Resolution No. 1460
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RES 0 L UTI 0 N
A Resolution of the City Council of the City of
Vernon Authorizing the City Attorney and Special
Counsel to Negotiate a Contract with the City of
Los Angeles Enabling the City of Vernon to Pay
its Proportionate Share of the New Treatment Plant
and Works at Hyperion
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City Council thereof appeared by its City Attorney and their
special counsel Edward R. Young in answer to said order of
the court; and
WHEREAS, the hearing on said charge of contempt was
held in Department 20 of the Superior Court in the City Hall
of the City of Los Angeles on the lOth, 11th, 12th and 16th
days of January 1950, with the Honorable Joseph T. Vickers
presiding; and
WHEREAS, on the said 16th day of January, 1950, the
Honorable Joseph Vickers in the contempt proceedings afore-
said pronounced judgment and sentence whereby the City of
Vernon and each of the members of the City Council were ad-
judged to be in contempt of court for failing within ninety
days of the entry of the decree in the case of People of the
State of California v. City of Los Angeles, et a1. to complete
a11 arrangements necessary for the financing of the City of
Vernon's proportionate share of the new treatment plant or
works at Hyperion according to the gal10nage allotted to said
City of vernon, "so that said share wi11 be availab1e as re-
quired", and sentencing the City of Vernon and each of the
members of the City Council to pay a fine of $500.00, and
sentencing each of the members of the City Council to serve a
term of five days in the county jail for contempt of court,
and further ordering that the members of the City Council be
confined in the county jail of Los Angeles until the members
of said council shall have complied with the terms of the
judgment above mentioned; and
WHEREAS, a stay of execution of said sentence was
granted by the court staying the enforcement of said sentence
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to and including January 31, 1950; and
WHEREAS, the testimony and other evidence produced
at said hearing tended to establish that the present estimated
cost of the new treatment plant and submarine tube being con-
structed by the city of Los Angeles is $42,707,600.00; and
WHEREAS, it appears that by reference to paragraph
XXXVI of the Findings of Fact made in the aforesaid case of
The People of the State of California v. City of Los Angeles,
a municipal corporation, numbered 489,890, and from Exhibit
23 referred to in said paragraph XXXVI, that the City of
Vernon has been allotted 10,300,000 ga110ns of the 240,000,000
ga110ns estimated total daily capacity of the new treatment
plant and submarine tube at Hyperion; and
WHEREAS, the gallonage thus allotted to the City of
Vernon constitutes approximately 4% of the said estimated
daily capacity of said treatment plant and submarine tube; and
WHEREAS, from the foregoing it appears that the pro-
portionate share of the City of Vernon of the current estimated
cost of the new treatment plant and submarine tube at Hyperion
is the sum of approximately $1,814,952.60; and
WHEREAS, the City of Vernon has certain contracts with
the City of Los Angeles dated March 18, 1909 and August 10,
1938 whereby the City of Vernon has the right to discharge
sewage into the Los Angeles sewage system up to 11.7 cubic
feet per second without the payment of anything other than
that already paid to Los Angeles by virtue of the terms of the
said agreements, and further gives to the City of Vernon the
right to discharge up to 16 cubic feet per second of sewage
into the said Los Angeles system by the pa:yment of a propor-
tionate share of the amounts actually expended by the City of
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Los Angeles for operation, maintenance, repair, replacement,
construction, and reconstruction of the Los Angeles Outfall
Sewers and Treatment Plant, said proportionate share to be
determined by the ratio that the yearly flow in excess of 11.7
cubic feet per second from the City of Vernon bears to the
yearly total flow of sewage through the Los Angeles Outfall
Sewers and Treatment Plant; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Vernon be-
lieves that said contracts with the City of Los Angeles are
~luab1e, valid and binding agreements; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Vernon has
heretofore, on the 5th day of April, 1949, authorized that a
suit be instituted by the City of Vernon against the City of
Los Angeles to establish the validity of said contracts before
mentioned between the City of Vernon and the City of Los Angeles,
and to establish the 1iability and obligation of the City of
Los Angeles to pay to the City of Vernon any sums or amounts
which the City of Vernon may be required to pay by reason of
the judgment in the aforesaid action entitled "The People
of the State of California v. City of Los Angeles, a municipal
corporation, et a1.," numbered 489,890; and
