Bell Mayor Defends City Manager's $800k Salary

A KTLA news crew caught up with Oscar Hernandez, Mayor of the City of Bell, and key figure in the raging controversy over the financially strapped city's astronomical salaries. After an attempt to evade questioning, the Mayor reluctantly agreed to talk, but was less than apologetic, defending the City Manager's $800k yearly pay. In the mayor's words, "my community deserves to have good service."

WATCH KTLA's interview with Mayor Hernandez

 

Comments

[m80b]

03:39 PM on 09/15/2010

Check this out.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bell-259387-city-party.html

[Tony12345]

11:44 AM on 07/24/2010

Are you telling me that mayor can't find a City Manager who would do the job for less than $800k?? If he can't, then he needs to resign and let someone else employ and manage city staff...

[pattypank]

11:11 AM on 07/24/2010

This crook/mayor may not be the first jailed, as he offered to be, but he shouldn't be far behind. After reading some of the other comments here, I can't believe some of you actually believe corruption is unique to a certain political party. Unbelievable.

[jerzygurl]

08:27 AM on 07/24/2010

Why are these Democratic politicians, SO GREEDY?

[CivilGargoyle1]

07:38 AM on 07/24/2010

YGTBFKM!

[GiantCrab]

08:24 PM on 07/23/2010

This mayor is off the charts insane.

He throws a couple bags of groceries at the poor people in his community and takes a kings ransom for it. He is operating an American town like he is in Mexico. Americans have the respect to try to hide their corruption from you. This guy is doing it right in your face.

"

[Javagold]

07:44 PM on 07/23/2010

why is a small town allowed to give these salaries AND THEN the ENTIRE state is on the hook for their fraudulant pensions ?

[SinfullySublime]

12:40 AM on 07/24/2010

Fanned.

[Rachel49]

06:21 PM on 07/23/2010

Criminal. Who elected these greedy clowns?

[m80b]

03:35 PM on 09/15/2010

Democrates.
"Bell's city council is made up of five elected members: Mayor Oscar Hernandez, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, and council members Luis Artiga, George Mirabal and Lorenzo Velez. According to our review of voter registration records, Ms. Jacobo, Mr. Artiga, Mr. Mirabal and Mr. Velez are registered Democrats. There are multiple voter registration records for the name Oscar Hernandez, but Mayor Hernandez has endorsed a number of Democratic candidates, including most recently Hector De La Torre for Insurance Commissioner in the June 8 Democratic Primary and Luiz Marquez, a candidate for the 50th Assembly District Democratic Primary."

[verycold]

04:52 PM on 07/23/2010

Those city officials should be jailed. They deliberately passed a provision inserting the word "charter" that allowed them to ignore salary caps issued by the state of CA. Why the world "charter" would allow such discretion, I haven't researched that point yet.

This town is what 2 miles in scope, the avg wage less than half the national average salary, and mostly Latino. So those criminal government workers took advantage of the citizens that apparently had no idea about what is an allowable pay for a city manager.

BTW, in our town of about 50,000 our city manager makes about 130,000.

This story makes me so mad on so many levels, but mostly because these city employees are crooks and robbed that city.

BTW, they get to resign and collect their pensions. That was why they resigned. The city manager will be paid over 600,000 for the rest of his life.

And we wonder why CA is losing population, jobs, business.

It makes me sick to think this is going on across the country with taxpayers paying these outrageous salaries.

[Schmice]

06:20 PM on 07/23/2010

Here's my question: Say that because of all the pork he's eaten (with this sweetheart deal which he and his cohorts put into their contracts) and he drops dead of a heart attack, does his pension stop or does his wife keep on collecting? Anybody know the answer to that?

[SinfullySublime]

12:43 AM on 07/24/2010

They're a huge part of the problem, posing as the solution. And as was mentioned previously by another poster, a sense of wishful complacency allows it. Disgusting.

[RButler]

04:38 PM on 07/23/2010

I wonder if he and the others actually live in the town. It is a poor town and where would a rich person live there unless there is a gated compound somewhere?

[Schmice]

06:22 PM on 07/23/2010

Maybe the city has a jail. Does that qualify as a gated compound?

[peacefullittlebunny]

02:56 PM on 07/23/2010

Plays the race card, my community, my people....

[MoeB]

01:51 PM on 07/23/2010

Sorry, but WTF can you do that's worth THAT much money in a city of 40,000 people? Particularly when 17% is living in poverty?

[Overd0g2]

11:11 AM on 07/25/2010

NO public official is worth that. In any job.

[Chas37]

11:36 AM on 07/23/2010

This is just a microcosm of what is in store for California.

[corwin]

11:30 AM on 07/23/2010

I'm sorry. I didn't notice to which political party the mayor belonged.Can saomeone inform me?

[MoeB]

01:52 PM on 07/23/2010

Who cares? Democrat, republican, independent...doesn't make it any less enraging based on their political affiliations.

[unfair]

11:16 AM on 07/23/2010

This is so unfair to the resident of this town, he needs to be forced out immediately. where is the justice her to the people that are standing in the food bank lines and the ones that can barley make it paycheck to paycheck. Come on people/this man is living to large with the rest of his thieves.All the poor families my prayer go out to you, this is unjustified saleries for the city officals.