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Mar 19, 2026

personnel board

The Compton Personnel Board unanimously approved six items at its March 19, 2026 meeting, with the most significant being the authorization of temporary firefighter appointments to address a severe staffing shortage in the fire department. Fire Chief Donald reported 10 current vacancies across captain, engineer, and firefighter ranks, with retired fire captains and firefighter paramedics being brought in temporarily while the department works to fill 20 positions. The board also approved eligible lists for city clerk technician, street maintenance supervisor, and associate civil engineer positions, abolished a building inspector eligible list due to unsuitable candidates, and extended the fire captain eligible list for six months. Compton College's upcoming fire academy, expected to launch in fall 2026, was noted as a future pipeline for local firefighter recruitment.

Feb 10, 2026

city council

No new spending was approved at this meeting; the sole action item was the appointment of Sandra Lightner to the one vacant Beautification Committee seat designated for Councilmember Bowers to fill, approved 4-0 with Councilmember Spicer absent and no dollar amount attached. The city treasurer's FY26 Second Quarterly Investment Report — an informational receive-and-file item, not a spending decision — reported a $312.18M investment portfolio generating $3.01M in total interest revenue for the quarter, drawn from the General Fund ($1.19M), PERS ($890,903), Measure P ($376,350), the Successor Agency ($347,864), and Low Cost Housing ($201,513). Approximately twenty-two residents addressed the council during public comment, the majority focused on the Richland Farms preferential permit parking program; the city manager stated the program was erroneously suspended by a former city attorney, that the current ordinance enforces parking restrictions 24/7 with no time-of-day limits unlike surrounding cities, and that staff would return the following week with amendment options — no vote was taken on the ordinance. No repeat vendors, split payments, or threshold-adjacent amounts appear in the approved items because no spending was authorized.

Dec 23, 2025

city council

The council's largest spending approval was $884,333 to Greenfields Outdoor Fitness Inc. for Greenleaf Parkway outdoor fitness equipment, passed 5-0; the city manager noted the contract contained a copy-paste error naming Fig & Oleander Park instead of Greenleaf Parkway and stated staff would correct it before signing. Three additional action items passed 5-0: $243,663 to Innovative Playgrounds Co., Inc. for Fig & Oleander Park playground work; $214,977 to End Point Wireless Inc. for security cameras at five parks; and $173,431 to JMC2 Engineering + Surveying for a second amendment to an engineering services agreement at the Alameda–State Route 91 corridor. On consent (5-0, no item-level discussion), the council approved $210,208 to WestNet, Inc. for a fire alerting system and $70,000 (recurring) to Waxie Enterprises for equipment and supplies; pulled from consent for separate 5-0 votes were $250,000 (recurring) to Oppenheimer Investigations Group, Norman A. Traub & Associates, and Jackson Lewis P.C. for investigation and legal services — the city manager stated existing vendors were over capacity — and $86,420 (recurring) to ESRI plus $46,359 to Versatile for GIS software, with Versatile's amount sitting just below the $50,000 council approval threshold; the State Water Resources Control Board collected $57,543 across two separate consent line items ($36,393 for a stormwater permit fee and $21,150 for a sewer overflow permit fee, both recurring). Approximately twelve members of the public addressed the council during general public comment, with multiple speakers demanding censure of Councilmember Spicer over credit card use currently under active DA investigation, several disputing the terms of the city attorney's departure settlement, and Richland Farms residents requesting postponement of preferential parking enforcement pending production of District 3 records.

Nov 4, 2025

city council

The council's largest spending approval was $1.4 million to United Pacific Services, Inc. for tree trimming, passed on the consent agenda 4-0-1 (Darton abstaining) as three split line items ($700,000, $400,000, and $300,000); the city manager stated additional funds may be requested to bring the year's total to $1 million. The same 4-0-1 consent vote also approved $88,151 to Nunez Office Installation DBA NOI Installations for Water Department furniture, structured as three separate payments ($44,076, $36,989, and $7,087). The council approved a $143,270 professional services contract with The Natelson Dale Group for an economic development strategic plan, 4-0-1 (Darton abstaining), despite lower competing bids on record at $137,675 and $129,500; the firm also appears in a separate Successor Agency action item, bringing its total across both agenda items to seven line items and $440,260. A six-year lease with Fathers and Mothers Who Care — which included a $175,000 city expenditure for improvements at a city-owned property on North Alameda — was tabled with no formal vote after council members questioned whether building and safety had inspected the facility and whether the improvement terms had been adequately documented. Approximately fifteen residents spoke during public comment, with multiple speakers raising complaints about Water Department billing fees, inconsistent charges, and staff conduct.

