Bell agrees to appointment of monitor to oversee its finances

A Bell official said Friday that the city had agreed to the appointment of a monitor to oversee day-to-day functions and finances, a move that may delay a civil lawsuit filed by the state attorney general’s office.

Jamie Casso, Bell’s interim city attorney, will file the motion Monday. He said the city could not take on the legal costs of fighting the state’s lawsuit.

He said it would be better for the city and other investigative agencies to allow the criminal proceedings against eight current and former city leaders to move forward.

“The city will soon have an election and the new council can decide how it wants to defend itself,” Casso said.

Late Friday, the state attorney general and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced that they had filed a joint motion in Los Angeles County Superior Court to delay the suit since Bell had agreed to the appointment of a monitor.

Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said the “motion to stay the civil proceedings will be made Dec. 13.”

The state’s civil lawsuit accuses former Bell City Administrator Robert Rizzo and seven others of conspiring to increase their salaries, inflate their future pensions and conceal the cost to the city. The suit seeks to force all eight to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars of the salaries they received and to slash their future pensions.

The suit also names former Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia, former Police Chief Randy Adams, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, City Council members Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal, and former Councilmen Victor Bello and George Cole.

Last week, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ralph W. Dau cautioned that the state’s civil lawsuit was in jeopardy of being dismissed. Dau said Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown appeared to have overreached his authority. The judge also questioned whether the suit, filed during Brown’s run for governor, was more about politics than law.

Hernandez’s attorney, Stanley Friedman, said he opposes the motion to the stay the lawsuit.

Hernandez “wants to proceed and prove that he didn’t do anything wrong as a councilman or the mayor of Bell,” Friedman said.

Jacobo’s attorney, Daniel Nixon, could not be reached for comment.

Even if Brown’s lawsuit is dismissed, it would have no bearing on the felony fraud and theft charges filed against Rizzo and the others. The U.S. attorney’s office, Securities and Exchange Commission, state controller’s office and state Department of Corporations also are investigating the city’s finances.

ruben.vives@latimes.com