Recently in Lujan Category

I got an e-mail from La Puente Mayor Louie Lujan yesterday rounding up some of the highlights from Tuesday night's meeting

A proposal to allow alcoholic beverages at the new Community Youth center was stalled once again.

Resolution against Measure R passed

Resolution supporting the NFL stadium passed

Resolution supporting Measure RR passed

I made a public statement about Sheriff's on cell phones. I have received 5 complaints in the last week or two (2 new ones this morning) about deputies talking on phones when they are in their squad cars. It is becoming very problematic. I demanded that the new Captain stop this behavior.

Busy night.......

Speaking of city managers, in talking to La Puente Mayor Louie Lujan on Wednesday about Frank Tripepi's recent appointment to transition manager, Lujan started talking about the possibility of La Puente needing to reevaluate it's city manager salary when a full-time replacement is hired.

Lujan talked about the decreasing pool of qualified city managers out there. He also referred to this story (salaries.pdf) from the Press-Enterprise about upped city manager salaries.

I spotted a $300,000-something salary in there somewhere.

Yikes.

Carol Cowley was making roughly $140,000 when she retired last month. But that's because, Lujan said, she didn't have a degree and she had no experience.

If Tripepi were to stay on as a transition manager for a year, he'd make $240,000 in La Puente.

Lujan talked about a very narrow gap between the lowest and highest city manager salaries in the SGV. Let's take a look.

In Rosemead, City Manager Oliver Chi makes about $178,000 a year.

Irwindale's Robert Griego makes about $180,000.

Michelle Keith took a job as Bradbury's city manager for $106,000 a year.

Covina's former city manager Paul Phillips -- who was city manager for eight years -- got $95,280 as part of a six-month severance package when he was fired a few months back. Double that, and the figure you get was his outgoing salary.

Cynthia Kurtz, who is serving as Covina's interim, is making $12,900 per month -- if she were there for a year, she'd make $154,000.

And in Pasadena, Michael Beck makes about $265,000 a year.

I spotted this on the La Puente City Council agenda this morning:

CONSIDERATION OF A REQUEST TO APPOINT A "TRANSITION MANAGER" TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A TRANSITION PLAN FOR THE HIRING OF A FULL TIME CITY MANAGER (Requested by Mayor Lujan)

Negotiations with City Manager Carol Cowley are still on. But I guess the city is also looking into hiring a separate "transition manager" to help transition the new city manager -- whoever that may be -- into the top spot.

You might also remember that officials are thinking about hiring a firm to help find a permanent city manager replacement.

So that means if everything falls into place, Carol will essentially act as an interim, a private firm will help hire a full-time replacement and then a transition manager will help transition the replacement in as carol phases out....Wow, those sure are a lot of resources for filling one position.

 "I don't think its too much at all," Mayor Louie Lujan said.

Many of our cities are facing budget cuts. So, here's an uplifting weekend question:

If you were in charge, what would be the first thing that you would cut out of your city's budget?

The City Council will be having a special meeting on Monday to review three proposals from developers who are interested in developing the old La Puente Lanes bowling alley site.

The city has been in talks with the Charles Co. for that site for a while now. But as you might remember, when the Charles Co.'s exclusive negotiating agreement with the city expired in April, the council didn't renew it.

Instead, a few weeks later, they initiated a 45-day stay on the project to evaluate letters of interest from developers who were previously interested in the site.

Mayor Louie Lujan tells me the city has received three proposals, which they are going to evaluate on Monday.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in council chambers. It'll be in closed session.

****Also, as a side note, Lujan said it will like take about 60 days or so for the city to close escrow on that $300,000 parcel of land they're buying back from the Charles Co. as a result of the expired ENA. I wonder if that's going to put a dent in the city's balanced budget?

It seems a 4-1 divide within the La Puente City Council is getting deeper.

Councilwoman Lola Storing is accusing her colleagues of putting the city in jeopardy over a closed session meeting held last month.

Storing said she walked out of the April 22 meeting after City Attorney James Casso, City Manager Carol Cowley and Assistant City Manager Gregg Yamachika were asked to leave first.

She claims Mayor Louie Lujan asked the top execs and legal counsel "point blank" to leave the room. Councilman Dan Holloway said Lujan did want to discuss the items "as a council" only.

But Lujan said he never asked anyone to leave. "I asked the City Council if they were willing to discuss the item in closed session as a council only," he said.

Looks like everyone agreed except for Storing who didn't want to be back there without an attorney.

Smart move, according to Douglas Johnson, a fellow with the Rose Institute of State and Local Government who said he was "flabbergasted" (I know I must have butchered that word) after I explained the scenario. "It's not illegal, but it's risky," he said.

Look for the story in Wednesday's paper.

Looks like La Puente Councilman Dan Holloway is taking over Mayor Louie Lujan’s seat on the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District Board of Trustees.
Lujan appointed Holloway in January, after Lujan resigned citing time constraints.
Board meetings are a once a month, at 7 a.m.

Holloway will get a $100 stipend per month if he attends that meeting. That stipend also covers any other meetings he may have to attend for other committees, according to vector control officials.

It’s a far cry from other appointed boards or districts, which can pay upwards of $150 per meeting. Must I remind everyone of Jennifer McLain’s water district story?