All I knew about charter cities before writing this story was, well, nothing. But it turns out that charter cities can make their own rules, including setting the salaries for their council members and not having to go out to bid for contracts.

This came up because voters will be asked if they want Rosemead to become a charter city. If that happened, it would become the seventh charter city in the SGV. The other cities are Arcadia, Alhambra, Irwindale, Industry, Whittier and Pasadena.