By Andrew Perry President, Artesia Local 1520 Vice President, AFSCME District Council 36 Artesia, California - City employees had to do a double take when the City Council decided to offer handsome salary increases for two managers in particular, while maintaining historic low salaries for all other employees. As union president, I take the philosophy of transparent local government to heart. Many Artesians have expressed to me the approval of not just the fight for the City in 2021, but also the reasons behind it - that employees were concerned about the City's finances and the ability of the City to serve its residents. Recent events have again raised concerns about transparency, particularly in light of the roles these two managers played in 2021, when the City was under a different city manager, whom employees contend ran the City like a mafia boss. How Two High Level Managers Compromise Artesia's Integrity When every employee rebelled against the former City Manager for...

 Artesia, California - Sheriffs from the LA County Public Corruptions Unit have served at least one warrant to the City of Artesia, asking for electronic equipment, documents, records and other communications between former City Manager Bill Rawlings, a staff member, and two councilmembers (Tony Lima and Monica Manalo).   There are anonymous but unsubstantiated reports of other warrants served as well, including to the Rawlings residence. The warrant was served on December 14. Of interest, the warrant demands any records, reports, documents, and communications that took place between the above named individuals during the 17-day application period for the City Council election (July 28-August 13). The warrant also mentions that this investigation is for a possible felony that was committed. "This warrant seems to be related to allegations of election fraud that I have heard about," said Andrew Perry, President of AFSCME Local 1520, the staff union. "I don't know the...

  Managers and analysts put their necks on the line, and went public with their concerns about the health of the City, and how City Manager Bill Rawlings is affecting it. Councilmember Tony Lima looks on in the background. Artesia, California - A powerful scene unfolded earlier last week.   On October 5, almost every Artesia city employee attended a special council meeting and risked their livelihoods to publicly express their concerns about how City Manager Bill Rawlings is detrimentally affecting the health of the City. The purpose of the special council meeting was Rawlings' performance evaluation. Three council members - Rene Trevino, Melissa Ramoso, and Ali Sajjad Taj, thanked the managers and supervisors for their words, but Councilmember Monica Manalo defended Rawlings in a public statement.  The meeting ended with the City Attorney Hongdao Nguyen reporting 'No Reportable Action.'  The following week, Rawlings still went to the office at least once, and reta...

  California's State Auditor has a "High Risk" program that catalogues cities which are considered high risk for financial reasons. By the standards set by the State Auditor, Artesia would very likely be considered 'high risk', but the City seems to be off the State of California's radar for a very strange reason: no data. According to the California State Auditor, cities are considered ' high risk ' if their financial reports suggest that a City is having problems paying bills, has a low general reserve, or has some other financial issue that affects the lawful operation of a City.  The data gathered in this High Risk Program are received from financial reports submitted by cities every year, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). But, what happens if a City doesn't submit an annual report, and hasn't done so in years?  The last time the City of Artesia submitted an annual financial report was for fiscal year 2016-...

  Artesia, California - Union President Andrew Perry  confronted the Artesia City Council during the public comments segment of the regular City Council meeting. Union President Andrew Perry (Artesia Local 1520 - AFSCME) confronts the City Council during the public comments segment of the regular City Council meeting. In particular, Mr. Perry addresses the votes of three councilmembers who sought to prevent future reports against the practices of City Manager Bill Rawlings, by removing a clause from a policy that made it easier for employees to report. Several employees had already given reports about their experiences with the City Manager using this policy. This is the public comment in its entirety: Mayor and City Council, my name is Andrew Perry, and I’m an employee of the City and President of AFSCME Local 1520 - our employee union. In November 2020, the City Council adopted a policy which essentially opened up another avenue for employees to report workplace bul...

  Artesia, California - Three Artesia councilmembers appeared to have violated the Ralph M. Brown Act. The Brown Act is a California law that governs how public meetings by legislative bodies (like a City Council), and ensures the public’s right to participate in these meetings. Section 14 of the Brown Act says: A person may not disclose confidential information that has been acquired by being present in a closed session authorized by Section 54956.7, 54956.8, 54956.86, 54956.87, 54956.9, 54957, 54957.6, 54957.8, or 54957.10 to a person not entitled to receive it, unless the legislative body authorizes disclosure of that confidential information. At the June 14 Council meeting, three councilmembers admitted during the meeting that they discussed in closed session, allegations that the City Manager Bill Rawlings had done some sort of wrongdoings. Context Behind the Violation At the time, the City Council was trying to strike down a policy that allowed employees to report unethical...

Over the years, Artesia’s budget process has gone through a very puzzling evolution. Prior to the current City Manager Bill Rawlings, the City’s budget was straight forward and easy to understand. In fact, it actually won awards for those traits! Shortly after Rawlings started, he hired a woman named Tracy Fuller to act as a consultant of sorts, and one of her duties was to assist with the City’s finances. Together, they created a budget that to this day makes both auditors and laymen scratch their heads. Fuller is no longer with the City, but Rawlings is still responsible for creating the budget. A Balanced Budget in 2020?   In June 2020, the City Council passed a budget along with a new contract with the employee union, which was a stark difference from what most other cities were doing. In the middle of the pandemic, most cities were preparing for a huge economic downturn and employee layoffs due to a massive decrease in revenue. Artesia was different. Yes, there was a project...