City Workers Tell Committee of Waste

A Los Angeles City Council committee investigating waste in City Hall heard city employees complain Wednesday about a burdensome purchasing process and prices for supplies and equipment that are up to twice the retail price.

On its first day of testimony, the Government Efficiency Committee heard several stories of waste, ranging from a camera offered to narcotics investigators for nearly twice the price at a retail store to computer discs sold to the city at six times the retail price.

“This waste is unbelievable,” said the committee’s chairman, Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley. “And it’s marbled throughout the whole system.”

The investigation is Wachs’ latest effort to identify and cut waste in the city’s system for buying supplies and equipment. He predicts that up to $70 million annually can be saved by eliminating inefficiency.

The hearing was attended by about 80 department heads and vendors who listened intently to the testimony. Some vendors recommended that the city eliminate some paperwork and procedures required of them by the city.

One of the first examples of overpricing came from Los Angeles Police Officer Kenny Knox of the West Valley Division. The officer said he was asked by his commanding officer to replace a special camera used in narcotics investigations that was damaged during the Northridge earthquake.

A vendor who was authorized to sell such equipment to the city offered a replacement camera for $1,700, Knox said. But the officer found that a retail camera store in Hollywood offered the same camera for $649.

“I was shocked,” Knox said. “It was the same identical camera.”

Wachs began the hearing by pointing to a chart his staff prepared that outlined the 23 steps needed to buy a chair through the city’s approval process. The chart says the process can take 57 to 172 days to get administrative approval to buy the chair.

City Controller Rick Tuttle congratulated the committee for “putting your finger on a major problem.” But he reminded the group that some of the city’s procedures are part of the city’s internal controls required to eliminate waste, fraud and corruption.

Wachs instructed department heads to return to the committee by its next meeting next week with written recommendations to streamline the purchasing process and allow the city to buy at the lowest prices available.