Irwindale City Council earns $160 in two minutes

During the course of our reporting on city finance, reporter Daniel Tedford found out an interesting quirk about Irwindale.
During their City Council meetings, the council convenes two other governing bodies: the city’s redevelopment agency and it’s housing authority.

The get paid $60 for the redevelopment agency and $100 for the housing authority.

Tedford found out they often convene the meetings even if there is nothing to talk about on the agenda.
I had to see it for myself, so I went to their council meeting last week.

After talking about a parking garage and getting a presentation from the city’s chamber of commerce, the council opened the redevelopment agency. In a total of about 60 seconds, they opened the public comment period, approved the minutes and Manuel Garcia requested an update. Then the meeting was closed. The same thing happened with the housing authority.

Five people were in the audience: me, two of Councilman Mark Breceda’s friends, a woman and a man with a very full mustache.

City Attorney Fred Gallante said the council is mandated to approve minutes from the previous housing authority and redevelopment agency meetings. No other city I know of does this.