As it would turn out, the Bell City Council did nothing … not yet at least.

The Vice Mayor of Bell told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that City Manager Robert Rizzo, who reportedly earns a salary close to $800,000, would be fired or resign at Monday’s City Council meeting.

Wrong.

Residents who packed the Council meeting on Monday night were outraged that the City Council made no actions. Rizzo was a no-show.



According to the Times:

But the council, citing legal concerns, ordered a staff report on salaries of top city officials to be completed for next Monday’s meeting. That sparked outrage from people in the audience.

“We’re asking for your patience,” Councilman Lorenzo Velez said over the shouts of  “Fire Rizzo now!” and “Recall, recall!”

“You’re either with us or against us – and if you’ve been earning $100,000 a year, you’re against us,” said Cristina Garcia of the community group “Bell Assn. to Stop the Abuse.”

In a report by the Times on Monday afternoon, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo said she expected Rizzo, Belle’s top city administrator, to lose his job at Monday night’s council meeting.

“Tonight we have a meeting where we will take drastic measures,” she said, according to the Times report. “Unfortunately, we had too much trust in people we felt were doing an excellent job.”

She added: “Mr. Rizzo will have to go one way or another.” Asked if Rizzo would resign, she said, “We hope.”

It isn’t just the City Manager, though. Bell Police Chief Randy Adams earns $457,000 per year, a salary that is 50 percent more than the yearly salary of the Los Angeles Police Chief and the L.A. County sheriff. The Bell Assistant City Manager even makes more than the L.A. Police Chief.

The Bell city councilmembers earn a part-time salary of more than $100,000.

More from the newspaper:

Earlier Monday, a Bell city councilman called for a “completely open and transparent” investigation into the salaries of top executives and his council colleagues, saying if a Times report that Bell officials are among the highest-paid administrators and elected municipal leaders in the nation is true, they should resign immediately.

Councilman Lorenzo Velez, who was appointed to the council in the working-class city in October, also said he received only $310.62 every two weeks for his work as a councilman — far less than the $100,000 his colleagues collected annually.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is investigating the council salaries. Normally, council members in a city the size of Bell would be paid about $400 a month, the D.A.’s office reported.