WHEREAS, said action was filed and instituted by the
City of Vernon on the 6th day of April, 1949, and entitled
"City of Vernon v. City of Los Angeles" and numbered 558,132,
in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for
the County of Los Angeles; and
WHEREAS, said action is presently set for trial in
said Superior Court on the 6th day of February, 1950; and
WHEREAS, it is the desire and intention of the City
Council of the City of Vernon to comply with the terms and
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provisions of the judgment of the said court in the action
of People of the State of California v. City of Los Angeles,
et a1. insofar as it is within the power of said members of
the Council so to do; and
I WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Vernon has
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carefully reviewed the nature and status of the general fund
and variousspecial funds of the City of Vernon and it appears
from said sources there can be made avai1able at the present
time the total sum of '700,000.00 to be used for the purpose
of paying in part the City of Vernon's proportionate share of
the new treatment plant and works at Hyperion without jeopard-
izing the welfare of the City of Vernon,
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
1. That the City Attorney of the City of Vernon and
Edward R. Young as Special Counsel, and each of them, are here-
by authorized and directed to commence negotiations with the
proper officials of the City of Los Angeles as soon as reason-
ably possible for the purpose of negotiating a contract between
the City of Vernon and the City of Los Angeles whereby the
City of Vernon will be enabled, upon terms satisfactory to the
parties and in compliance with the aforesaid judgment of the
court, to pay its proportionate share of the new treatment
plant or works at Hyperion; and said City Attorney and Special
Counsel are directed to report to the City Council as soon as
reasonably possible and to keep said Council fully advised as
to the progress of said negotiations. In this connection, said
City Attorney and Special Counsel are instructed to attempt
to secure agreement by the City of Los Angeles to a contract
embodying the following elements, to wit:
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(a) That the City of Vernon make a substantial pay-
ment to Los Angeles on account of the City of Vernon's
share of the cost of the treatment plant and works
payable upon execution of a contract between Los
Angeles and Vernon, but said initial payment not to
exceed the sum of $700;000.00 which is found to be
availab1e as aforesaid for such purpose.
(b) That the balance to be paid by the City of Ver~on
as its proportionate share of the said treatment plant
or works be paid in not less than three equal annual
instal1ments commencing in the year 1951.
(c) That interest not exceeding 3% per annQ~ may be
paid by the City of Vernon on the said deferred payments.
(d) That any such contract whereby the City of Vernon
makes any payment to the City of Los Angeles be executed
without legal prejudice to any of the rights which the
City of Vernon claims in the contracts with the City
of Los Angeles dated March 18, 1909 and August 10, 1938,
or the validity of said contracts, as aforesaid, and with-
out prejudice to the lega1 position or rights of the
City of Vernon in that action entitled "City of Vernon
v. City of Los Angeles", numbered 558,132.
(e) That any such contract shall contain a provision
that if the final judgment of the court in the case
of City of Vernon v. City of Los Angeles, numbered
558,132, sha11 establish that the City of Vernon has
no liability to the City of Los Angeles or that the
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liabi1ity of the City of Vernon is less than the
total amount of any payments theretofore made by
the city of Vernon to the City of Los Angeles under
such contracts, then, in that event, the City of Los
Angeles shal1 return to the City of Vernon all pay-
ments theretofore made in excess of the liability,
if any, of the City of Vernon to the City of Los
Angeles as established by the judgment of the court
in the case of City of Vernon v. City of Los Angeles,
number 558,132.
2. That the City Attorney of the City of Vernon and
Edward R. Young as Special Counsel are directed to report to
the City Council as soon as reasonrolypossib1e what sums, if
any, are lega11y available to the City of Vernon under the
provisions of Chapter 20, Statutes 1946 (Extra Session) and
Chapter 47, Statutes 1944 (Extra Session) or any other statutes
or laws of the State of California or the United States Govern-
ment so that such funds, if any, may be assigned to the City
of Los Angeles as part of any agreement whereby the City of
Vernon undertakes to pay its proportionate share of said treat-
ment plant and works at flyperion.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Ci ty
Council of the City of Vernon on the 17th day of Jm uary, 1950.
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