Insiders report that former San Luis Obispo City Manager Ken Hampian has been named the short-term interim city manager of Bell, Calif. Last Friday, the long-suffering city parted ways with its interim city manager, leaving the city’s new mayor to run the day-to-day tasks.

Bell also has no department heads, no acting department heads, no budget and no advisory bodies, among other challenges. The city has been in financial ruin since 2010 when it was revealed that several key city officials were earning excessive salaries, perhaps the highest in the nation, resulting in a lawsuit filed by the California Attorney General’s office as well as several state and federal investigations into the city’s finances.

Hampian agreed to serve the city of Bell temporarily on a pro-bono basis. He retired from his 10-year post as the San Luis Obispo city manager in 2009. His post in Bell is expected to last through most of August.