Oct 28, 2025

city council

The two largest items on the October 28, 2025 agenda—a $65.87 million payment to CalPERS from the Retirement Trust Fund (Item 3) and a $143,270 consulting contract with The Natelson Dale Group, Inc. for an Economic Development Strategic Plan (Item 5)—were tabled before any vote was taken. The consent agenda passed 5-0, approving $50,000 to Grainger for Public Works supplies and $43,092 to Nunez Office Installation DBA NOI Installations for Water Department furniture paid from the Water Fund. A resolution declaring certain city properties surplus under the Surplus Land Act passed 5-0 with no recorded discussion; the Successor Agency adopted a parallel resolution also 5-0 in the session immediately following. The Natelson Dale Group, Inc. appears in four line items across two agenda items totaling $429,810—with amounts of $143,270, $128,360, and $14,910 in one item and $143,270 in the other—a repeat-vendor and split-payment pattern residents should track, particularly given that the transcript records no vote on either Natelson Dale item. A pre-meeting public workshop on the city's unfunded accrued pension liability was informational only and produced no spending vote; approximately six members of the public spoke, including former city clerk Charles Davis, who urged the council not to act on any pension prepayment without broader analysis of all three CalPERS fund components.

Oct 21, 2025

city council

The council's largest spending approvals were a $75,000 maintenance services contract with Haaker Equipment Company and a $60,000 maintenance services contract with Quinn Company, both passed 5-0 on the consent agenda with no council discussion; no members of the public addressed either item, and the structured agenda records each as two matching line items of equal value (a contract and a budget allocation), a pattern flagged as possible split payments. As a separate action item, the council voted 5-0 with no council discussion to approve a GPS monitoring services agreement with Forward Thinking Systems, LLC—an initial purchase order not to exceed $46,531 plus an annual contract of $23,265.60 for up to three years with two one-year extension options; the initial amount sits just below the $50,000 approval threshold and the annual amount sits just below $25,000, both flagged as threshold-adjacent. The council also voted 5-0 to adopt an updated Emergency Operations Plan after an extended exchange in which at least one council member questioned fire department officials and an Area E DMACC coordinator on whether council had ever been provided the document and who constitutes the city's incident management team; fire department officials committed to distributing the plan to all council members. A city engineer's presentation on California's AB 413 daylighting parking law was informational only; the $90 figure associated with that item is a parking citation fee representing potential city revenue, not an approved expenditure. Approximately eleven residents addressed the council during public comment on topics including parking enforcement, charter compliance, and a request to investigate a city commissioner, but no speakers addressed the vendor contracts on either the consent agenda or the regular agenda.

Sep 29, 2025

town hall

The Compton [NAACP](https://www.naacp.org) and City of Compton hosted a town hall with LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who outlined major policy reversals from his predecessor, including removing blanket non-prosecution directives for homeless encampment crimes and juvenile misdemeanors. Hochman detailed his office's priorities on fentanyl enforcement, human trafficking prosecution, wrongful conviction reviews, and retail theft deterrence, while emphasizing a 'hard middle' approach that rejects both mass incarceration and decarceration. The DA disclosed that his office has reduced a backlog of over 10,000 unfiled cases to under 6,000 and revealed that a single apartment raid in Downey seized 50 pounds of fentanyl—enough for 11 million lethal doses. Hochman stated his office does not coordinate with ICE and expressed concern that federal immigration enforcement is deterring victims and witnesses from appearing in court. He committed to an open-door policy with the Compton [NAACP](https://www.naacp.org)'s Court Watch program and pledged to return for future community engagement.

Jul 15, 2025

city council

The council's two spending approvals both went to parks projects funded by Measure A: $340,514 to GameTime C/O Great Western Recreation for playground equipment and basketball court replacement at Tragniew Park (approved 4-0, Bowers absent), and $277,961 to Greenfields Outdoor Fitness Inc. for fitness equipment replacement at Wilson Park (approved 4-0, Bowers absent), with no public comment directed at either contract. The structured agenda data flags both as repeat vendors — Greenfields appears across seven line items totaling approximately $1.39M and GameTime across four line items totaling approximately $1.02M — and each contract carries a roughly 10% contingency allocation split from the base award amount. The municipal tax rate ordinance (Item 3), which concerns $35M in projected recurring revenue and is not a spending decision, was pulled from consent and deferred to September so the city manager can present it alongside the tax assessor for additional explanation on the pension tax component. Two Public Works sewer plan items (Items 4 and 5) were tabled by consensus to the next meeting after Councilwoman Darden stated she had not had sufficient time to review the 86-page document; the only other consent item approved was the minutes from May 6, 2025 (4-0, Bowers absent).

