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May 12, 2026

city council

At the May 12, 2026 meeting, the Compton City Council approved several key items including a $200,000 CalTrans grant to continue the city's Clean Team cleanup program, a $309,495 contract for asphalt pavement rehabilitation at various locations, a $67,500 contract for dirt removal and dumping cleanup on city-owned parcels near the 710 freeway, and an $874,908 cost-sharing agreement with the City of Carson for street improvements on Central Avenue. The council also adopted a schedule for upcoming community budget workshops across all four districts, with an additional Saturday session being explored, and scheduled a public hearing for the HUD 2026-27 Annual Action Plan on June 9. During public comment, residents raised concerns about street conditions, Republic Services trash pickup delays, transparency and financial accountability, the Compton Unified School District bond measure, and a credit card misuse investigation — with the city manager announcing that a full report and the investigator will be presented at next week's meeting.

Apr 14, 2026

city council

The council voted 2-3 to reject a travel authorization (Item 5) totaling $1,623 structured across three separate General Fund line items — $1,000, $548, and $75 — for elected officials to attend the 67th Annual Municipal Seminar in Indian Wells in May 2026, with Mayor Sharif, Spicer, and Bowers voting no and Duhart and Darden voting yes; the three-way split of expenditures for a single event is a pattern flagged in the structured agenda. A right-of-entry and access agreement with nonprofit Connecting Compton for a former landfill site at 2815–2901 West Alondra Boulevard (Item 6) was tabled 4-1 (Bowers dissenting) after council members raised concerns about soil contamination, the city's disclosure of two unresolved competing access challenges filed against the city, and the revelation that vendor NV5 holds an active city stormwater-sampling contract at the site yet has produced no reports to the council. Staff was directed to bring NV5 before the council for a full presentation, explore a request for proposals for soil site analysis, and contact the EPA directly, with all three components targeted to return by mid-May 2026. The closed session on public employee discipline — concerning the city manager currently on administrative leave — was referred to outside retained counsel Enzo Law with no additional reportable action; two members of the public addressed the closed-session item before it convened, both speaking in support of the city manager.

Mar 3, 2026

city council

The council's largest spending approvals came through the consent agenda — passed without individual vote tallies verbally recorded — totaling $141,115: $57,000 to UCLA Center for Prehospital Care for paramedic training, $70,560 across two line items to New West Landscaping for weed abatement (a vendor with recurring contract appearances in Compton records dating to at least 2018), and $13,355 to TAJ Trading Corporation for office furniture and counter purchases; a travel authorization totaling $1,253.24 from the General Fund for elected officials to attend the 2026 City Leaders Summit in Sacramento passed separately, 5-0 (Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, Darden, Sharif all yes). A $350,000 California DOJ Tobacco Grant budget amendment — which would have directed $332,668 of those funds to overtime pay for code enforcement inspections, $16,664 to salaries, and $668 to equipment — was tabled after council members questioned why inspection work was structured as overtime rather than regular-duty assignments; the item is scheduled to return the following week. The council discussed but did not vote on special legal counsel, directing the city manager to bring back a formal action item for three finalist firms: Alvarez-Madruga, Sanders and Roberts, and Norseman. Approximately sixteen residents addressed the Richland Farms parking permit ordinance during public comment — the night's dominant topic — with the majority demanding termination of the program and a smaller number expressing support.

May 20, 2025

city council

The council approved six spending items, all on 5-0 votes (Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, Darden, and Mayor Sharif), including $4.20M in annual lighting and landscape district assessments and $913,641 in sewer service charges for FY2025/2026 — both recurring levies collected via the county property tax roll — a $2.73M contract with HASA Inc. for chlorine chemicals structured across four line items ($1.14M, $681,711, $681,711, and $227,237), a $200,000 purchase order for fleet gasoline from Jankovich, SC Fuels and Wood Oil, and a $320,760 contract with Clinical Laboratory of San Bernardino Inc. for water sample testing. Three speakers addressed the lighting assessment public hearing and four spoke during the sewer public hearing, with multiple residents questioning whether the recurring $54 annual sewer charge constitutes double-taxation given the city's outstanding 2009 sewer bond; no public comment was taken during the votes on items 11 through 13, though during the general comment period one resident questioned whether the chlorine purchase served pools and another asked what information residents receive from water sample results. Two vendor patterns were flagged: HASA Inc. accounts for all four line items under a single agenda item totaling $2.73M, and Clinical Laboratory of San Bernardino Inc. has three of its four payments structured below $100,000 — $80,190, $80,190, and $26,730, summing to $187,110 of the $320,760 total — identified in the structured agenda as a possible split payment. The meeting's largest dollar figure, $300.64M, is the city's investment portfolio balance reported by the city treasurer, not a spending decision; the $2.74M mentioned represents interest earned during the third quarter of FY2025, not an expenditure.

Apr 30, 2025

city council

No new spending was approved at this April 30 special meeting; the sole action item was a resolution to rescind Resolution 26,231, which the council had passed one week earlier on April 22 designating law firm Lashare & Winder as special counsel at $325/hour for general services and $375/hour for litigation — the same firm that already held a retainer contract signed in October 2024. The meeting was dominated by competing legal opinions on whether the April 22 action constituted a Brown Act violation: Lashare & Winder attorney Sonny Sutani argued no violation occurred, while Deputy City Attorney Merle Green argued there were multiple violations that day, including an improperly noticed subsequent-need item and an unagendized presentation by Sutani. The original motion to rescind, moved by Council Member Duhart and seconded by Council Member Bowers, was withdrawn; a substitute motion to modify rather than rescind Resolution 26,231 without admitting a Brown Act violation passed 5-0 (Duhart yes, Spicer yes, Bowers yes, Darton yes, Sharif yes), with a closed session and subsequent public vote scheduled for May 6. Seven members of the public spoke during public comment, the majority raising concerns about the Brown Act dispute, the appointment process, and spending on legal representation. A pattern flagged during discussion: the city carries approximately five to six active outside counsel contracts, and Sutani stated at least two of those contracts bill at $450/hour, above the council's own $440/hour resolution cap — a claim Green disputed.

Feb 18, 2025

city council

No new spending was approved at the February 18, 2025 Compton City Council meeting; the only action item — a procedural vote to schedule a fireworks workshop and public hearing for February 25, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. — passed 5-0 (Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, Darden, Sharif). The council reported out of closed session that the city manager was retained following a performance evaluation, with no financial terms disclosed publicly. Approximately twelve residents spoke during public comment, with recurring concerns centered on sole-source waste contractor Republic Services: one speaker alleged the city received $300,000 from Republic Services following a service performance review, while the city manager stated the actual figures were a $25,000 check designated for Cesar Chavez Park and a separate $100,000 payment, and further stated that the council has not yet decided how those funds will be spent. Speakers also questioned a general plan contract cited at $1 million — one speaker noted a councilmember had identified a $300,000 in-house alternative — and raised questions about lease arrangements for nonprofits operating in city-owned facilities; neither item was on the agenda for a vote.

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.

Dec 3, 2024

city council

The only new spending approved at the December 3, 2024 Compton City Council meeting was a resolution establishing a purchasing card program through the state's Cal-Card program, passed 5-0 (Duhart, Spicer, Bowers, Darden, and Sharif all yes); the resolution sets tiered individual cardholder limits of $25,000 (appearing twice in the structured agenda items — one designated as recurring), $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000, and the city manager stated approximately 31 cards will be assigned to named employees. Three members of the public spoke before the vote raising concerns about past misuse of city credit cards and requesting monthly public reporting of all charges; the city manager stated monthly reports would be produced and that merchant-category restrictions prevent cardholders from using the cards at unauthorized vendors. The November 19, 2024 meeting minutes were pulled from the consent agenda — not approved — after a council member cited omissions including a misspelled sponsor name and an unrecorded 200-turkey donation, and will return for a vote at a future meeting.

Oct 8, 2024

city council

No new spending was approved at the October 8, 2024 Compton City Council meeting. The council took two action votes: Item 3, a 5-0 approval designating the city manager as the authorized agent with FEMA and Cal OES for disaster-related financial assistance (no spending attached); and Item 4, approving a 12-month lease of city-owned property at 202 North Long Beach Boulevard to nonprofit Sylvia Nunn Angels — Councilman Spicer moved Option B, setting the rate at $1 per year rather than the agenda's standard rate of $3,492 per month ($41,904 annually), with Duhart, Spicer, Darden, and Mayor Sharif recorded as yes and Bowers' vote absent from the transcript; agenda materials listed Sylvia Nunn Angels in two separate line items totaling $45,396, representing the same deal expressed as both an annual figure ($41,904) and a monthly rate ($3,492). The remainder of the meeting was informational: a United Way of Greater LA presenter projected $825,888 annually flowing directly to Compton and approximately $23 million to the Gateway Cities COG if Measure A passes in November — revenue projections tied to a ballot measure, not city spending approvals — and Councilwoman Duhart separately noted the city treasurer generated over $10 million in interest earnings, also not a spending decision. Eleven residents addressed the council during public comment, raising concerns about illegal dumping, potholes, the Artesia Bridge construction timeline, prostitution along Long Beach Boulevard, gang violence, and the disputed legal basis of a District 1 council appointment.

