Inglewood City Clerk requests financial documents from Mayor, Council

The Inglewood City Council convened on March 17th to implement an emergency ordinance to address the global health crisis due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

Treasurer Wanda Brown said that because of the crisis, and the health and safety of her staff, she has cancelled her free tax preparation services, for seniors, but will complete the forms her office has already received.  She also mentioned that the Investment Oversight Committee, that was set to meet in April, has now been moved to the summer.

Brown also continued her praise of city employees including Josh Howe, who is over the city website and mail room and a regular paid campaign worker for Mayor Butts. Yakema Decatur was also thanked for her contributions to the city’s rent stabilization ordinance and being over preparing the council agenda.

City Clerk Yvonne Horton to the unusual step of asking the council members to turn in their Form 700, statements of economic interest, as they are due to the State on April 1st.

Both Mayor Butts and Councilman Eloy Morales appear to be withholding their full forms.  The FPPC website shows that Morales hasn’t turned in complete forms since 2018 and Mayor Butts hasn’t submitted his for the last three years.  The members of council have also not turned in income information for their spouses.

According to the FPPC website the only time a spouses income doesn’t have to be reported is when a prenuptial agreement is in place.

The council took a recess so they could read the emergency ordinance, related to the coronavirus, that was not made available to the public on the city’s website under the agenda.

Mayor Butts had a hard time reading the ordinance, and several changes were made, that is unclear.  Although concessions were made for renters, there was no discussion on how the missed rent would be paid back or a timeframe that the missed rent would be due.  The only thing that was made clear is that the ordinance runs from March 17th through April 30th.

Through the city’s social media channels, they have mentioned they are suspending water shut offs for the next 60 days.  There was no mention of relaxing parking enforcement restrictions due to the high number of residents who may be home due to job and/or school closures.

2UrbanGirls urges residents to contact the Mayor’s office at 310-412-5300 for clarification and/or a copy of the emergency ordinance related to eviction protections, directly related to the health pandemic.