With the general manager of Golden State Water sitting in the room, the Los Alamitos city council lambasted the first phase of a water construction project, calling into question its own process of how the project was handled and questioning the standards by which the utility company measures the project.
“We didn’t hold the contractor to a standard,” said council member Dean Grose, and “it makes us look bad. We need a better standard, and someone needs to be accountable,” said Grose.
City officials said they have been inundated with complaints since Golden State began Phase I of a three phase project to move and replace new pipelines, fire hydrants and service lines from Howard to Green Avenues in Apartment Row.
Planning commissioner Art DeBolt excoriated the company’s contractor at the council’s last meeting and was back for more as this time, many city officials joined the chorus of complaints.
DeBolt questioned the quality of work, the questionable road patching and even the overall wisdom of the project at all.
Also, DeBolt warned the council to take a very close look at the company’s policy of making homeowners responsible for the new hookups between the new mains and residential hookups.
“We need a lot more information before awarding any new permits,” said DeBolt.
Council member Shelley Hasselbrink echoed the “abysmal” performance of the contractor, recalling contracting trucks parked “in front of private property” for full weekends without regard and said communications between the company and residents was convoluted or non-existent.
Listening to the debate, “we get the sense that we (city administration) did not know what (the project) was going to look like when it was done,” said Mayor Warren Kusumoto. He suggested a breakdown in oversight of the project and said “it doesn’t look real good right now. We need to figure out what happened and why,” he added.
For his part, Golden State Water General Manager Ken Vecchiarelli said the three phased project will “add elements” to the city’s water service that has not been present in its 60 years of service. Nevertheless, he acknowledged problems with the first phase and promised to cooperate fully with the city and its staff going forward.
In addition, he acknowledged the project had given the long-time city provider with a “black eye,” and Vecchiarelli said while the contractor on the project has worked with Golden State successfully on other projects, they will be “excused” from future phases of the project, once all requirements of phase one are complete.
Given the myriad of problems with Phase I, the council voted 5-0 on a motion by Hasselbrink to form an ad-hoc committee to study the overall project and no permits are likely to approved until the city fully understands what went so wrong on Phase I.
Further, the Council approved Hasselbrink and Grose to serve as the Council’s representatives on the committee and will work with the City Attorney to follow a process to nominate and fill the remaining seats on the committee.
In other action, the Council:
-honored and congratulated the graduating class of Sunburst Youth Academy, based at Joint Forces Training Base.
-recognized the service of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 716, proclaiming May as Poppy Month.
-recognized the Orange County Fire Authority, and its new chief, Ron Roberts, for being a “amazing group” of people during Emergency Services week.
-heard Hasselbrink, the city’s representative on the OC Fire Authority that OCFA had adopted their new budget of $482 million, 91 percent of which she said was for salaries and benefits. Certainly a “people oriented” organization, she said.
Courtesy photo
