CONSTRUCTION FIRM SUES T.O.; CONTRACTOR SEEKS $11 MILLION AFTER BEING FIRED BY CITY.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

A Van Nuys construction company hired to complete rehabilitation work on the former Thousand Oaks City Hall is pursuing an $11 million lawsuit against the city after it was fired from the job.

The lawsuit stems from a $1.6 million deal the City Council signed with Alpha Construction in November 1997 to complete work on the facility's South Building at 401 Hillcrest Drive.

Alpha is asking for about $1 million in back payment for work completed before it was terminated, plus up to $10 million in punitive damages for lost work related to the contracted project, for damage to its reputation and for legal costs affiliated with the suit.

``I've been in this business for 40 years now and work with many of the agencies and municipalities in the Greater Los Angeles area, and we have a good relationship with them,'' said Alpha President Irvin Laxineta. ``Unfortunately, we did not know about the political climate in Thousand Oaks.''

Under its contract with the city, Alpha had 100 calendar days to complete rehabilitation work. And with the National Park Service scheduled to move into the building by the end of April, the city stressed in the contract that ``time is of the essence (in) this agreement and that the city will suffer financial loss if the work is not completed within the times specified,'' court documents show.

So with about 80 percent of the work done by the deadline date, the city released Alpha from the contract and stopped payment. The city then turned to other contractors to get the work done.

City Attorney Mark Sellers did not return calls seeking comment Thursday and Friday, but court documents show that the city of Thousand Oaks will submit a motion to dismiss the case.

Laxineta said the job could not possibly have been completed on time because the city failed to secure some of the necessary permits from utility companies for the contractors to complete electrical work, and because intense El Nino storms this past winter delayed work.

He said the company needed and requested an additional 45 to 60 days to catch up and finish the job, but the city terminated the contract March 5.

``It's interesting that at the same time the city was defending itself against that massive fine for the (86 million-gallon) sewer spill in February by saying the El Nino storms caused it, they were telling us that the rains couldn't possibly delay our work,'' Laxineta said.

Alpha is pursuing about $1 million in back payment for work Laxineta said his workers completed before the company was fired. Alpha was paid through Jan. 25, but work continued until March 5.

Laxineta said part of those back payments was related to change orders the city submitted for additional work not included in the original contract, such as larger air-conditioning units.

Alpha Construction filed its $11 million claim against the city April 28. On July 6, the Penhall Co. - one of about a dozen subcontractors working with Alpha on the Hillcrest project - filed a separate but related lawsuit claiming it is owed $56,656.

Within its lawsuit, Alpha also claims more than $1 million in damages incurred by the city's decision to end the contract. That case will appear before a Ventura County Superior Court judge Oct. 26.

Laxineta said the contract should not have been terminated.

``We had given the city a breakdown of what was left to be done,'' he said. ``We knew how much it was going to cost; we knew how long it was going to take.''