Council Votes to Help Repair Pacoima Youth Center : East Valley: L.A. will contribute $280,000 to fix structural damages in the headquarters of the Boys & Girls Club.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to spend $280,000 to repair the headquarters of a prominent Pacoima-based youth agency that had been deemed structurally defective.

Targeted for repair is the administrative and recreation building of the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley, a nonprofit agency that serves troubled and disadvantaged youths in the East Valley.

A private engineer hired by the club found numerous structural defects and concluded that it would be cheaper to demolish the building than fix it. Built in 1986, the structure cost $1.2 million, $400,000 of which was contributed by the city. As a result of such findings, the club’s multipurpose room was closed for more than a year.

The multipurpose room was only fully reopened last summer when, after preliminary repairs, city building inspectors declared the structure at 11251 Glenoaks Blvd. safe, albeit in need of more work.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents the area, supported the plan adopted Tuesday on a 12-0 vote to fund the repair work identified by the city inspectors.

Under the approved plan, the club also is to reimburse the city for its expenditures out of any future damage awards from lawsuits filed against subcontractors involved in building the structure, Bernardi said.

The club has already received a $550,000 payment to settle its lawsuit against the general contractor, said LeRoy Chase, the club’s executive director. About $1 million in additional damage claims against subcontractors is pending.

Chase, a candidate in the District 7 council race to succeed Bernardi, who is retiring to run for mayor, said he believes “the city will provide us with a solid building.”

Chase said the building’s structural problems have tremendously undercut the club’s program. “We’ve had to curtail the number of clients we can serve because of closures, and it has cost a lot in terms of litigation against the builders,” Chase said. The club has spent almost $500,000 of its own money so far in litigation and repair costs.

On Jan. 9, 12-year-old Tiffany Dozier was shot and killed at the club while waiting to be picked by her parents after a dance. The shooting has stunned a community which had viewed the clubhouse as a haven from violence. Two youths have been arrested in connection with the slaying.