MAYOR SWITCHES ON LIGHTS ANTONIO URGES CITY TO DO JOB INSTEAD OF CONTRACTOR.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

After promising to hire a private contractor to install energy-conserving lights at L.A.'s 4,300 intersections, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has flip-flopped and now wants city employees to do the work - so it will take twice as long and delay millions of dollars in energy savings.

As a councilman and mayor-elect, Villaraigosa had said he would buck the City Hall tradition of shunning privatization. And as chairman of the council's Transportation Committee, he recommended awarding Republic Electric of Novato a two-year, $22.3 million contract for the lighting work rather than approving a five-year plan to use city workers.

DWP officials have estimated that ratepayers would save $1.6 million a year once all the city's traffic signals and pedestrian-crossing lights are converted from the incandescent lamps to more efficient light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

``The longer we delay this project, the more it will cost DWP ratepayers,'' Villaraigosa said last June.

But a three-page letter obtained by the Daily News shows that less than seven months after taking office, Villaraigosa urged the City Council to reverse course and instead assign seven city workers to do the work.

``It is essential that the city convert all existing incandescent traffic signal lamps to LED modules as quickly as possible, however this must be done in a fiscally responsible manner and based on sound management practices,'' Villaraigosa wrote in the letter.

``Therefore, I am recommending that the City Council support a five-year replacement cycle funded through the city's General Fund and using Los Angeles Department of Transportation staff.''

Villaraigosa flip-flopped because he could not justify the $22 million expense while trying to a eliminate a $271 million structural deficit in the city budget, a spokesman said.

The mayor also cited fiscal concerns when he broke a campaign promise and backed the city's continued use of Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills.

But his reversal on the lighting contract drew questions Thursday from some city officials and state regulators concerned about forgoing millions of dollars in savings and whether the city has enough incandescent bulbs stockpiled to last five years.

While the full council has not discussed the issue, Councilman Tony Cardenas - who backed the two-year conversion plan when he chaired the Commerce, Energy and Natural Resources Committee - said the plan using Republic Electric remains the best option.

``In terms of efficient cost and compliance with state requirements, we should do it in two years,'' said Cardenas, who attended the dedication Thursday of a Van Nuys intersection where LED lights were installed.

The shift also is at odds with the California Energy Commission's desire that Los Angeles expedite the conversion to LEDs, which use 90 percent less electricity and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent lamps.

``We advocate two years because the energy savings would pay for the accelerated work,'' said Rob Schlichting, commission spokesman.

Karen Sisson, deputy mayor for Finance and Performance Innovation, said the mayor was ``frustrated'' that he couldn't proceed with expedited conversion, but that efforts to find alternative funding - such as an interest-free loan from the DWP - met legal obstacles.

``Once the burden (fell) on the general fund, the decision had to change,'' Sisson said.

She said the general fund couldn't absorb such a big-ticket project.

``The mayor would prefer we move forward as quickly as possible, but we have to play the cards we're dealt,'' said Jaime de la Vega, deputy mayor for transportation.

He said Villaraigosa also didn't want to add to the city's $271 million deficit, which the mayor has said he wants to eliminate within five years.

The move has frustrated Republic Electric President Wade White, who said the mayor has long advocated reducing the city's energy costs.

``Of all the council members, Villaraigosa was the last one I would think would flip on this,'' he said.

White said Villaraigosa changed his mind without sufficiently considering the potential energy savings, which he estimated at $3.5 million to $10 million over the five-year period.

``It's a total no-brainer for the taxpayers,'' White said, adding that his company has done about 100 similar conversion projects, most in California. ``I've never had a city do an analysis on LED where energy savings was not part of the analysis.''

But Sisson said those energy savings would accrue to the DWP, ``and not to the general fund of the city.''

White and the Energy Commission's Schlichting also questioned whether the city's Department of Transportation can keep all its 180,000 lamps in traffic and pedestrian-crossing lights operational under the five-year plan because of a shrinking supply of incandescent lamps.

``Over five years, they'll need a lot of incandescent lamps,'' White said. ``We don't think you have them.''

But DOT Assistant General Manager John Fisher said the city has about 135,000 bulbs - enough to last through the conversion.

While he acknowledged that DWP ratepayers would realize the energy savings quicker if the conversion to LEDs occurred over two years, he said the City Charter requires an analysis of whether city employees can do the work as effectively as if it were to be contracted out.

``It came down to a cost issue,'' City Administrative Officer Bill Fujioka said.

Councilman Bernard Parks, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, also backs the five-year plan, saying he's concerned that the city otherwise might have to pay interest on borrowed funds.

Former Mayor James Hahn, now managing director at Chadwick, Saylor & Co. Inc. - who included $3.7 million in the city's fiscal 2006 budget for the first year of the in-house conversion plan - did not return calls seeking comment.

The DOT expects to be allocated about $4.5 million for the work in next year's budget.

DWP Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rozanski said the department hasn't analyzed the latest developments.

``But sometimes, as you dig deeper into it, there may be other benefits to stretching it out more,'' Rozanski said.

Beth Barrett, [phone]

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com