On an hourly basis, collecting $50 for attending a meeting of roughly three minutes amounts to an hourly rate of $1,500 per hour ($50 x 20 = $1,000)

The payments were included (as they have been in previous years) in the FY20 City Hall spending budget, approved Sept. 3 by the same Councilmembers will now collect the money.

The "Housing Authority's" stated duties are [City Clerk text]: "Serves with the City Council as members of the Board of Directors on matters pertaining to housing programs sponsored by the federal government and Housing Authority operations"). Public records (minutes and video) show that meetings of the "Housing Authority" 11 members (all 9 Councilmembers + two Mayor-chosen "tenant Commissioners") ranged in length from one minute (1 such meeting), two minutes (1 meeting), three minutes (1 meeting), four minutes (3 meetings) and 22 minutes (1 meeting).

[Scroll down for further.]

Below are the official minutes of the "Housing Authority" Sept. 10 "meeting":

CALL TO ORDER (04:56 PM)

At 4:56 PM, Chair Richardson called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL (04:56 PM)

Commissioners Present: Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Uranga, Austin, Tanzer, Pearce and Richardson

Commissioners Absent: Hudson

Also present: Alison King, Deputy Executive Director; Richard Anthony, Deputy City Attorney; Tamela Austin, City Clerk Specialist.

REGULAR AGENDA (04:57 PM)

1. 19-0899 Recommendation to approve the minutes of the Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach, California Regular Meeting held Tuesday, August 13, 2019.

A motion was made by Commissioner Uranga, seconded by Commissioner Austin, to approve recommendation. The motion carried by the following vote:

Yes: 5 - Supernaw, Mungo, Uranga, Austin and Richardson

Absent: 5 - Price, Andrews, Hudson, Tanzer and Pearce

2. 19-0900 Recommendation to receive and file the Housing Authority Financial and Operational Performance Reports for June 2019. (Citywide)

A motion was made by Commissioner Price, seconded by Commissioner Supernaw, to approve recommendation. The motion carried by the following vote:

Yes: 9 - Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Uranga, Austin, Tanzer, Pearce and Richardson

Absent: 1 - Hudson

NEW BUSINESS (4:57 PM)

There was no new business.

PUBLIC COMMENT (4:57 PM)

Clarisse Cooper spoke. [cited issues in her rental unit]

Chair Richardson spoke. [indicated city staff will speak with Ms. Cooper]

ADJOURNMENT (4:59 PM)

At 4:59 PM, there being no objection, Chair Richardson declared the meeting adjourned.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The taxpayer cost of for eight Councilmembers' attendance at the Sept 10 "meeting" was $400. The 2019 taxpayer costs for their attendance at their Jan - Sept. Housing Authority "meetings" totals $3,100 to date..

Below is LBREPORT.com's compilation of the record of the previous 2019 "meetings" of the Housing Authority.

2019 "Housing Authority" meetings [source: City Clerk minutes and City Clerk video]:

• Jan. 8, 2019: Present: Supernaw, Mungo, Uranga, Hudson, Tanzer and Richardson.
  Call to order: 4:33 p.m.: Adjourned 4:35 p.m.

• Feb. 12, 2019: Present: Gonzalez, Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Uranga, Austin, Tanzer, Pearce and Richardson
  Call to order: 5:01 p.m. Adjourned: 5:23 p.m. (Pearce and Austin joined the meeting in progress.)

• March 12, 2019: Present: Gonzalez, Supernaw, Andrews, Austin, Hudson, Tanzer and Richardson
  Call to order: 5:50 p.m. Adjourned: 5:51 p.m.

• April 9, 2019: Present: Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Austin, Hudson, Tanzer, Pearce and Richardson
  Call to order: 5:05 p.m. Adjourned 5:07 p.m.

• May 14, 2019: Present: Gonzalez, Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Uranga, Austin, Hudson, Tanzer, Pearce and Richardson
  Call to order: 5:21 p.m. Adjourned: 5:25 p.m.

• June 11, 2019: Present: Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Tanzer, Pearce and Richardson
  Call to order: 4:42 p.m. Adjounred: 4:45 p.m.

• July 16, 2019: Present: Pearce, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Uranga, Austin, Richardson, Tanzer, Hudson (Andrews walked in after first of four items; Pearce arrived between third and fourth item.)
  Call to order: 4:32 p.m. Adjourned 4:36 p.m.
• Aug. 13, 2019: Present: Pearace, Price, Supernaw, Mungo, Andrews, Uranga, Austin, Richardson, Tanzer, Hudson
  Total elapsed time: 1:52

Sponsor

A few minutes before the August 13 two-minute Housing Authority "meeting," Councilwoman Mungo chaired a meeting of the Council's "Budget Oversight Committee" (Mungo, Price, Austin) that discussed the city management report (requested by Mayor Garcia) on possibly increasing/expanding sums paid to members of Mayor-chosen Commissions. The agenda item offered Committee members an opportunity to recommend changing compensation paid to themselves for attending the few-minute-long "Housing Authority" Meetings. None of them did.

Committee members Suzie Price and Al Austin didn't raise the subject the Housing Authority payments. Committee chair Mungo seemed to momentarily refer to the issue (mangled the "Housing Authority" name) in a noncommittal statement; she implied future housing and homeless related issues might make future "Housing Authority" meetings important and indicated she was unsure if the "Budget Oversight Committee" she chairs should make recommendations to the Council on the payments (although Councilmembers are the only persons with the power to change the current practice.)

Councilwoman Mungo: ...and then I know that over the next several years or several months we'll be looking at housing related issues like homelessness, I don't know if it would make sense, I don't know if it would be best for us to make a recommendation for that committee because I know some of us serve on Housing and Oversight Housing Committee, um, but I'm open to learning more about [changes subject]...

(There is no such thing as the "Housing and Oversight Housing Committee" cited by Mungo; we presume she meant the Housing Authority meetings for which she's received sums to attend.)

Under an ordinance approved over a decade ago by a previous LB Council, all LB Councilmembers (not just "some") plus the two Mayor-chosen Housing Authority "tenant representatives" can currently collect $50 each time they attend meetings of LB's "Housing Authority" (which LB's incumbent Councilmembers presumably know have run mainly a few minutes long.) Any Councilmember(s) could agendize an item on any Tuesday to amend LB's 2006 ordinance to exclude Councilmembers from collecting the $50 payments for their "Housing Authority" meetings. Or they could just give the money back.

The current practice stems from a November 21, 2006 Council action under then-recently-elected Mayor Bob Foster, adopting an ordinance paying $50 per meeting attended to members of LB's "Board of Examiners, Appeals and Condemnation" and "Disabled Access Appeals Board" (on which no Councilmembers sit) and the "Housing Authority" board (on which all Councilmembers sit.) Those voting "yes" were then-Councilmembers Bonnie Lowenthal, Suja Lowenthal, Gary DeLong, Patrick O'Donnell, Laura Richardson, Tonia Reyes Uranga and Val Lerch; Absent were Councilmembers Schipske and Gabelich.]

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