BELL, Calif. – The City Council in this small, blue-collar suburb of Los Angeles was planning to ask three administrators whose salaries total more than $1.6 million to resign Thursday or face possible firing.

Revelations about the pay in Bell has sparked anger in the city of fewer than 40,000.

The officials include Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, who earns $787,637 a year for overseeing one of the poorest towns in Los Angeles County.

The others are Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia, who makes $376,288 a year, and Police Chief Randy Adams, whose annual salary of $457,000 is 50 percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck’s.

Councilman Luis Artiga said the panel planned to request the resignations during a closed-door, afternoon meeting that was called to consider dismissing the officials. A public hearing is scheduled for Monday.

Rizzo was hired at an annual salary of $72,000 a year in 1993, and the council rapidly increased that amount over the years.

“All right, somebody wasn’t paying attention to that,” said Artiga, who joined the council a little more than a year ago. “But we are acting on that today.”

 


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