By Emilie St. John
Contributing Writer
COMPTON — The City Council placed its city manager on paid administrative leave as of April 7.
Compton Mayor Emma Sharif announced that City Manager Willie Hopkins was placed on leave at the close of the regular City Council meeting.
“The city manager has now been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation,” Sharif said.
Council members Deidra Duhart and Andre Spicer did not record a vote.
Hopkins was appointed to the position in late 2023 after serving in the same role in Barstow.
“Because this is a personnel matter, and in order to respect privacy rights and applicable employment laws, the city is not in a position to discuss the details of this decision,” Sharif said in a statement.
Speculation among residents is that the leave was due to Hopkins’ failure to investigate credit card abuse allegations credit levied at District 2 Councilman Andre Spicer, and providing the City Council with quarterly credit card statements for their review.
“There is no credit card investigation on this week’s council agenda after the mayor called for a report on the matter,” said one resident who declined to be identified. “At this point the city manager is intentionally showing his insubordination towards the mayor in plain view of the community.”
The credit card allegations surfaced in early December after his Cal-Card credit card statements his were made public.
The statements showed what appeared to be a series of personal purchases that fell outside the purview of the parameters established by the council.
In December 2024, the City Council approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to establish the city purchasing card accounts through the state’s Cal-Card Program.
Section 6 addresses the use of the Cal-Card by elected officials.
It says: “Use of the purchasing card shall be restricted for travel and training use only. When the elected official is not attending a scheduled travel or training, the Cal-Card shall be maintained in the possession of the designated Cal-Card account manager for safekeeping purposes.”
In multiple public statements made by Spicer, addressing his credit card usage, he admits that some of the purchases fall outside of the policy. He used his for travel expenses of a rap star for a Daddy/Daughter dance and expenditures related to community outreach.
he Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirmed last December that it had received a complaint filed against a member of the Compton City Council over the use of a city credit card.
Weeks later, longtime assistant city manager Triphenia Simmons resigned, which became effective Dec. 31.
Mayor Sharif requested the city manager prepare a report to censure Spicer, which was never placed on the agenda.
Residents have come to the weekly council meeting demanding an update on the investigation into how taxpayer funds are being spent.
“Tonight is Tuesday, and two weeks from last week, and what’s up with the credit cards, and I have a source that says you are still using the credit cards,” said Tanya Lewis, during the public comment portion of the April 7 meeting.
“He [Spicer] needs to be in jail. Pat Moore went to jail. [Walter] Tucker went to jail. Omar [Bradley] went to jail, and Amen Ra went to jail, and he’s still sitting there,” Lewis added..
A resident from Council District 3 also came forward with questions about the credit card investigation.
“We haven’t received a quarterly statement of how our money is being spent, and after I requested the information, I was told it’s on hold pending an investigation, so I can not get it,” the resident said.
The city fails to disclose how taxpayers’ money is spent by not including a warrant register on the weekly council agendas. The city manager has check writing authority of up to $25,000, but does not provide a detailed accounting of those expenditures to the public.
Mayor Sharif has requested updates from Hopkins at multiple City Council meetings, but those items have not been included on the council agenda for discussion.
The City Council went back into closed session at the end of the council meeting to discuss the performance evaluation of Hopkins.
City Clerk Satra Zurita then called for the vote to reconvene the meeting, with council members Diedra Duhart and Spicer noticeably absent.
Spicer issued a statement on his social media accounts saying “we’re cooked” should Hopkins decide to sue the city.
The city’s former human resources director Kareemah Bradford addressed Spicer’s concern.
“He wasn’t terminated so he has no damages and his performance can be investigated and sometimes you have to move the employee to fairly investigate a situation,” Bradford said.
The mayor indicated in her statement that the decision to place Hopkins on leave was not made lightly.
“This action follows multiple closed sessions and careful deliberation by the City Council,” Sharif said. “My colleagues and I remain committed to acting in the best interest of the city of Compton and its residents.
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist covering the areas of Carson, Compton, Inglewood and Willowbrook. Send tips to her at emiliesaintjohn@gmail.com.
