Bell : Council Votes to Pull Out of Job Training Program

The city of Bell, which two years ago helped create a six-city partnership to oversee training and employment programs for needy Southeast area residents, now plans to pull out. City officials said the partnership has not served Bell residents well.

The City Council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution to leave the Hub Cities Consortium and join the West San Gabriel Valley Consortium on July 1. Like the Hub Cities Consortium, the West San Gabriel Valley Consortium operates under the auspices of Los Angeles County and uses federal funds for training and finding jobs for low-skilled, under-educated and poor residents.

“The main reasons we are leaving is because the staff is inexperienced, the board had become divisive, and the consortium is being mismanaged,” said Bell Councilman Rolf Janssen, who represents Bell on the Hub Cities’ board of directors. “We expected we would go through growing pains, but they have continued to go on and on and on. It’s ridiculous.”

Hub Cities Executive Director Maynard Law said Janssen’s complaints are unfounded, and called the program “very successful.” He said Bell’s decision to leave will not affect job training programs in the other five cities.