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.

Jul 23, 2024

city council

The council's two largest spending approvals were a subsequent-need vehicle lease of $1,002,434 with Enterprise Fleet Management (5-0) and a multi-year enterprise software contract with CentralSquare Technologies totaling approximately $1.01 million ($613,859 contract plus $398,951 first-year purchase order from the General Fund), approved 4-1 with Spicer dissenting; the Water Department also authorized a sole-source, ARPA-funded control valve repair contract of $322,839 with CLA-VAL Company (5-0). Additional spending approvals included a $224,500 bond disclosure services agreement with BLX Group LLC (consent, 5-0), $169,165 for agenda management software with Hyland Software (5-0), and a $135,000 debt collection agreement with Evergreen Professional Recoveries (5-0) — where Evergreen's first-year purchase order was set at $22,500, just below the $25,000 approval threshold, and projected first-year revenue of $90,000 sits just below the $100,000 approval threshold; across all five service vendors on this agenda (CentralSquare, BLX Group, Hyland Software, Evergreen, and transcription vendor Melvinna Sharp), each item paired a multi-year contract with a separate same-vendor expenditure line, a structure repeated consistently across the entire agenda. On a 3-2 vote (Darden and Sharif opposed), the council approved placing a November ballot measure to make the city attorney position appointed rather than elected, with a 10-year municipal law experience requirement; the council also voted 3-2 (Spicer and Bowers opposed) to place delinquent solid waste accounts on the county tax roll, following a public hearing in which more than a dozen residents addressed the council demanding cancellation of the Republic Services contract over weeks of missed pickups across all four council districts. The council voted 5-0 to raise the city manager's per-transaction spending authority from $25,000 to $75,000 — with a $200,000 emergency limit — for the month of August while the council is in recess.

Jun 25, 2024

city council

The council's largest approved expenditures at its June 25, 2024 meeting were $600,000 to United Pacific Services for tree trimming using ARPA funds (5-0), $322,839 sole-source to CLA-VAL Company for water control valve repairs from ARPA (5-0), $252,405 to Johnson Controls — a vendor the city manager's office stated the city has used for roughly 17 to 18 years — for City Hall HVAC maintenance drawn from Measure P fund balance (5-0), $167,145 to ChargePoint for fleet charging stations (5-0), $100,000 to The Blue Diamond Company for asphalt materials (5-0), and $84,465 to Carson Chevrolet for a 2024 Chevrolet Tahoe for the fire chief (5-0). The council withdrew without a vote the meeting's largest single item — a proposed $1.82 million multi-year agreement with Yunex Traffic for traffic signal and street light maintenance — after members cited service deficiencies and noted only one vendor had responded to the solicitation; a $100,500 investment advisory contract with Chandler Asset Management was also pulled by staff before a vote, and a $763.36 GovConnection computer equipment order was pulled by a council member over invoice calculation discrepancies. Two approved contracts involved split-payment structuring across multiple line items: Govinvest Inc. received $227,056 total for software management services (5-0) and MGT of America Consulting received $48,688 total for Senate Bill 90 consulting (5-0); B-Adair Consulting & Administrative Services was approved on the consent agenda for $24,900 in grant reconciliation services — $100 below the standard $25,000 council approval threshold — as part of a 5-0 consent vote. The FY 2024-2025 budget passed 4-1 with Councilwoman Darden dissenting, fireworks stand permits were approved 4-1 with Mayor Sharif voting no, and approximately 20 residents addressed the council during public comment, raising concerns about fireworks safety, a video shoot that blocked local businesses without advance notice, trash collection reliability, and the recurring selection of the same nonprofit organizations for CDBG grant funding.