Jun 24, 2025

city council

The council approved the FY 2025-2026 budget totaling $262.32 million across all funds — including $89.71 million from the General Fund — 4-1 with Councilmember Darden dissenting, and authorized a right-of-way agreement for the Gateway Cities regional fiber optic network associated with a $103 million contract with the California Department of Technology and an incoming $46.1 million CPUC grant, approved 4-0 with Spicer absent. Angeles Contractor, Inc. — a repeat vendor appearing across three line items totaling approximately $1.97 million — received council chambers remodeling contracts under two separate agenda items (both 5-0); Alliant Insurance Services was authorized for a $4.5 million annual insurance portfolio renewal (5-0); and The Titan Group, also flagged as a repeat vendor in two line items on the same agenda totaling $335,716, received a $300,000-per-year Human Resources investigative services contract plus $35,716 for prior outstanding invoices (5-0). Further approvals included $199,790 to St. Nick's Christmas Lighting and Decor for holiday decorations (pulled for brief discussion then approved without changes, 5-0), $164,550 to Weaver and Tidwell LLP for ERP implementation project management (4-0, Spicer absent), $200,000 in CDBG funds for a senior Meals on Wheels program divided between Cuernavaca's Grill ($185,000) and Everytable ($15,000), a $202,456 subsequent-need payment to DUDIC for groundwater remediation (5-0), and $96,000 to Townsend Public Affairs — $4,000 below the $100,000 council approval threshold, passed through the consent agenda with no council discussion (5-0); the planned appointment of Councilman Spicer as Mayor Pro Tem was tabled after Councilmember Bowers requested legal advice before voting. Approximately nine members of the public spoke at the CDBG and HOME public hearing, raising concerns about the city's self-imposed matching funds requirement, a staff decision to redirect $15,000 originally recommended for Restoration Diversion into a council discretionary program, and whether CHIRLA should receive federal grant funding given public allegations of an ongoing federal investigation; the FY 2025-2026 Consolidated Plan and Annual Action Plan were approved with Spicer absent and Bowers' vote not recorded in the transcript.

Jan 14, 2025

city council

The council's largest spending approval was a recurring $800,000 contract with the City of Downey for fire and emergency medical dispatching services, passed on the consent agenda 4-0 (Darden absent); the same vote covered three recurring regulatory and consulting payments — $53,975 to the State Water Resources Control Board, $34,050 to Price Paige & Company LLP for a CPA contract amendment, and $33,012 to the California Department of Industrial Relations — with one resident, Fidel Marquez, publicly opposing the Price Paige item during public comment. A $416,428 amendment to a construction contract with MDJ Management LLC for security upgrades at 404 N. Alameda passed 4-0 (Darden absent) following a presentation by Director Ward citing scope additions — drainage retention basins, ADA sidewalks, and interior cameras — not anticipated when the project was authorized in June 2023; Ward stated the project is approximately 80% complete. A $28,799 General Fund purchase order to HDL for municipal tax and audit consulting passed 4-0 (Darden absent); both HDL and Price Paige & Company LLP are General Fund consulting vendors approved at the same meeting, and HDL's amount falls just under $30,000. No new spending was approved for the Olympics/Tourism Committee ordinance (first reading only, no vote taken) or the exclusive negotiation agreement with the Wind Project for 21 affordable units at 1716 E. Rosecrans (4-0, Darden absent), though the Wind Project ENA drew multiple public objections in the concurrent successor agency session.

