Huntington Beach Ca Contracts

The Public Works Department could save money by increasing the number of services performed by outside contractors, according to a study presented to the City Council this week. The report suggests that street sweeping and repair as well as park and landscape maintenance could cost less if privatized. Contracts for city services already account for about $54 million a year, or nearly 28% of Huntington Beach's annual budget of $195 million.

The Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau has been ordered to terminate its contract with Mayor David P. Garofalo, who is being investigated by county and state officials for possible conflict-of-interest violations. City Atty. Gail Hutton warned the visitors bureau that if it does not immediately rescind its contract with the mayor, it may lose $270,000 in city funding--the organization's entire budget.

The City Council has approved terms of an agreement that will allow the NESI Development Group to build about 500 homes on the former Ascon Landfill site once the land is cleaned of toxic waste. The 40-acre property was once a dump for toxic oil wastes beginning in the late 1930s when the city's oil operations were in full swing.

Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg will recommend to the City Council on Monday that Huntington Beach withdraw from a regional police helicopter program, he and other officials said this week. "We're not getting the financial benefits anticipated," City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said.

The City Council has approved a contract to detain in the Huntington Beach City Jail potentially troublesome prisoners who have been arrested for misdemeanors. The city has turned to an agreement with Huntington Beach because it has the jail space to keep prisoners behind bars until court arraignment or they post bond. Orange County Jail accepts almost no misdemeanor prisoners and frequently is forced to release those few they do accept because of overcrowding.

McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems Co., a Santa Ana subsidiary of the defense and aerospace conglomerate, said Thursday that it has been chosen by the city of Huntington Beach to install a computerized fire and emergency medical dispatch system for $2.7 million. Company President Willard J. Freeman said the computer-aided-dispatch market has emerged as McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems' most rapidly growing business.