City to Fix Damaged Library Phone System

Saying that degradation of the local telephone system could pose a public safety threat, the City Council this week approved spending $120,386 for repairs.

Last July, an integral phone system unit at the Huntington Beach Central Library was damaged by water and dirt when TEPS Cable Co., a contractor for Paragon Cable, pulled a cable through a conduit into the library phone room, city officials said.

The phone system unit there is a crucial part of the citywide telecommunications network, Fire Chief Michael P. Dolder said at Monday’s council meeting.

The unit provides communication to three fire stations; the Oak View police substation; and park, tree and landscape offices, Dolder said. If the library system were to fail, he said, calls to and from those locations would be blocked.

The council also agreed to seek reimbursement for the equipment replacement costs from the companies responsible for the damage.

In other action, the council adopted a resolution opposing Proposition 199, a state initiative on the March 26 ballot.

Called the Mobile Home Fairness and Rental Assistance Act, the measure would phase out local rent-control laws on mobile homes and prohibit new state and local rent-control laws.

Huntington Beach has 19 mobile home parks with about 3,300 spaces, none of which are under rent control.

Councilman Tom Harman said that he opposes giving up local power to regulate mobile home parks and added that the initiative “would be extremely unfair to the mobile home residents.”