LA city boss gave herself sweet $150K raise in secret backroom deal: whistleblower

A Los Angeles city bureaucrat is under fire for securing herself an eye-watering pay raise behind closed doors -— to the tune of roughly $150,000 — even as former employees accuse her of harassment and fudging budget numbers, according to a bombshell whistleblower report.

Alma Martinez, city manager of El Monte in the San Gabriel Valley, allegedly arranged a hasty backroom deal to spike her taxpayer-sponsored pay package to a whopping $430,000 — including roughly $50,000 in back pay and other platinum perks like a car allowance and hefty severance package — in the working-class city of roughly 120,000, where the median household income hovers at about $65,000.

Martinez’s alleged conduct was detailed by whistleblower Ed Rardin, a local code enforcement officer who filed numerous complaints about Martinez to law enforcement and ethics watchdogs.

She is “the primary benefactor of a lot of El Monte shenanigans,” Rardin claims.

According to Rardin, a lifelong El Monte resident and local Latter-Day Saints Bishop, Martinez hastily convened a mystery closed-door meeting in May that immediately raised alarm bells for local watchdogs, including Mayor Jessica Ancona.

At that meeting, Rardin claims, Martinez locked in a salary bump nearly unheard of in the public sector — raising her total compensation to nearly $430,000 including benefits from $280,000, according to Mayor Jessica Ancona, who blasted the deal as a “blank check” on social media.

The sweet deal included a 25% increase to Martinez’s base salary worth $70,000 annually plus a host of gimmes such as car and education allowances, lifetime medical benefits, repayment of a temporary salary reduction during Covid, 18 months’ severance — and a guarantee that she’ll make at least 20% more than any other city executive, per the mayor.

“All of this happening … after most city employees received only a 5% raise [and] while our city is defending two lawsuits involving the city manager,” Ancona wrote on social media.

El Monte is facing a budget deficit of roughly $5 million, according to the mayor.

That isn’t the only shady allegation surrounding Martinez, who formerly worked in similar roles in Lynwood and Compton.

Rardin said there was funny business surrounding numerous city contracts spanning cleaning, waste hauling and other services — some of which were mysteriously re-upped with years still remaining on the deal.

This included a contract with trash hauler Valley Vista Services, which Rardin claimed is run by Martinez’s significant other, whose $30 million contract was extended mid-term with no explanation and no competitive bidding, raising conflict of interest questions.

What’s more, Martinez bizarrely bragged at a November employee appreciation luncheon that she’d tapped city contractors to buy some $14,500 in gift cards that were handed out as “thank yous” to 290 city employees.

“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,” Rardin wrote in an email to the Los Angeles District Attorney.

Rardin was mortified by the gift and compared it to extortion.

“An argument could be made that the money was given because business feared that if they hadn’t, they might lost whatever contract they had or would not receive favorable decisions when dealing with city management.”

Martinez is named in at least two lawsuits describing a toxic and retaliatory workplace.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

One lawsuit, filed by former deputy city manager Amber Servin and set for trial next year, paints Martinez as a bully boss who tormented the former deputy city manager for lodging a hostile workplace complaint.

The lawsuit alleges Martinez harassed and humiliated Servin, one passive-aggressively gifting her the book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” during a holiday luncheon and forcing her to read aloud in front of subordinates.

A separate lawsuit, filed by former finance director Bruce Foltz against the city of El Monte, accused Martinez of asking him to fudge police overtime numbers in a report. When he refused, Martinez reprimanded him for insubordination, according to the complaint.

Martinez didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.