CITY, COUNTY WORK TOGETHER.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - City and county officials said Thursday they are working together on two very dissimilar projects - bringing a hazardous materials response unit to Lancaster and restoring Sunday hours at the library.

During the annual breakfast meeting between Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and the Lancaster City Council, officials said they are working on funding a five-person hazardous materials response unit.

The county Fire Department will be seeking $2 million to cover personnel costs through Measure B funding, a county parcel tax approved by voters last year for emergency services.

``There's only two units in Los Angeles County and neither of them is up here (in the High Desert),'' Lancaster City Manager Jim Gilley said. ``As we get more people moving here, there's more opportunity for a disaster to occur and for more serious disasters.''

The funding for tools and equipment and a vehicle, which total approximately $340,000, will be paid for through a federal grant for homeland security.

The Measure B funding request is expected to go before the county Board of Supervisors in August.

``We'll have to wait to see how that comes together,'' Steven Lindsay, assistant fire chief, said of the funding request. ``Then we'll be able to establish a time line.''

The request for the hazardous materials response unit came out of planning between county and city officials in the early 1990s on fire protection needs.

County and city officials are also working to restore Sunday service to the Lancaster Regional Library although the state budget crisis has made it tough to find the money. Rather, it is likely hours will be cut on other days in order to restore Sunday service.

The county dropped Sunday service this month after funds from a $223,000 grant secured in 1999 were exhausted, county librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd said.

Sunday is the library's busiest day, Todd said.

``We view Sunday service as a basic service, not an extra service,'' Gilley said. ``If that's the most-use part of the week, it's crazy to eliminate that day of the week.''

The library will work with the city to shift hours, Todd said. The problem is library workers must be paid time-and-a-half on Sundays, making an hour-for-hour exchange unlikely.

This is the second time Sunday service at the library has been cut as the result of state budget woes. During the budget crisis of the early 1990s, Sunday service was dropped for five years until state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, R-Palmdale, and then-Assemblyman George Runner were able to secure the grant.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com