COMPTON – Compton’s top administrator has responded to reports of internal strife festering within the halls of 205 S. Willowbrook Ave.
A city hall insider penned Letter: Internal struggles could lead to Compton city manager’s ouster! describing the souring relationship between the City’s executive team and the City Council.
They attribute the issues to the lack of controls over the city’s finances where one member of the Compton City Council is being allowed to use their Cal-Card1 on expenditures outside of the City’s prescribed guidelines.
Compton’s resolution allowed the members of the city council to use the cards for travel related expenditures which conflicts with its allowed usage under the state of California.
According to the states website, “CAL-Card is NOT a payment mechanism for travel-related expenses (state agencies only).”
“CAL-Card is the registered name of the State of California’s Purchase Card Program. CAL-Card is a VISA purchase card provided by a State of California leveraged procurement agreement (LPA) and offered to participating state and local government agencies. Generally, a state agency is defined as a California government agency serving the entirety of the State of California whereas a local government (publicly funded) agency serves a specific location or region in the State of California.“
City Manager Willie Hopkins Jr. penned a two page missive aimed at City employees in the early morning of Dec. 22 where he vehemently objected to some of the letters contents while outright ignoring others.
Hopkins contends the relationship between his office and the City Council is not in “shambles” and remains in tact.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has confirmed they are reviewing a complaint made in regard to the spending of taxpayers funds which doesn’t stop at credit cards.
There are other rumblings that non-civil service staff could be in receipt of a gift of taxpayers funds for travel and trainings despite not being a full City employee and that a city administrator purchased gift cards for city staff without the council’s approval.
Hopkins has check writing authority of up to $25,000 directly from his office, however, the public would have to submit a public records request to the City Clerk’s office to determine what payments are being made.
A review of two years of city council agendas indicate that Mayor Emma Sharif’s administration is not transparent as warrant registers are not placed before the public for either approval or discussion.
In October, the state auditor’s office declined to remove Compton from its list of most financially high-risk cities due to the continued issues within various City departments.
Mayor Sharif will ask voters to reelect her as the city’s top elected official, but some are concerned she is not up to the task and that despite her longevity as a public official, that experience hasn’t translated into a more flourishing and thriving Compton.
- CAL-Card Program https://www.dgs.ca.gov/PD/About/Page-Content/PD-Branch-Intro-Accordion-List/Acquisitions/CAL-Card-Program ↩︎
