Juggler of Public Works : Jill (J.P.) Ellman Presides Over a Board Preparing to Be Trashed

It was nothing personal, but when Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan appointed Jill (J.P.) Ellman to the powerful Board of Public Works two years ago, he told her he wanted to eventually put her out of work.

Riordan took office in 1993, promising to end the full-time panel in order to save money and reduce City Hall bureaucracy. He appointed Ellman to the post only long enough to work herself out of a job.

Ellman, a former legislative analyst from Reseda, now presides over the board, overseeing some of the city’s most fundamental services: garbage collection, sewage treatment and street lighting, paving and sweeping.

It’s a job that normally requires patience, knowledge of City Hall politics and the mediating skills of a judge. But new challenges generated by the Northridge earthquake and Riordan’s plans have made it that much tougher.

Sometimes, Ellman said, she wishes the job had been eliminated before she took it on.

Ellman has been in the middle of an emotional debate over the closure of a San Fernando Valley landfill. Her office routinely fields complaints from residents about piles of quake debris that the city cannot afford to clean up. And almost weekly, her board must decide whether to discipline employees accused of violating safety rules or abusing drugs.

“It’s a balancing act,” she said of her job. “It’s very difficult, but when it happens right, it’s very rewarding.”

Many of Ellman’s City Hall colleagues say she has had remarkable success.

“She is a juggler par excellence,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick.

Even Riordan’s office praises how Ellman has dealt with the awkward role imposed on her.

“It’s always difficult to ask commissioners to put themselves out of business,” said Mike Keeley, Riordan’s chief operating officer. “J.P. has done an extraordinary job through the thicket of problems.”

Despite such praise, the job remains in limbo. A private consultant hired to analyze the feasibility of eliminating the board as part of a larger consolidation effort is expected to complete a study by September. Riordan and the council will consider the study’s findings before making the final decision.

Ellman and the board were originally assigned to put together a plan to eliminate itself. But before the panel completed its assignment, Riordan and a council committee on reorganization decided to hire the private consultant to complete the job.

Keeley said the assignment was turned over to a private firm because they felt the city needed an outsider’s perspective.

“The whole idea was to go outside of ourselves,” he said.

In the meantime, the board has made efforts to meet the mayor’s promise to cut red tape and save money. For example, units overseeing recycling have been merged into the sanitation department, and toxic waste has been combined with the environmental affairs department. The board eliminated its public information bureau, leaving to Ellman the duties of acting as department spokeswoman.

Still, Ellman tactfully declines to second-guess the mayor’s efforts to eliminate the entire board, saying she will go quietly if that’s the decision.

A stylish dresser with short blond hair and glasses, Ellman, 45, would seem more in place at a Downtown law firm than overseeing the treatment and disposal of the city’s sewage and garbage. She is married and has a 3-year-old daughter.

She has no problem getting into the job. Ellman often trades in her heels for hiking boots and her brightly colored skirts for jeans to tour landfills and sewage-treatment plants. Two months ago, she confronted a scavenger who was stealing cardboard from a neighbor’s trash cans. She jotted down the number of the thief’s license plate and turned it over to police.

A graduate of George Washington University, Ellman has held many government jobs, from volunteer assistant to Sen. Edward Kennedy to Los Angeles’ chief lobbyist in Sacramento.

She said she has always dreamed of becoming a diplomat. So far, the public works job has proven to be a good training for the diplomatic corps.

Consider how Ellman and the board weighed in on the long-running controversy over the city-run Lopez Canyon Landfill.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, whose northeast Valley district includes the dump near Lake View Terrace, wants it closed when its operating permit expires next year. He said it creates noise, dust and potentially toxic fumes for nearby neighbors.

But an independent study and the city’s own Bureau of Sanitation have concluded that the landfill is the cheapest trash-disposal site available and that keeping it open for another five years can save the city up to $53 million.

Caught in the middle, Ellman suggested a compromise, proposing a one-year extension, instead of five, to allow the city time to conduct further studies on alternatives to Lopez. The council ordered a study but has yet to decide on the extension.

Alarcon was not completely satisfied, but considers it a step in the right direction.

“I sometimes felt that she has been less than open minded on issues involving Lopez Canyon,” Alarcon said of Ellman. “But it does seem she has become more objective on it.”

When federal funds ran out for quake debris clearance, sanitation officials warned that public health could be threatened as thousands of tons of waste continue to pile up. Council members instructed Ellman and her staff to deal with the problem.

With no city money available, Ellman said her staff will recommend charging property owners for cleanup of debris at their homes and business.

“Basically, the message is going to go out that they are responsible,” she said.

Ellman’s familiarity with the players and politics in City Hall was one of the key reasons that Riordan gave her the $74,000-a-year job, Keeley said.

Ellman describes herself as a “realistic environmentalist” and said she took the job in part to ensure that the city continued to expand its trash recycling and sewage treatment programs. That expansion would reduce the amount of garbage going to local landfills and waste water dumped into Santa Monica Bay.

Adjusting to the new role of policy maker was not easy.

“For years I advised politicians on how to vote because I would analyze the issues,” she said. “Quite frankly, I like being anonymous, and sometimes it’s hard knowing that everything I do is being scrutinized.”

Some City Hall detractors say Ellman is obsessed with advancing her career and will try to curry favor with whoever can help in that endeavor.

But Ellman says her critics may simply be put off by a serious, no-nonsense woman.

“I’m driven in the sense that I’m extremely serious in my work,” she said. “A lot of people may misinterpret that. I’m not the kind of person who would sit around chatting by the water cooler.”

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Profile of Jill (J.P.) Ellman

Title: President of the Board of Public Works

Born: Philadelphia

Age: 45

Hometown: Reseda

Marital status: Married, 3-year-old daughter

Education: Bachelor of arts degree in international affairs from George Washington University

Quote: “I do like to play the peacemaker role.”