Gates Files Retirement Application : Police: The chief picks June 28 as the final day of his 43-year career with the LAPD. Police Commission retains a lawyer in case he changes his mind.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates formally filed retirement papers Tuesday, even as police commissioners retained an independent attorney to advise them on how to push Gates out if he reneges again on his departure date.

Gates, in his filing with the city’s Department of Pensions, stated that after almost 43 years with the LAPD, his retirement will be effective June 28. On July 1, Gates will begin receiving $10,710.56 a month in retirement pay.

But Gates, 65, will not return from retirement to attend the June 30 swearing-in ceremony for his successor, Willie L. Williams.

One thousand special guests have been invited to the elaborate ceremony at the Police Academy, including 50 family members and friends Williams is bringing here from Philadelphia, where he served as police commissioner.

Gates could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But his spokesman, Cmdr. Robert Gil, said the chief is not trying to snub Williams by missing the ceremony.

“He feels it’s Willie Williams’ day and he does not want to do anything that will take attention away from Willie Williams,” Gil said. “It should be a special day for Willie Williams.”

But Police Commission President Stanley K. Sheinbaum said that Gates’ no-show will be construed as an affront to Williams and rank-and-file members of the Police Department.

“It’s going to disappoint a lot of people,” Sheinbaum said. “It sends a message to the rank-and-file officers that he is not completely supportive of their new chief.”

The commission president also said he was “very disappointed” that Gates did not appear at the commission’s weekly meeting Tuesday at Parker Center, where the panel had hoped to discuss issues involving the transition of command in the chief’s office.

“I think he ought to be here,” Sheinbaum said. “He’s told us he wants to meet with us in order that there be a smooth transition. I think it would have been a signal to the department, had he been here, that he endorses the new chief.”

The commissioners’ meeting followed a two-hour, closed-door session at City Hall in which the City Council voted to hire an attorney to represent the panel in any potential eleventh-hour confrontation with Gates.

The council voted 10 to 3 to hire attorney Louis R. (Skip) Miller, with Ernani Bernardi, Joan Milke Flores and Council President John Ferraro in opposition. Councilmen Hal Bernson and Joel Wachs, strong Gates backers, were absent.

Council members said they hired Miller, in part, because he was successful in defending the city against charges of religious discrimination raised by recently retired Assistant Police Chief Robert L. Vernon.

Miller, who sat in on the closed session with the council, afterward declined to discuss any legal strategy he might recommend. He is scheduled to meet this afternoon behind closed doors with the Police Commission.

“The council has finally decided it has the will to stand up to Chief Gates. History is being made,” said Councilman Michael Woo, one of Gates’ harshest critics on the council. “The council has said it will not tolerate what the chief has done.”

On Friday, Gates sent city leaders into an uproar when he threatened to stay into the middle of July--a tactic that would have forced the city to begin the chief selection process all over again under recently approved police reform Charter Amendment F.

On Monday, Gates said his threat had been a “bluff,” but members of the council majority said they can no longer take the chief at his word.

“I think (the vote to hire a lawyer) reflects a lack of confidence the City Council has in his word,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. “He cannot be trusted anymore. This just makes certain the city is prepared if he decides to stay again. The Police Commission will have the information it needs.”

Among the options to be considered are firing the chief, reducing his salary or suspending him.

“He could change his mind as he has in the past,” Sheinbaum said. “The commission has to be prepared for whatever comes up.”

The City Council set no fee limit on the contract with Miller, but Sheinbaum suggested in a letter Monday that $25,000 would be a “suitable initial sum.”

Ferraro called the hiring of the lawyer “unnecessary,” adding: “I think he (Gates) is going to leave, anyway. This just gives him another excuse to say . . . ‘If you want to play hardball, fine--I will play hardball too.’ ”

Yaroslavsky, meanwhile, argued that any extra expense to the city is Gates’ fault.

“He initiated all this with his irrational and unpredictable behavior,” Yaroslavsky said. “If Gates doesn’t leave, it is going to be very expensive for him and the city.”

The City Council also took another step to pave the way for the transition to Williams--unanimously approving a $160,000 yearly salary and up to $18,000 more for moving expenses.

The pay is nearly double what he earned in Philadelphia, but less than the $177,000 Gates made and the $196,000 maximum salary for the post.