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Investigation reports retaliation against El Monte city employee union president
VOL. VOL. 10, 12,
NO. 282
Kwan: Arcadia budget doesn't show 'full picture' of city's finances By Joe Taglieri
By Joe Taglieri
joet@civicnewsgroup.com
joet@civicnewsgroup.com
Arcadia Councilwoman Sharon Kwan discusses the 2026-27 budget prior to casting the lone dissenting vote against the spending plan on June 16. | Photo courtesy of the city of Arcadia
El Monte City Hall. | Photo courtesy of the city of El Monte
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n El Monte department chief retaliated against a longtime code enforcement officer for activities related to the officer's role as president of the union representing civilian city employees, according to documents and sources familiar with a recent investigation that also involves allegations of corruption against the city manager. Ed Rardin, a neighborhood services officer and president of the El Monte unit of SEIU Local 721, claims City Manager Alma Martinez instructed Steve Fowler, the Community and Economic Development Department director, and Jaime Saldaña, Rardin's immediate supervisor, to initiate disciplinary action against him in retaliation for public allegations of criminal corruption against the city's top administrator. A somewhat vaguely worded memo to Rardin — dated June 4 from Rigo
Gutierrez, director of human resources and risk management — summarizes an independent investigator's report following a complaint filed with HR last year. Rardin's allegations against Martinez include an illegally fenagled increase of $150,000 to her $280,000 salary and arranging an extension to a $30 million contract precluding competitive bidding for her husband's trash collection business, Valley Vista Services. In an email to Los Angeles County prosecutors, Rardin wrote, "The city properly acquired a firm, (Public Sector Personnel Consultants), to do a class (compensation) study for ALL employees, which included the City Manager. That study shows that the salary of the City Manager was 'at market' with a salary of $294,000, then $280k with an expected 5% COLA. It is my belief ... that she
got the results, didn’t like her findings, and solicited a separate vendor to give herself more of a favorable comparison at that (May 14, 2025) Council Meeting, using different comparative cities as a justification. "No taxpayer should accept any justification for someone going from $250,000 to $367,500, a 47% increase, within 18 months. And, also worth noting, if you look at the agenda for that council meeting ... no documentation is given for the CM’s raise. Not even a staff report and nothing identifying the appraiser, the origin of the contract, his findings, or even his full name mentioned in the presentation. All key elements which warrant and deserve an investigation." Rardin has also alleged that the city manager distributed gift cards valued at approximately $14,500
to 290 city employees in November, comparing it to extortion because vendors with city contracts paid for the cards. “At the lunch, she read a lengthy list of vendors who contributed and stated that our Finance Director had obtained the gift cards from Target,” he said in an email to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. Rardin argued that the money was given because businesses feared that if they didn't contribute, "they might lose whatever contract they had or would not receive favorable decisions when dealing with city management.” After reporting that to a slew of local, state and federal authorities, Rardin alleges Martinez made his departmental and immediate supervisors issue reprimands and harass him. No authorities have pursued any legal actions
See El Monte investigation Page 14
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rcadia Councilwoman Sharon Kwan voted against the recently approved nearly $97 million budget, questioning whether spending is actually under control or if delayed purchases, vacant staff positions and pushing projects into the future is balancing the city's books. City officials and the council majority, however, don't agree with her fiscal analysis. City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto proposed a fiscal year 2026-27 General Fund Operating Budget with revenues of $96.6 million and expenditures of $100.1 million that include new programs requiring one-time funding transferred from dedicated savings accounts, according to his report to the council prior to the 4-1 vote June 16. The General Fund is expected to end FY 2025-26 with a net balance of $276,000, with a “projected Fund Balance of the General Fund Operating Budget” of
$21.7 million.” Lazzaretto told council members when all savings accounts transfer in, actual revenue for FY '26-27 will total close to $105 million. In a statement to HeySoCal.com, Kwan said she understands officials' and her council colleagues' assertions that focus "on accounting explanations, transfers and fund categories. I understand those explanations. But the real issue is much simpler: Is Arcadia truly controlling spending, or is the city making the budget look balanced by delaying purchases, leaving positions vacant and pushing important projects into the future? That is why I voted no." According to Kwan, "A budget can look balanced on paper while services are quietly reduced in real life. If police positions are left vacant, equipment purchases are delayed, capital projects are carried forward,
See Arcadia budget Page 27