Finance Director to Leave Glendora for Bell

Finance director Josh Betta will leave Glendora after four years with the city to work for the scandalized city of Bell, City Manager Chris Jeffers announced during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Betta, who has directed the city’s finances through years of economic challenges, as well as national recognition for its finance reporting, will head to Bell at the end of the month.

Betta came to Glendora four years ago from South Pasadena and has overseen Glendora through budget cuts, employee layoffs, the fall of the city’s redevelopment agency and pension reforms. But Betta will have his work cut out for him when he heads to Bell.

Bell is known for its high-profile 2010 scandal of the excessive salaries it was paying to city officials, including the $800,000 a year paid to then City Manager Robert Rizzo. Salaries were also inflated to pay the city’s police chief an annual salary of more than $450,000 and city council members $100,000 a year.

All city council members have been replaced, although city officials have been working to repair the millions of dollars of damage from years of excessive salary spending.