Jun 18, 2024

city council

The council approved $33,880 to Day Wireless Systems for 50 Code Enforcement portable radios (consent, 5-0) and $775 in General Fund travel for elected officials to the League of California Cities conference (5-0); five larger spending items totaling more than $1.7 million — including a $600,000 tree-trimming purchase order to United Pacific Services, a $322,839 ARPA-funded contract with Cla-Val Company, a $651,950 EV charging station purchase with ChargePoint Inc. split across three line items (flagged as a repeat vendor), a $48,688 two-line-item consulting contract with MGT of America, and a fire chief vehicle purchase with competing bids from three Chevrolet dealerships ranging $81,080–$84,787 — were on the agenda but not acted upon before the meeting was continued. A fireworks permit vote for eleven nonprofit applicants failed: Spicer voted yes, Duhart, Bowers, and Darden abstained, and Mayor Sharif voted no, after approximately nine members of the public addressed the item, the majority opposing the permits. A public hearing on placing roughly 130 delinquent commercial water accounts on the Los Angeles County tax roll was pulled after Republic Services' designated presenter left the chambers before making a presentation, drawing objections from approximately eight speakers. The meeting was continued to the following week following a floor dispute between the city attorney and city manager over the city attorney's right to deliver an oral report from the dais, with the continuation passing on a 2-yes tally (Duhart and Mayor Sharif), Spicer and Darden absent, and Bowers' vote unrecorded in the transcript.

Jun 11, 2024

city council

The council's only itemized spending approval on June 11, 2024 was a $1,076 purchase order to Staples Advantage for Parks & Recreation office supplies, passed 5-0 as part of the consent agenda alongside warrant approvals and three sets of prior meeting minutes; no split payments, repeat vendors, or threshold-adjacent amounts were present among the structured spending items. The council voted 5-0 to authorize travel to the 92nd U.S. Conference of Mayors (June 20–23, 2024), though a separate attendance poll showed only Mayor Sharif intended to go, with all four council members voting against attending (1-4 on attendance). No new spending was approved under unfinished business; the council voted 4-0 (Bowers absent) to receive and file the FY 2020-2021 audited financial statements — an informational action, not a spending decision — following a presentation by EDN Payne auditor Eden Castreno, who disclosed two material weaknesses, six significant deficiencies, a qualified opinion on cash allocation tied to an unreconciled $80 million journal entry posted in 2011 with no backup documentation, and stated the audit took one year and ten months to complete. The city manager presented the proposed FY 2024-25 budget of approximately $254 million at a public hearing adjourned 5-0 without an adoption vote; eleven residents spoke during general public comment on topics including potholes, encampments, audit irregularities, and a $69 million prior-year accounting adjustment the city controller attributed to accumulated errors.

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.

Apr 23, 2024

city council

The council approved a $101,500 contract with County Leak Services for repairs at the Luders Park city pool (5-0), though the structured agenda records two identical $101,500 line items for the same vendor under the same agenda item—one unrestricted and one from Measure A—flagging a combined $203,000 attributed to County Leak Services; no council member raised this discrepancy. Also approved were an $80,000 two-year contract with Mariposa Eco Consulting Inc. for SB 1383 compliance services (5-0) and a $50,000 amendment to an existing Cintas Corporation uniform services contract (5-0), with the structured agenda similarly showing two $50,000 Cintas line items under the single item—a pattern flagged as a possible split payment keeping each entry below the $100,000 threshold. Items 10 and 11 initiated FY2024-25 assessment proceedings for the lighting/landscape district ($4.2 million) and sewer service charges ($913,506); these are revenue collections, not new spending approvals. Personnel Board business generated the evening's most procedurally contested votes: Jennifer Grant was removed 5-0, then reappointed 5-0 after the city attorney stated that a verbal motion withdrawal does not reverse a vote already taken; Yawande Ayodele was removed 4-0-1 (Bowers abstaining); Merkelyn Black was appointed 4-1 (Spicer dissenting); and Alicia Rivers was appointed on a 2-1-2 vote (Bowers no, Darden and Sharif abstaining). Twelve residents spoke during public comment, the bulk of which addressed Long Beach Boulevard prostitution, Compton Creek maintenance, and trash pickup reliability—none addressed the spending items on the agenda.

Feb 27, 2024

city council

The council's largest spending approval was $27,145 to the League of California Cities for recurring annual membership dues from the General Fund, passed 4-0 with Spicer absent; ten members of the public addressed the meeting, with one speaker questioning whether council members utilize the membership before the vote proceeded with no further discussion. The council also approved travel to the African American Mayors Association conference in Atlanta, with costs split across four separate line items — $1,100 to the association plus $335.97, $289.00, and $75.00 from the General Fund, totaling $1,799.97 — though no explicit roll-call vote for this item appears in the transcript, and only Mayor Sharif indicated she would attend. The council passed the second reading of a vehicle forfeiture ordinance targeting street racing 4-0 (Spicer absent), with Bowers abstaining on the separate prior vote to waive the full reading (3-0-1); the ordinance references fine amounts of $2,000 and $1,000, which are incoming revenue to the city, not spending approvals. A presentation by the Afro Unicorn Foundation (Item 2) was pulled by Councilwoman Darden and deferred to a future meeting date.