COUNTY SLOW, RUNNER SAYS;LAWMAKER WANTS COURTHOUSE SPEEDED UP.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles County supervisors' willingness to spend more money on plans for a new Antelope Valley courthouse is encouraging but does nothing to relieve overcrowding in the existing courthouse, Assemblyman George Runner said Wednesday.

At the request of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, the county board Tuesday directed administrators to try to find $4 million to pay for drawing up construction documents, in an attempt to speed up the Antelope Valley project.

``The investment of dollars is important to get the courthouse done. I would hope that pretty soon they would stop spending money on planning and get the courthouse built, though,'' Runner said. ``That's the concern that we in the Antelope Valley have. We have seen over $10 million spent on planning and not courtrooms.

``I don't know if spending $4 million will help things. I don't want to be negative on spending money to move the courthouse. That's a good sign. At the same time, spending money on planning does not relieve courthouse problems.''

In what was described as a turf war, supervisors also stuck to a timetable for building a courthouse in Chatsworth before building one in the Antelope Valley. Under that timetable, the 15-room Antelope Valley courthouse could not be built until 2012.

Lori Howard, an Antonovich aide, said those who create the construction documents - showing where every board, pipe and wire should be installed - will need as long as 1-1/2 years for the work.

``It has to be done. That's the next step before the courthouse can be built,'' Howard said. ``We want to keep moving forward with building the Antelope Valley courthouse.''

State legislation passed in the 1980s calls for the county to build a courthouse in Chatsworth before adding one in the Antelope Valley.

Runner initially proposed eliminating the state priority system and letting county officials decide which courthouse project should be built first.

But he scrapped that for lack of support from the Assembly Judiciary Committee chairwoman, Martha Escutia, D-Huntington Park. Escutia feared that a courthouse proposed for Huntington Park would fall further behind in priorities, Runner said.

Runner said he is negotiating with the committee for ways to get the proposal for the Antelope Valley courthouse moved up on the state priority list.

``The key is to somehow place the Antelope Valley courthouse as a higher priority (than) some others,'' he said.

For lack of room at the 35-year-old courthouse at Avenue J and 10th Street West, all civil cases have been transferred out of the Antelope Valley. Half of the valley's criminal cases are heard in courts in Van Nuys or elsewhere.

Last June, Runner called for an audit of county courtroom construction projects because more than $80 million has been spent on eight courthouse proposals without construction of a single courtroom. The audit is scheduled to be completed in May.

The Antelope Valley courthouse is proposed on 10 acres the county bought along Avenue M west of Sierra Highway and is expected to cost $80 million. County officials cited declining revenue when they put the proposal on hold in January 1994.

Runner questioned whether the county's bureaucratic process drives up costs and causes delays in courthouse construction, whether favoritism is a factor in awarding or changing contracts or architects, and whether the county efficiently uses money for courthouse construction.

Runner called for the audit to respond to those questions and also to gauge whether the state priority system contributes to inefficient use of courthouse construction money.