Covina Councilman Wants to Know

I would like to know the names of the 45 city employees who work at Covina City Hall. That number was mentioned in a story in the Dec. 21 San Gabriel Valley section. Certainly they were not authorized in the 1987 budget that the City Council approved.

We have been told that City Hall is overcrowded and that it must be replaced. One can understand why the politicians want plush council chambers and the bureaucrats want fancy administrative offices. But there is no reason to believe that ostentatious buildings will improve the quality of municipal government. It was reported in the same article that only 25 people had applied for the position of city manager, when the staff expected 120.

Two questions present themselves. Where did the staff get the number 120? Is it just another of the staff’s off-the-wall numbers? And could the small number of applicants be due to the fact that although the opening was announced in early October, the vacancy was not widely publicized until Dec. 16, when the city’s major announcement was distributed through the December edition of Western City magazine?

BOB LOW

Councilman

Covina

(Editor’s note: According to City Manager Richard Miller, the city of Covina employs 230 people, 25 of whom work full-time in City Hall. About 20 people who work in outside departments spend some portion of their day at City Hall, and 17 others work in the City Hall annex, Miller said.)