Did Inglewood Mayor Butts Declare April Fool's Day a City Holiday?

INSIDE INGLEWOOOD-For Monday, March 31, the City of Inglewood has declared a city holiday in observance of César Chávez Day. As such, all city services are unavailable and city hall is closed.

James T. Butts, the mayor of Inglewood, may have also declared the following day, April Fool’s Day, a city holiday. According to the Inglewood Web site, “there will be no city council meeting on Tuesday, April 1, 2014.”

The decision, which is no joke, allows for yet another two-day week for one of the highest-paid mayors and city councils in California. On August 15, 2010, the L.A. Times published a story titled “Council pay in Vernon, Inglewood and Compton is high, but Bell is still No. 1.” In it, it was reported that “[i]n Inglewood, the mayor — a full-time position that has been vacant since former Mayor Roosevelt Dorn pleaded guilty to a public corruption charge in January — makes $111,300 a year. Council members are paid $61,884 a year.”

While walking house-to-house in Inglewood during a subsequent mayoral election, Butts told voters that Dorn hand-picked him to be the next mayor.

The city, which went on furlough shortly after the above story was published, only operates from Monday to Thursday weekly. During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Inglewood’s city hall, library and other agencies are unavailable for nearly a month from mid-December until approximately mid-January. In recent years, during elections, it has not been uncommon for the mayor and city council to postpone four consecutive city council meetings.

Butts and Inglewood city council members were unavailable for comment owing to the five-day weekend.