CHICK WORRIES HER AUDITS WERE IN VAIN TERMED-OUT CONTROLLER LONGS TO SEE RESULTS IN CITY.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH

Staff Writer

With less than two years left in office, Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick said Friday that she's concerned that many of her office's recommendations from previous audits of city agencies have not yet been enacted.

And after eight years on the City Council and six years as controller, Chick said she's tired of city leaders wringing their hands over the same problems -- gangs, affordable housing, traffic -- without coming up with long-term solutions.

"The clock has always been ticking and now it's a time bomb," Chick said. "I do not want to leave City Hall as a frustrated person. I want to feel I was successful in the things that matter the most to me. I'm not going out defeated."

Chick said she's trying to complete audits faster and has launched several repeat audits to clean up problem departments and projects, including revisiting the Fire Department, the Department of Building and Safety, and L.A. Inc.

Chick said she's also auditing construction of the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters after an oversight committee found problems. The project was supposed to cost $300 million when it was approved in 2004, but the price tag is now $400 million and climbing.

"The final end cost is still a work in progress," she said. "I think the budget has changed many, many times and the project has changed many, many times."

Chick said she's planning to audit the trash fee fund used to pay for police officers and the city's risk management system.

She's also studying the use of civilians in some Police Department jobs, and how the city applies for and manages millions of dollars in annual grants.

Some Valley business leaders are lending Chick a hand in trying to get her audit recommendations implemented. A Valley Industry and Commerce Association subcommittee has begun poring over the controller's audits to see whether departments have made the needed reforms.

"We need to get past the headline. We have to get results," said Mel Kohn, a VICA member and partner with the accounting firm Kirsch, Kohn and Bridge.

"We want to follow it through because, apparently, a lot of it isn't being followed through at the city."

Termed out in 2009, Chick said she is pretty sure she won't run for the City Council again -- although she could seek a third, four-year term under a measure approved by voters last year.

When asked whether she aspires to an even higher office, Chick said she would not run against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

[e-mail]

[phone]