Bell Gardens : 2nd City Clerk in 13 Months Fired by Council Members

The City Council has fired its second city clerk in little more than a year.

City Clerk Martha Ochoa was fired last week. Ochoa, who earned $48,000 a year, was given three months’ severance pay, City Manger Charles Gomez said. He gave no reason for her dismissal, other than to say that the majority of council members “no longer wanted her to serve as the city clerk.”

Ochoa was hired in April, 1992, to replace longtime City Clerk Leanna Keltner, who was one of several key administrators fired after four new council members took office last year.