Vote Delayed on Giving $170,000 More for Center : Social services: City wants assurances on plans for Catholic group’s new facility.

Frustrated by five years of delays, the Glendale City Council this week balked at granting another $170,000 in federal funds to build a new social services center, asking for assurances that the project will finally begin.

The council postponed action until June 2 on a request by the Catholic Youth Organization for additional funds to replace its former center at 4322 San Fernando Road.

The old center, operated since 1951, was closed last October because it was overcrowded and in poor condition.

Council members said they want assurances that construction on a new center will begin immediately and that it will include a variety of services, including a hiring and training center for day laborers and social services for the poor.

Operators have been stymied by a series of problems, including federal rulings prohibiting allocations to church groups, the discovery of environmental and safety hazards, a high staff turnover, delays in planning, and rising construction costs, said Mayalyn Blake, director of community development and housing.

The Catholic group has resolved those issues by forming a non-sectarian corporation to receive federal funds and through construction changes that mitigate hazards.

The city has allocated $419,000 in federal grants to the project since 1987. About $97,000 has been spent on design services and city fees, leaving $322,000 for construction.

But those funds are insufficient to complete the project, Blake told council members Tuesday. She asked that additional money be allocated from savings on other federally funded improvements in the city.

Blake said construction bids received last September were much higher than anticipated. The project was then scaled down, resulting in new bids in March that are significantly lower. However, construction costs still are estimated at $492,000.

A portion of the savings resulted when Catholic Charities of Los Angeles Inc., which operates the social services of the church, pledged to provide kitchen furnishings and fixtures, Blake said.

Several council members on Tuesday said they want guarantees from the church that the kitchen, which will serve a child day-care program, will be completed. Representatives of Catholic Charities were not at the council meeting.

“If the city is to spend half a million dollars” on the project, then representatives of the charity “had jolly well (better) get here . . . to explain their commitment,” said Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg.

Greg Fitzgerald, youth services director for Catholic Charities, said in a telephone interview that donations to the church will be used to furnish the kitchen.

Council members said they also are seeking a firm commitment that the new facility will provide services for day laborers. Currently, large numbers of laborers seeking work gather outside a paint store at Broadway and Jackson Street, which has long brought complaints from businesses, customers and residents in the area.

The city in 1988 proposed banishing the workers, but dropped the issue when the Catholic Youth Organization offered to serve as a hiring center. The program ended a year later after enrollment in the CYO child-care program dwindled because parents were afraid to leave their youngsters when large numbers of workers were milling about the premises.

The new center would provide separate meeting and restroom facilities for child care, social services and day laborer programs in a 6,000-square-foot building, Fitzgerald said. The center will provide nonprofit, non-sectarian social services for about 2,000 mostly poor families, most of whom live in the south Glendale area.

Funds still need to be found to operate a laborer program, said City Manager David Ramsay. Private donations were used to hire two counselors for the 1988 program, and no new funds have been pledged since, he said.

In addition, the hiring program was plagued with problems when laborers from throughout Los Angeles, often illegal immigrants, gathered at the Glendale site to compete for work.

“At this point, there is not a panacea, not an easy solution” to the day laborer problem, Ramsay said.

City officials said demolition of the old center could begin within two weeks after council approval of additional funding. Completion of a new building is expected within a year.