Panel Urged to Expedite Pension for Chief Gates : Retirement: Police Commission is asked to abandon normal procedures to prevent him from backing out on announced date.

Seeking to close off any avenues for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to renege on his promised retirement at the end of June, Los Angeles city officials Wednesday called on the Pension Commission to shortcut routine procedures and swiftly approve the chief’s pension application.

The panel is expected to consider today whether to accept the chief’s retirement as early as next week, rather than in July, as it would under standard operating procedures, sources familiar with the issue said.

City officials learned Wednesday that the commissioners were not scheduled to make Gates’ retirement official until July 9--11 days after the chief’s announced retirement date and shortly after the new chief is to be sworn in.

“You might have a case of having two police chiefs,” said Gary Mattingly, head of the Department of Pensions. “That would be a very awkward situation. . . . We want an orderly transition and as quickly as possible.”

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas agreed. “The loophole needs to be closed tight,” he said, “and I would urge the pension board to convene a special meeting for the express purpose oftaking care of this item.”

Councilman Michael Woo said he believes “Chief Gates is capable of any surprise, and so I would strongly favor calling a special meeting of the pension board to lay to rest any anxieties people may have about Chief Gates changing his mind again.

Ridley-Thomas said he has been informed that the mayor’s office has already arranged for pension commissioners to schedule an earlier discussion of Gates’ retirement. The mayor’s office declined to comment, but two officials familiar with the matter said they expect the commission to set an earlier date at this morning’s meeting.

Gates could not be reached for comment. A Police Department spokesman refused to comment on efforts to speed the retirement approval process.

Members of the city Police Commission, meanwhile, met in private with their attorney Wednesday and said they are prepared to head off any eleventh-hour attempts by Gates to stay on the job beyond June 28. Willie L. Williams, former Philadelphia police commissioner, is scheduled to be sworn in June 30 as the new chief.

The certification of a retirement would normally be a routine action by the Pension Commission, whose members are used to operating away from the limelight. But little has been routine about Gates’ departure from the department he has headed for 14 years.

Last Friday, the chief threw city government into turmoil when he announced that he might not leave at the end of June because of a dispute over a promotion list for commanders. Gates on Monday said he was “bluffing,” but city officials said they are not so sure because he has backed away from retirement dates several times.

Under standard procedures, the Gates matter would not have come to the Pension Commission until July 9 because that is the panel’s first meeting after the chief’s announced retirement date.

City officials said that lag time might permit Gates to back out of his agreement to leave, even after Williams is sworn in.

Gates could theoretically claim he was still chief, forcing a confrontation in which it is unclear whether Williams could force him to stick to his original retirement date, Mattingly said.

The Pension Commission is unlikely to make a final decision on the retirement today, City Hall sources said, because it might raise questions about whether public notice had been properly given, as required under the state’s public meeting law.

Members of the Police Commission, meanwhile, expressed confidence after meeting with their newly hired attorney that they would be ready should Gates change his plans.

“We’re prepared now,” Commission Vice President Jesse A. Brewer said as he left the closed-door session with attorney Louis R. (Skip) Miller.

Brewer and other panel members, including commission President Stanley K. Sheinbaum, declined to discuss strategy or the options they reviewed.

“This is a personnel matter now in the hands of an attorney and therefore we just can’t comment on it,” Sheinbaum said.

Miller also declined to divulge details but said:

“The real option is we very much hope that the chief keeps his word and adheres to what he said earlier in the week and maybe 50 or 60 times over the past, including his book, and retires in accordance with the schedule that he laid out.

“I have every reason to think that the man will be true to his word, (that) he’s a man of honor and that he’ll carry forward on what he told everybody,” Miller continued. “We have no reason to think to the contrary so I don’t want to blow this out of proportion or make something of it that it’s not.”

Asked about the possibility that Gates could withdraw his pension application before it is formally approved, Miller replied: “This is part of the legal work and the advice that I’m giving. . . . I don’t want to get into the specifics. It’s attorney-client privileged communication.”

Before the meeting, Sheinbaum noted that Gates could withdraw his application “right down to the last hour,” and said that is the reason the city hired an attorney to represent the commission.

Commissioner Ann Reiss Lane also noted the panel’s desire to be ready for anything, saying: “We didn’t plan properly for the riots. I think we need to plan properly for this.”