Santa Clarita Mayor Wants Builders to Use Local Workers : Jobs: The city attorney will study a proposed ordinance. Union members said the area’s largest developer does not hire from the community.

Santa Clarita Mayor Jill Klajic has proposed an ordinance that would require developers to hire local construction workers when building projects in the city.

Klajic asked the city attorney to study her proposal during the City Council meeting late Tuesday, the same day that 250 members of a construction union complained that the city’s largest developer is not hiring enough local union workers to build the area’s first regional mall.

“Even if we just passed a resolution, this would be a major step toward improving the economic condition of the valley,” Klajic said in an interview Wednesday.

But Councilman Carl Boyer III questioned the legality of the proposal, saying Klajic suggested it primarily to strengthen political ties between the slow-growth movement, which she supports and he opposes, and organized labor.

“It’s politically motivated,” Boyer said. “The city shouldn’t get involved in the private affairs of businesses.

“The lady,” said Boyer, referring to Klajic, “simply doesn’t have a basic grasp of what government is all about.”

Councilwoman Jan Heidt said she supports Klajic’s proposal because if residents are employed locally, they will have more money to spend, thus increasing the city’s sales tax revenue.

About 5.7% of the city’s work force of 44,200 was unemployed in November, the latest month for which figures are available, said Jay Horowitz, a labor market analyst for the state Employment Development Department. Unemployment in Los Angeles County during the same period was 8.5%, he said.

“The country is being swept by a wave of nationalism, so what’s wrong with a wave of regionalism?” Heidt asked.

Klajic is the only council member who supports Measure A, a proposed growth-control initiative on the April 14 ballot that would limit the number of new housing units in the city to 475 annually through the year 2002.

Union officials took the unusual step Tuesday of supporting the measure, announcing their position at a rally to protest what it contends are anti-union tactics on the part of Newhall Land & Farming Co., which is building the mall.

”. . . Why should we help the developers defeat the measure? So they can make money anyway when they’re not hiring us,” said Bob Milewsky, a union carpenter.

The firm has denied the accusations, saying that of the 70 contractors hired for the mall project so far, 26 are union shops and 64 are Southern California companies employing local workers.

Klajic said she is aware that her proposal may violate several constitutional principles, including one prohibiting discrimination on the basis of residency, a fact confirmed in interviews with several legal experts. In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law passed by the city of Camden, N.J., said George Alexander, a professor of constitutional law at Santa Clara University.

Santa Clarita City Atty. Carl Newton also said he has “substantial reservations” about the legality of the proposal, although he is still researching the question and will prepare a report for the council.

Dick Wirth, a spokesman for the governmental affairs council of the Building Industry Assn., called the proposal “a little crazy” and said it could drive up construction costs because local workers could take advantage of the law and demand exorbitant wages.

Klajic said that although the city may not be able to pass a law requiring the use of local construction workers, the proposal may encourage developers to hire local residents anyway.

“I’m sure there’ll be some benefit from discussing this,” Klajic said.