Council Steps In to Hasten Upgrading of Sewage Plant : Environment: Weary of delays, members take the unusual step of awarding a contract for work at the Hyperion facility. A court’s deadline looms.

Growing impatient with the Riordan Administration’s delay of a court-ordered upgrading of the Hyperion sewage treatment plant, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday took the highly unusual step of directly awarding a multimillion-dollar contract to get the project back on track.

Since last spring, Mayor Richard Riordan’s Board of Public Works had held up awarding a contract for work at the sewage treatment plant while his staff sought cheaper alternatives to fully treat the sewage that is dumped into Santa Monica Bay.

The work is required under a court-approved settlement of a lawsuit brought by environmental groups in the mid-1980s over sewage discharge that was polluting the bay. The city agreed to make major improvements in its sewage treatment plant by the end of 1998.

Since 1987, the city has spent more than $2 billion and twice received voter approval to sell bonds to finance the upgrades at the plant.

In May, the Board of Public Works put a hold on awarding the last major contract to complete the work while the mayor’s office studied whether the so-called full secondary treatment process was cost-effective and whether there were alternatives that would satisfy the court and enable the city to comply with the federal Clean Water Act.

But earlier this month, the federal judge overseeing the 1987 consent decree voiced concerns that the city would not be able to meet its deadline if it did not award the contract soon.

On Wednesday, Councilwoman Ruth Galanter invoked a little-used provision of the City Charter that allows the council to award contracts, something that is usually done by the Board of Public Works.

“If we’re going to meet this deadline, we must move forward now,” Galanter said in urging colleagues to take the matter into their own hands and award the contract to the construction firm Tutor-Saliba-Perini-Scott, the low bidder.

That was the first step needed to get the project moving again, and it was approved 12-0. Yet to be determined is whether the city needs to build four processing units, which would cost $134 million, or five, which would cost $148 million.

“All of us are incredibly relieved,” said Mark Gold of Heal the Bay. “The end result will be a 50% reduction in solid sewage going into the bay.”

Noelia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Riordan, said the mayor was satisfied that the issue had been resolved and was “glad we are now going to be looking forward” to completing the project. She said Riordan’s intent was never to hold up the project, but to make sure the city was getting the best value for its money.