L.A. May Fire Sewage Plant Contractor

The Los Angeles Board of Public Works, fearful of further delays in the city’s promise to stop dumping sewage in Santa Monica Bay, threatened Friday to fire one of its major contractors on the Hyperion sewage treatment project.

Continental Heller Corp., which is constructing the plant that will dispose of concentrated sewage or sludge that is being dumped into the ocean, was accused by city engineers and consultants of failing to live up to the terms of its $34.5-million worth of contracts.

Although company officials disputed the charges, Continental was cited for missing interim deadlines and causing delays through poor planning and a lack of adequate staff in building the sewage treatment plant near Los Angeles International Airport.

The plant, which will house steam turbines to generate electricity from burned sludge, is a key part of the city’s $2.3-billion effort to upgrade its sewage system. The latest troubles could jeopardize the city’s ability to meet a Dec. 31, 1987, deadline to halt the dumping of sludge off Playa del Rey, board members said.

Source of Criticism

Dumping raw sewage into Santa Monica Bay has been a source of frequent criticism for the city and Mayor Tom Bradley for years from citizens’ groups, environmentalists and political adversaries.

Under a consent decree last month with the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, the city agreed to halt the ocean-dumping by the end of 1987 and have fully operational by June 30, 1989, an incinerator plant that will burn the sludge to fuel the generators. The sludge-to-energy project is called the Hyperion Energy Recovery System or HERS.

Continental continues to maintain that it can complete construction of the plant by March, 1987. But on Friday, the Board of Public Works heard city consultants and engineers complain that at its current pace, the firm may miss the deadline by six months.

“We are on a very tight time schedule vis-a-vis the consent decree, and we are determined to meet or do better on these deadlines,” said board President Maureen Kindel, who added that the board will meet Monday to discuss whether to declare Continental in default and terminate its contract.

Missed Deadlines

According to Chief Deputy City Engineer Richard Wainer, the company has missed interim deadlines in building its contracted portion of the project, already costing the city and other contractors millions of dollars.

Representatives of Continental, however, contended that the delays or ensuing problems should be shouldered by the city, which made new demands on the company’s original $23-million contract, adding another $11.5 million in “change orders” that meant more time and expense to the project.

Company officials told the board that meeting the March, 1987, deadline would require the expenditure of more money and a new agreement clearly outlining the responsibilities of both the city and the company.

Chris Edwards, executive vice president of the Sacramento-based firm, assured board members that many of the problems cited had been corrected and additional workers are on the project. He said there was “a renewed interest and team spirit in getting the work done.”

‘Proper Controls’

But the board appeared unimpressed by the company’s testimony. At one point, member Homer Broome Jr. told Edwards that “it’s a misuse of city funds to continue on this project without proper controls” and said the board may have to terminate the contract.

Calling the Continental contract an “essential and vital” part of the city’s $2.3-billion effort to upgrade its sewer system, Kindel said she was “irritated” by the company’s presentation and warned that any delay in building the energy recovery plant would hold up other subcontractors in the project.

As one alternative to ending the contract, the board is considering an agreement that would fine Continental $9,100 a day for every day past the March 16, 1987, deadline.