Dec 17, 2024

city council

The council's largest approved expenditure was $290,095 to Everfence Corporation for fencing services on successor agency-owned parcels, approved 4-0 with Bowers absent in the regular session and then ratified again 4-0 in the successor agency session held the same evening; Everfence appears in two separate line items in the structured agenda, flagging a combined total of $580,190 for a single contract scope. The council also approved $192,000 to City Fabrick for a vacant-lot planning services agreement funded by Measure A, 4-0 with Bowers absent, with City Fabrick likewise flagged across two agenda line items totaling $384,000. The consent agenda passed 5-0, bundling a fraud hotline services agreement with Light-House Services LLC split across three line items — a $15,500 contract, a $3,500 expenditure, and a $3,000 recurring expenditure — totaling $22,000, along with a $36,393 recurring storm water permit fee to the State Water Resources Control Board; a $50,000 revenue audit contract with Eadie and Payne LLP was pulled from consent and approved separately, 5-0. A proposed three-year lease of city-owned property at 920 N. Alameda Street to the Compton Entertainment Chamber of Commerce died for lack of a second after three members of the public spoke against it.

Nov 6, 2024

city council

The council's largest single expenditure was a $527,000 agreement with SoundThinking, Inc. (formerly ShotSpotter) for gunfire detection services, approved 5-0 after a vendor presentation with no public comment on the item; the contract spans four line items, including a recurring $99,000 charge sitting just below the $100,000 approval threshold and two sub-$100,000 items summing to $109,000 — a pattern the structured agenda flagged as a possible split payment. The council also approved a multi-year tax and audit consulting contract with HDL Companies totaling $695,647, with $240,800 authorized for the first year from the General Fund, passed 5-0; at council direction, the contract term was reduced from five years to three years before the vote. A generator installation agreement with Express Energy Services, Inc. totaling $266,271 across three ARPA-funded line items for Fire Stations 1 and 3 was approved 5-0 after council members questioned the replacement timeline for generators at the city's other two stations. The council accepted a $130,192 LA Metro grant for transit data reporting — incoming funds, not a new spending approval — and the Successor Agency approved a $2,000 seasonal license with Santa's Christmas Trees, both 5-0; minutes from two February council meetings were pulled from the consent agenda and deferred to a future meeting.

May 21, 2024

city council

The council's largest spending approval was a contract amendment with Biggs Cardosa Associates, Inc. for Artesia Boulevard Bridge engineering services totaling $495,870, structured across four separate line items ($271,878, $124,824, and two payments of $49,584 each — one from state grants), with all amounts going to the same vendor under a single agenda item and both $49,584 figures falling just below the $50,000 individual approval threshold; the item passed 5-0 with no council discussion and no public comment. The council also voted 5-0 to release $99,974 in retention to Big Ben Engineering upon acceptance of the Pearl Avenue and Chester Avenue emergency sewer repairs — an amount $26 below the $100,000 approval threshold — after Councilmember Darden, who pulled the item from consent for discussion, confirmed that an independent inspection firm had been engaged to verify completion; a separate $20,000 purchase order to Secure A Door for fire station emergency door repairs was pulled from consent by the same councilmember and approved 5-0 following discussion about whether ARPA funds could be used for full door replacements rather than continued repairs. The council also authorized the county to collect two recurring revenue assessments — approximately $4.19 million for the Lighting and Landscape District and $913,506 in sewer service charges, both for fiscal year 2024-2025, placed on property tax bills — which are revenue collections, not new spending approvals; both passed 5-0. During the two accompanying public hearings, at least six residents questioned where the roughly $20 million collected over five years through the lighting and landscape assessment has gone given the condition of medians and landscaping citywide, and the city manager attributed the funds to recurring operational costs including approximately $1.5 million annually for street lighting electricity, over $700,000 for street sweeping, over $400,000 for tree trimming, staff salaries, and county administrative fees.

Mar 26, 2024

city council

The council's largest single contract approved at this meeting was $57,500 to Matrix Consulting Group for fire department labor cost analysis — funded through the American Rescue Plan Fund, passed 5-0 — after the city controller disclosed that only one vendor responded to the RFP; the structured agenda also lists $4.23M and $4.02M in recurring General Fund expenditures associated with this item, but neither figure was discussed in open session. A $45,000 contract with Future Buildings for a metal storage building at fire station #3 — sitting just below the city's $50,000 approval threshold — was initially voted through 5-0 after brief discussion, but was pulled back before adjournment when the city controller sought to add account code lines clarifying a fund transfer between Measure P and the General Fund; the item will return at a future meeting. A $2,525 purchase order to Johnson Controls, Inc. for City Hall HVAC temperature sensor and flow switch replacement passed 5-0 with no discussion. Thirteen residents addressed the council during public comment, raising concerns that included a stalled AFSCME union contract expired since 2019, ADA noncompliance at city facilities, the absence of Spanish-language translation services, street and infrastructure deterioration, and alleged harassment at a local cemetery.

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.