved at the January 28, 2025 Compton City Council meeting; the consent agenda carried no items, and the closed session covering the City Manager performance evaluation (Item 1) was cancelled and tabled after an initial quorum failure — the transcript does not record a complete vote tally for either procedural motion, with only three of five council members' votes captured on the recess motion and two of five on adjournment. The city manager delivered an informational ARPA spending report showing $29 million disbursed to date, with individual line items including nearly $5 million for fire apparatus replacement, approximately $1.5 million for tree trimming, and $199,910 paid to California Labor Solutions for HR services against a $200,000 council authorization — a figure $90 below the full approved ceiling, which represents a threshold-adjacent pattern worth noting. The Measure A report disclosed over $1 million directed to pool maintenance at Gonzales and Luders parks, and the city manager stated he intends to return to council to shift a previously approved $450,000 Cesar Chavez park playground allocation from Measure A to CDBG funding; separately, approximately $3.3 million in prior-year CDBG funds remains unallocated and the city manager stated it is at risk of federal reduction or clawback under current HUD rules. Eleven residents spoke during public comment, including one speaker who cited a $1,253,279 animal control contract with LA Animal Care — approved September 24, 2024 — and stated the vendor had not responded to a dead animal pickup request placed days earlier, and another who raised questions about undisclosed spending totals for the recent election and Christmas parade.

Nov 19, 2024

city council

The largest spending decision of the evening was an $80,000 settlement in Susan Hill v. City of Compton — a slip-and-fall claim involving a defective roadway and curb due to an overgrown tree at Evers and Popular Street — agreed to in closed session with no public roll-call vote. The Cal-Card purchasing program (Item 6), which structured five tiered credit card spending limits ($25,000 recurring, $25,000, $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000) under the city manager's authority, was pulled before a vote after the city attorney noted the resolution directed council only to 'receive and file' the policy rather than formally approve it; both the motion and second were rescinded and the item is scheduled to return the following week with corrected language — two members of the public had already raised questions about the program during general comment, citing the city's prior history of credit card misuse. The second reading of the speed limit ordinance passed 5-0 following extended discussion in which the Sheriff's captain disclosed the city has operated with one active motorcycle officer for approximately 18 months under a two-officer contractual arrangement, with the second position not expected to be filled until March 2025. The Workers' Compensation Claims Administrator reclassification — which transferred supervisory authority from the city attorney's office to the city manager's office — passed 5-0; the city manager stated it fulfills an audit requirement and was not kingdom-building. A Small Business Saturday proclamation for November 30, 2024 passed 5-0 with no discussion, and approval of minutes from two prior meetings passed 5-0 on the consent agenda.

Oct 22, 2024

city council

The council's largest approval was a three-year contract with MV Transportation, Inc. for Renaissance Transit System operations — $6.85 million for year one, with the vendor appearing across seven line items in this agenda totaling $19.07 million from Proposition A Local Return funds — passed 5-0; the council also approved $1.86 million to MDJ Management LLC for City Hall fire alarm and sprinkler system replacement using ARPA funds, with MDJ appearing in four agenda line items totaling $3.72 million, also 5-0. The council further approved $159,084 to End-Point Wireless Inc. for a security camera system at four locations (CDBG-CV and General Fund, 5-0); a contract amendment adding $283,651 to Mark Thomas & Company's Artesia Bridge agreement plus a $335,333 state grant budget allocation (5-0), with subcontractor Atlas receiving $24,492 — just below the $25,000 approval threshold; and General Fund travel expenses of $725, $315.96, and $292 for a Sacramento Legislative Tour, with four members indicating attendance (vote tally not clearly transcribed). A sheriff substation lease with CLPF Gateway Towne Center LP was approved 5-0 listing $47,001 as an expenditure — just below the $50,000 council approval threshold — though the sheriff's captain stated the current monthly cost to the city is $0, a discrepancy with the structured agenda amount; consent-agenda items included $23,097 to BigBelly Connect Services and a related $23,764 recycling-station purchase, both just below the $25,000 threshold, approved in the omnibus 5-0 consent vote. The First Quarter FY2025 Investment Report — showing the city's $246 million portfolio already exceeding its full-year interest earnings budget projections within three months — was received and filed 5-0 and is a financial reporting item, not a spending approval; the city treasurer stated that interest earnings projections in the budget need to be revised upward.

