Decision Near on Long-Delayed 911 Center

Six years after voters approved funds for a new 911 dispatch center to replace the city’s antiquated system, the Board of Public Works next week will consider approval of the long-delayed project for a West Hills site.

In deciding to put the question on its Wednesday agenda, the board took sides in a dispute between the mayor, who adamantly wants to move ahead with the plan, and the city’s top bureaucrat, who wants more time to study an alternative site in Sun Valley.

The $20-million project is urgent, LAPD officials have said, because the city’s current system has crashed in the past and is unable to handle the call load.

Acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley had asked the public works board to wait until he could complete a study of whether the city can save $7 million by moving the proposed 911 center to Sun Valley.

But board President Ellen Stein agreed to a request by Mayor Richard Riordan on Thursday to immediately schedule a vote, even though Cauley’s study probably will not be completed by then.

Approval of the contract would commit the city to building the facility in West Hills, which Stein said is prudent.

“We share the mayor’s concerns about the need to move this thing along,” said Stein, an Encino resident who, like all of the board members, was appointed by Riordan. “People in this city voted for this six years ago. It’s long overdue and definitely needs to be done.”

Riordan and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks lambasted Cauley for trying to delay approval of the contract without consulting them. Riordan said the delays are proof that voters need to approve proposed charter revisions in the election June 8.

“It’s bad enough that this faceless bureaucrat’s request flies in the face of government efficiency, but it also jeopardizes human lives,” Riordan said. “This is simply intolerable.”

Cauley declined comment on Riordan’s criticism, but said he will go ahead with the study because it was ordered by City Council members last year.

“We’re under instructions by the City Council to prepare a study,” Cauley said. “When the council tells me to stop doing the study, I will.”

In a letter to the board, Riordan said voters who approved a $235-million bond measure in 1992 expected faster action on building the new 911 centers in West Hills and downtown Los Angeles. The projects are linked, so delays on one affect the other.

“The longer we wait for a new 911 system, the longer people will have to wait on the telephone in times of emergency,” Riordan said at a news conference.

Cauley said Thursday he will “probably not” finish his study by Wednesday. More analysis is needed of initial estimates that up to $7 million could be saved by moving the project from the former Hughes Missile Systems property in West Hills to the Department of Water and Power’s building in Sun Valley.

Councilwoman Laura Chick said it would be prudent to wait a few weeks for the study to be completed before awarding the contract if it meant the city could save taxpayer money.

Chick said it was “senseless” for the mayor to “scapegoat” Cauley. Riordan and Parks said any potential savings in moving to Sun Valley are “illusory.” Parks said the DWP building lacks needed security and earthquake safety. Because the DWP building is in a liquefaction zone, the city would have to renovate the structure to strengthen its footings, he said.

“We advised the CAO’s office as early as November of last year that the second site they are reviewing is inappropriate,” Parks said.

Moving the location would delay the project for at least a year, and the city would lose some of the $3 million it has spent to buy the West Hills site and design the 911 center for that property, Parks added.

For every month of delay, the city is losing $250,000 it has to spend on staff and consultants for the project, officials said.

“Any delay is an unnecessary delay and certainly jeopardizes the safety of the community,” Parks said.