Contractor Gets Sewer Job Despite Objections

The city Board of Public Works unanimously awarded an $18-million sewer plant job Monday to construction giant Tutor-Saliba, despite concerns expressed by some public works staff members about the firm’s business practices.

The award was the second in a week to Tutor-Saliba by the administration of Mayor James K. Hahn. Tutor-Saliba and its president, Ronald N. Tutor, have been financial backers of Hahn’s political campaigns. A week ago, the city Board of Airport Commissioners voted unanimously to give Tutor-Saliba a $33-million contract to build an airport parking garage and bus shuttle terminal in Van Nuys.

Hahn, who appoints members of the Los Angeles public works board and airport commission, has denied that campaign contributions played any role in the contract awards and has called Tutor-Saliba a contractor with a solid record.

The airport commissioners acted despite sentiment among the airport staff that Tutor-Saliba should face disqualification as a “non-responsible contractor.”

Similarly, on the sewer contract, public works staff members had recommended that the board hold a hearing to settle concerns about the contractor’s fitness. But in a separate action that laid the groundwork for the contract award, the board, without discussion, unanimously refused last month to authorize a hearing.

Concerns about Tutor-Saliba’s fitness have focused on a multimillion-dollar verdict against the firm in a civil case over its Los Angeles subway construction work. Tutor-Saliba, the largest contractor on the subway, is appealing a 2001 verdict in that case brought by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The MTA contends that Tutor-Saliba submitted false claims to the transit agency and used fronts instead of legitimate minority contractors. The San Francisco city attorney’s office has filed a similar lawsuit in connection with work Tutor-Saliba performed at San Francisco International Airport. Tutor-Saliba has said the allegations are unfounded.

Tutor-Saliba’s skirmishes with the city’s public works department began in 2000, when the firm explored bidding on a $250-million city sewer construction project. The firm’s lawyer, Nomi Castle, met with Hahn’s then-chief of staff and asked the city to reconsider its position that a public hearing on Tutor-Saliba’s fitness would be necessary.

City lawyers say that if Tutor-Saliba was found to be unfit at such a hearing, it could be barred from city contracts. Castle disputed that, but acknowledged that Tutor-Saliba wanted to avoid a hearing. She said officials agreed to hold informal talks instead of a hearing, but that the issue was then moot because Tutor-Saliba decided not to compete for that sewer project after all.

But Tutor-Saliba bid for the much smaller sewer job at the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant last year. Its bid was second lowest, but it emerged in first place when the lowest bidder was disqualified for alleged technical failings.

Although staff recommended once again that a hearing be held, Tutor-Saliba sought an informal resolution, giving the board, a day before its vote, a thick stack of documents in its defense. Two members of the board, President Valerie Lynne Shaw and Vice President Ellen Stein, complained they had not had a chance to read the documents and asked for a delay. But a three-member majority led by board member Janice Wood, joined by members Adrian Rubalcava and Ronald Low, pushed through a motion whose effect was to avoid a hearing.

Shaw and Stein ultimately voted with the majority at that December meeting; Stein was not present at Tuesday’s vote to award the contract.