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MTA Bond fund allocation for capital outlay

Sep 2, 2025

city council

The council's largest approved spending commitments were a $9.69M street rehabilitation contract with Palp, Inc. dba Excel Paving funded by MTA Bond Funds (5-0) and a $5.07M citywide road repair contract with Hardy & Harper, Inc. funded across Measure P, Measure M, and Measure R (5-0); Palp, Inc. dba Excel Paving is a flagged repeat vendor appearing in two agenda items totaling $20.34M on this agenda. The council also approved a $2.32M contract amendment with R2Build (dba R2B Engineering) for Tank Farm Reservoir upgrades from the Water Enterprise Fund (5-0), a $1.08M annual supply contract with Ferguson Waterworks (5-0), a $100,000 purchase order with Roadline Products, Inc. for pavement marking equipment with no council discussion (5-0), a health insurance contribution rate fix directing $2,520 and $2,409 per employee and annuitant respectively to CalPERS (5-0), and a $73,160 JAG grant budget amendment — with the city manager stating primary use will be license-plate-reader cameras — (5-0). Three items were not approved: the FY 2025-26 salary schedule budget amendment — which contains a $96,324 line item sitting just below the $100,000 approval threshold — was tabled at Council Member Duhart's request for more detail; a six-year lease with Fathers and Mothers Who Care covering $175,000 in building renovations at a city-owned property and $2,332 per month in rent was tabled after council members said the staff report lacked cost justification; and a budget amendment to direct approximately $141.82M to CalPERS for pension liability — making CalPERS a repeat vendor across four line items totaling $141.83M on this agenda — was pulled by the city manager, who said he wants to present it at a public workshop first. Nineteen residents addressed the council during public comment, with multiple speakers citing homelessness, a 6.8% property tax reassessment, deteriorating streets and missing street signs, and inconsistent street sweeping; one speaker alleged the city manager has been spending beyond the $50,000 limit set by Resolution 26100 for the past year.

Oct 15, 2024

city council

The council's largest spending approval was $462,458 to NV5, Inc. for Wilmington Avenue Safe Streets construction management, funded through SB1 ($262,458) and MTA Bond ($200,000), passed 5-0 with no discussion; the council also approved $257,977 to Bowman Infrastructure Engineers for road repair construction management (5-0) and $99,935 to Bowman Infrastructure Engineers for Pearl Avenue street improvement design from CDBG funds (5-0), with the latter amount sitting $65 below the $100,000 approval threshold — Bowman is a repeat vendor receiving two separate contracts totaling $357,912 at this single meeting. Legal services retainer agreements for various law firms at a $440 recurring retainer rate were approved 4-0-1 (Darden abstaining); the city attorney stated publicly that he had not approved the item for placement on the agenda and that his authority was bypassed, while the city manager stated the retainers had expired in 2022 and that he acted within his authority, citing a court ruling that the city attorney cannot block agenda items. Nine residents addressed the council during public comment on matters including street maintenance quality, the city's zero credit rating, and election integrity, with one speaker specifically questioning whether items three through five should instead be performed by the city's own charter-mandated city engineer rather than contracted to outside firms. The meeting also included an informational presentation by the Compton Initiative and Bright Lights of Compton volunteer organization; no spending was attached to that item.