HAHN'S COSTLY DEADLY $700,000 OT PAID IN RUSH TO FINISH VAN NUYS CITY HALL.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - Since last fall, dozens of carpenters, plumbers, electricians and painters have been working overtime at rates up to $103 per hour to restore Van Nuys City Hall in time for Mayor James Hahn to boast of completing it before the May 17 mayoral runoff election, the Daily News has learned.

Copies of time sheets reviewed by the Daily News show at least $600,000 in overtime has been authorized to get the building ready for a dedication ceremony Hahn is scheduled to oversee Monday.

Confronted with that information, city officials acknowledged the actual overtime cost is at least $700,000, two-thirds of it since Jan. 1.

The project has grown in cost from an estimated $18 million to $22 million, including the overtime, rising construction costs, furniture, communication equipment and other costs. Funding for it is now $3 million short.

Most of the time sheets describe the overtime as necessary to meet a ``deadline,'' and several City Hall sources and construction workers said in interviews that it was made clear to them the pressure was intense to get the building ready in time for Hahn to use the dedication in his re-election effort.

``We've been here seven days a week,'' said one worker, who asked not to be identified out of fear of losing his job. ``It's for the wrong purpose: the election.''

Nonetheless, city officials overseeing the project denied politics were involved, saying the overtime was needed to move city workers out of leased facilities and into the renovated building on schedule and to get it ready for a planned City Council meeting in May.

Work was slowed by the heavy winter rains, they said, and only two floors of the 11-story building will actually be ready for use Monday despite the overtime.

Hahn's spokesman, Deputy Mayor Doane Liu, said there was ``absolutely'' no pressure from the Mayor's Office to push the schedule ahead and that the mayor didn't know about the overtime costs.

Liu said he since has been told by city officials that the overtime was required to close up the building quickly, against the rains, and to move rent-paying tenants in other buildings to the new facility on schedule.

``The emergency need was to close it up as fast as possible, I'm sure the potential risk exceeded the overtime cost,'' Liu said.

City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who is running against Hahn in the May 17 runoff election, criticized the way the project has been handled.

``Public funds should not be used to enhance Jim Hahn's political career,'' he said.

``It was wrong when he used Fleishman-Hillard as an adjunct to his press office. And it's wrong to push up a construction deadline and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to open a city building as a photo op for his campaign.''

Doc Nghiem, the project manager with the city's Bureau of Engineering, said the mayor's appointee for Valley issues, John Bwarie, called several times to ask about the status of the project but didn't put him under pressure.

``The mayor wanted a dedication, and I thought it best when all the workers were still there,'' Nghiem said. ``This is a milestone of the building. Otherwise, all the workers would be gone, and they put in so much effort; they did such a good job.

``He (John Bwarie) was asking when will you guys finish. He never asked us to do it a little faster. ... He did not push.''

Nghiem said City Administrative Officer Bill Fujioka, Interim Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller and others on the city's Seismic Governance Committee are evaluating how to close the $3 million funding shortfall.

``We have to do what we have to do. People are aware we're doing overtime. It saves the city extra expenses later on,'' Nghiem said.

Assistant City Administrative Officer Ellen Sandt said officials attributed the overtime to rain-related problems, adding that much of the push came from plans for the City Council meeting. She said the city will find the extra money in the seismic bond program or elsewhere.

In June 1990, voters approved a total of $376 million in general-obligation bonds, financed by an increase in property taxes, to repair and strengthen seismically deficient public buildings and bridges. The increase is costing property owners about $9.50 per $100,000, or $47.50 on a $500,000 home, in fiscal 2005. All the bonds have been issued and will be repaid by 2015.

Councilman Tony Cardenas, whose office will be located in the building, never pushed the project and wasn't concerned about the May meeting, a representative said.

Nghiem said the rains created a pool in the underground parking structure and caused delays, driving the need for the overtime and larger crews - which grew from about 70 workers initially to 130 more recently. Most of the work was done by Department of General Services crews, though some specialty work was subcontracted.

The time sheets show the overtime began last fall long before the heavy rains and, according to a source, was needed ``to get this ready for this (opening) event. Right now we're about finished, and they're talking going to regular time after Monday.''

It has become usual for the General Services Department crews - who work a four-day, 10-hour week - to arrive at the site early and to work until 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Fridays and the weekend, putting in 10 hours of overtime, according to the work sheets.

Documents obtained by the Daily News originally projected a completion date in June, a schedule also confirmed by workers at the site. Nghiem said he expects the building to be completed by the end of May.

Joe Loaiza, exterior construction project coordinator with the city's Department of General Services, confirmed the overtime schedules on a recent Saturday when dozens of people were working on the plaza area outside the 11-story art deco-modern city hall at 14410 Sylvan St., built in 1932 as a replica of Los Angeles City Hall.

The pressure to reopen the building has mounted to the point many workers are becoming so ``burned out'' that they have declined to volunteer for overtime, despite the extra pay, a source said.

``Everybody is tired,'' a source said.

On some weekends, more than $15,000 in overtime was paid to workers, according to the time sheets, though sources estimated that on some weekends the cost rose higher, to $40,000 or more.

``Unlimited overtime was authorized, as long as it's productive,'' a source said.

About $255,000 was spent on overtime for electrical work and painting; $235,000 in overtime for plumbing; and more than $110,000 in OT for carpenters and others working on the plaza.

For example, on Jan. 8, a Saturday, carpenters and plumbers combined for nearly 400 hours in OT at a cost of $16,500 - an average of $42 an hour for overtime.

Nghiem, the project manager, said some specialty work was done on overtime because the building, especially the tower, is so small that the specialists couldn't fit in there while regular crews were on the job.

Beth Barrett, [phone]

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Courtyard workers keep digging on overtime last Saturday in a rush to complete renovation of Van Nuys City Hall.

(2) Worker Martin Rodriguez uses an empty public walkway on Saturday as a wheelbarrow path outside Van Nuys City Hall.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer