Public Works Official Vows Board Action on 911 Center

Taking sides in a dispute between the mayor and the city’s top bureaucrat, the Board of Public Works will act next week on a contract to build a $20-million police dispatch center in the San Fernando Valley, board President Ellen Stein said Thursday.

Acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley had asked the board to delay until he has completed a study into whether the city could save $7 million by moving the 911 project to Sun Valley.

Stein agreed Thursday to a request by Mayor Richard Riordan to immediately approve the long-delayed project, putting it on the board agenda for Wednesday, even though Cauley’s study will likely not be complete by then.

Approval of the contract would commit the city to building the facility in West Hills, which Stein said would be 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 Parks lambasted Cauley for trying to delay approval of the contract without consulting with 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 would 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 the news conference.

Cauley said Thursday he would “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 already purchased former Hughes Missile Systems property in West Hills to the Department of Water and Power’s headquarters building in Sun Valley.

Councilwoman Laura Chick said it is prudent to wait to award the contract until after the study is done in a few weeks if it means the city can save taxpayer money and provide the 911 center more economically.

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.

Changing 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 vacant property, Parks added.

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

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