Sep 17, 2024

city council

No new spending was approved at this September 17, 2024 meeting. The sole action item was the appointment of Charles Scott as Interim Senior Building Inspector under California Government Code Section 21221(h) — a CalPERS provision governing retired-annuitant rehires — with no compensation figure disclosed in the agenda or transcript; one council member's remarks suggested Scott was already working and that the vote may have been a retroactive correction to bring the arrangement into PERS compliance, citing the 960-hour annual cap as the governing constraint. The appointment passed with Duhart, Spicer, Darden, and Mayor Sharif recorded as yes votes; Bowers' response was not clearly captured in the transcript. The consent agenda — two sets of November 28, 2023 meeting minutes — passed 5-0 with no discussion. Ten members of the public addressed the council on non-agenda matters, raising concerns about illegal dumping across multiple districts, a street-lighting and sanitation contractor's performance, $18,000 a speaker said was previously set aside for holiday decorations and never spent, alleged charter violations tied to a council member's appointment, and deteriorating road conditions.

Sep 10, 2024

city council

The council approved two contracts: $123,597 to St. Nick's Christmas Lighting and Decor for holiday decoration installation and removal (5-0), and $102,932 to BluLynx Solutions LLC for grant administrative services (four council members recorded yes; Bowers's vote is not captured in the transcript). A third item — the appointment of Charles Scott as Interim Senior Building Inspector, structured retroactively to October 2023 — was pulled without a vote after Councilwoman Darden cited a typographic error in the resolution, a missing government code attachment, and insufficient clarification on the retroactive arrangement; Councilman Spicer withdrew his motion before any second was recorded, and the item is scheduled to return the following week. During Item 6 discussion, Councilwoman Darden noted that the three competing bids were approximately double the St. Nick's figure; no members of the public addressed either spending item. The council also voted 5-0 to reschedule the Republic Services performance review hearing to October 10, 2024, and approved three sets of prior meeting minutes on consent (5-0); five members of the public addressed the council during open comment, raising concerns that included a charter-compliance dispute over the District 1 council appointment that the city attorney had found to be in violation, a week-long street lighting outage, and road conditions on Wilmington Avenue.

May 28, 2024

city council

The largest new spending approval was $373,857 to Vincor Construction, Inc. for facility renovations funded from the Insurance Recovery Fund, with Duhart, Spicer, Darden, and Mayor Sharif voting yes — Bowers's vote was not captured in the transcript; the structured agenda lists Vincor across four line items on the same agenda item, including additional contract figures of $169,239 and $155,854, with total flagged Vincor amounts reaching approximately $1.07 million. The council also approved a $58,000 purchase order to Republic Services for compost and mulch (5-0) — a vendor appearing in two identical $58,000 line items on the same agenda item, totaling $116,000 and flagged as a possible split payment — and a $34,989 purchase order to Quinn Company for an outstanding invoice and maintenance services (5-0), structured across four sub-items summing to $104,967, also flagged as a possible split payment. A $20,026 contract with Mars Environmental for environmental disposal, drawn from the Public Works Street Maintenance Equipment Rental Fund Balance, was pulled from consent by Councilperson Duhart, who noted that fund balance information was absent from the staff report, and then approved 5-0; the city attorney's oral report separately disclosed two previously authorized litigation settlements — $3,975,000 in Leggett v. City of Compton and $1,500 in Rogers v. City of Compton — neither of which was a new spending decision at this meeting. A proposed five-year lease with Angels for Sight was pulled before any vote by the mayor, who cited legal issues that surfaced after the agenda was posted. Six residents addressed the council during public comment, raising concerns about business licensing processes, meeting minutes accuracy, street and tree maintenance, prostitution on Long Beach Boulevard, pothole repair material quality, and vendor oil disposal into storm drains.

Sep 11, 2018

city council

The largest spending decisions approved were a $260,000 emergency street sweeping contract with CleanStreet, awarded without competitive bidding on the same night all prior street sweeping proposals were rejected (Items 17 and 18; vote tally not fully legible in transcript), and Item 16, which drew $225,000 from the Supplemental Law Enforcement Fund with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department named as the recipient across three separate line items — a pattern flagged in the agenda — covering five overtime task forces for marijuana dispensary suppression, illegal dumping, prostitution sweeps, traffic enforcement, and park patrols per the city manager; Item 16 passed with at least Galvan, McCoy, and Sharif voting yes (Zerita's vote not captured in transcript). Two additional contracts each fell just below the city's $100,000 approval threshold: $95,000 to Life Assist Medical Supplies for fire department medical supplies (4-0, no discussion) and $93,809 to KOA for Wilmington Avenue street design services (4-0, no discussion). An ordinance that would have capped total public comment at 45 minutes while raising individual council member speaking time from 5 to 10 minutes failed 1-3 with only Councilperson Galvan voting yes; approximately 14 members of the public addressed the council, with multiple speakers opposing that ordinance, the Mayor Pro Tem appointment (passed 3-1 with Councilwoman Sharif dissenting after stating on the record she had been denied her rotation at the position in what she described as a departure from a 20-year council practice), and the facility naming resolution (Item 20, naming three city recreation facilities after Dolores Zerita, DJ Quick, and Oscar De La Hoya), which passed with at least Galvan and Zerita voting yes.