City Tries to Be Prepared for Legal Fees

Before paying a dollar in fines or seeing a court case filed, the city will have earmarked $676,000 for legal fees in federal and state probes into an immense sewer-line break, if City Council members approve a new appropriation Tuesday.

That is when City Atty. Mark Sellers will ask his elected bosses to set aside another $275,000 to pay lawyers working with Robert C. Bonner, the former U.S. attorney and federal judge who is representing the city in the matter.

Earlier in the year, the city set aside $275,000 for a defense by Bonner’s high-powered firm. Although he did not know exactly how much the firm has billed so far, Sellers said Friday that the first chunk of money is nearly spent.

“We are getting to a point where we need to make sure we have adequate appropriations to provide for a defense in the federal investigation and the matter pending before the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board,” Sellers said. “We’re facing an August [City Council] recess, and I don’t know when the bills will come due.”

The city is the object of state and federal investigations for the February break of a sewer main in narrow Hill Canyon, which is crisscrossed by the Arroyo Conejo. The spill, which sent 86 million gallons of untreated waste toward the sea, occurred during the winter’s torrential El Nino rains.

The city contends that the spill was an “act of God” that could not have been foreseen. But regional board staff members, who recommended a $2.1-million fine against the city, contend that the spill could have been avoided if the line had been replaced earlier.

The line was first listed for replacement a decade ago. More recently, virtually all repairs to the sewer plant and lines were tied up during a two-year stalemate over a $75-million upgrade to the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant, which was eventually approved last year.

In addition to the two $275,000 appropriations for the city’s defense, Thousand Oaks officials have set aside:

* Twenty-six thousand dollars for document reproduction after the current U.S. attorney, Nora Manella, subpoenaed a flotilla of reports, memos and photos related to the break.

* An additional $100,000 for Councilwomen Elois Zeanah and Linda Parks to retain their own lawyers, at $50,000 each. The option of hiring individual counsel also is open to their colleagues, but so far it has not been exercised.

More fees appear likely, city officials acknowledge. At the Aug. 3 regional board hearing, state regulators could lower--or increase--the recommended $2.1-million penalty. The maximum fine is about $860 million. If a federal Clean Water Act investigation comes to fruition, more fines could also ensue, according to the act’s provisions.

The mounting legal fees are disconcerting, said Mayor Mike Markey. His colleagues reached Friday declined comment on the legal tab.

“I don’t know what it’s all going to cost--I don’t think anybody does,” Markey said.

Sellers said the additional appropriation was necessary as the legal team goes into overdrive in advance of the regional board hearing, where “a big chunk of change” is at stake.

“We’re getting ready for the Aug. 3 hearing; that’s the driver here,” he said. “When you have a staff recommendation of $2.1 million that could go up to $860 million, that’s something we’ve got to take very seriously.”

In all likelihood, the legal fees and any fines will be paid from the waste-water enterprise fund--thus resulting in higher user fees--or from the general fund, city officials have told The Times.