The news from Bell, Calif., a city of 40,000, has shocked citizens across the country, including residents of Simi Valley, who are now learning that the municipal salary scandal there will cost taxpayers here.

Because soon-to-be-resigned Bell Chief of Police Randy Adams spent eight years as the head of the SVPD, from 1995 to 2003, Simi Valley is one of the agencies responsible for paying his future pension, a pension that’s based upon his highest year of earnings.

Thanks to the fact that Adams was making a whopping $457,000 a year while in Bell—nearly triple the salary of Simi Police Chief Mike Lewis—it’s estimated that Adams’ retirement plan will cost the city an additional $35,000 to $40,000 per year.

But Adams wasn’t the only city official getting rich off the citizens of Bell. The city manager of Bell, a city about a third the size of Simi Valley, was being paid almost $800,000 a year. Four of five council members were collecting nearly $100,000 per year, despite that their positions were part time.

No wonder the residents of Bell are livid since the Los Angeles Times broke the story.

The state attorney general has subpoenaed city documents to determine if civil litigation, if not a criminal case, is in order. We hope it’s the latter. But how was this ever allowed to happen?

First, it happened because of apathetic citizens. If people don’t care who’s running city hall, abuse is easy. The power brokers must have figured, “If they don’t give a damn, why should we?”

Second, we like to think it happened because there wasn’t a community newspaper.

In the old days before cable TV broadcasts and online streaming of City Council meetings, it wasn’t unusual to see only two regulars in the audience of a public meeting. One was a selfappointed citizen watchdog, and the other: a reporter from the local newspaper.

A good local newspaper staff would have exposed the culprits. In fact, the mere presence of a community newspaper might have deterred the abuse of power before it ever happened.

Exactly one year ago the Simi Valley Acorn did a front-page story on the salaries of city employees, and though most residents applauded our efforts, there were some who questioned our motives, who accused us of just trying to “stir things up.”

Wonder if those folks would sing a different tune today?