City has date with grand jury today

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The Orange County grand jury will begin hearing

testimony from city workers today over allegations the city failed to

report massive leaks from sewer pipes under the Downtown and Old Town

areas.

Six city employees have been subpoenaed to appear before the grand

jury over the next few days, including City Administrator Ray Silver,

Public Works Director Robert Beardsley and Don Noble, the city’s

maintenance manager. A top-ranking city official said this week that

Public Works Department crew leader Jerry Dilks was also subpoenaed.

The identities of the remaining two city employees could not be

confirmed Tuesday.

Tori Richards, a spokesman for the Orange County District Atty.’s

office, said hearings are set for today, Friday and Monday, but would not

identify those subpoenaed.

“We’re going to cooperate fully with this investigation, and work

fully with the District Atty.’s office,” said Rich Barnard, a spokesman

for the city.

Last week, Silver and four other city officials were called upon to

appear before the grand jury with documents explaining the sewage leaks.

A sixth subpoena was issued earlier this week to gather more information,

Richards added.

“For the last four years we were very open about this issue,” Silver

said. “But now that the D.A.’s office has taken the matter up we really

can’t comment on it.”

In 1996, the city used video cameras to trace its sewage lines and

found a need for repairs beneath the Downtown and Old Town areas, said

officials with the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. Those

findings included massive leaks that may have let loose more than 70,000

gallons of raw sewage a day into the ground, they added, and were not

forwarded to the state board.

City officials, however, have disputed the water board’s sewage leak

figures, and said there’s no real way to tell exactly how much sewage

spilled from the pipes.

“The problem with us is we weren’t blissfully ignorant to the problem

as a city,” said City Councilman Peter Green. “We were proactive, and

spent about $2.5 million to slip-line those pipes and fix the problem.”

That action, water officials said, comes after studies to trace the

root of bacteria which closed city beaches in 1999.

The water board issued an order last month requiring the city to find

and clean up any remaining sewage that escaped the broken pipes, as well

as submit a plan describing its method to track any bacteria in the

residue by Feb. 7 and whether the waste reached the ocean.