SOUTH GATE : Police Chief Serving as City Manager

It could be called South Gate’s formula for financial sobriety: Don’t replace the city manager, who left for another job in another city, or his salary of $120,000 a year.

Then assign the police chief to the city manager’s duties and pay him an additional $20,000 a year, making his total salary $113,000. Let a captain pick up some of the chief’s management duties in the Police Department and compensate him with an additional $400 a month.

The city’s total savings: close to $100,000.

After last month’s resignation of City Manager Todd Argow, now Hawthorne’s city manager, that is exactly what the South Gate City Council has done.

It suits Mayor Albert Robles just fine. He has complained that municipal bureaucracies have become weighted down with “dead meat.”

Robles cited Baldwin Park, a city that did away with the city manager’s post last year, as a viable example for other communities.

“They’re getting by fine in Baldwin Park. The entire council now communicates much easier with the city staff. Communication is now a lot smoother,” Robles said after the Dec. 20 council decision. “In a city the size of South Gate, which is only seven square miles, do we really need a middleman?”

The city manager is responsible for overseeing the city staff and taking care of the day-to-day responsibilities for the city.

Police Chief Ron George, who is now also the interim city manager, was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.

Councilman Henry Gonzalez said that George’s appointment and pay increase are probably only temporary, even if the mayor sees it as long term.

“Ron is a very competent person to hold both jobs temporarily,” Gonzalez said. “But we have to remember he’s only temporary.”

Gonzalez said the council will probably begin to search for new city manager candidates in a couple of months.

George’s salary is about average for city managers in the area.