By Christine Beddell

An initiative on the November ballot would speed up construction of local highway and other infrastructure projects, two former public works directors said Wednesday.

Dale Mills, who once held the Kern County post, and Dale Hawley, who once headed Bakersfield public works, stumped for passage of Proposition 35. The measure, they said, would make it easier for state and local agencies to contract out engineering and design work to the private sector. When it comes to state highway work, the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, doesn't have enough staff to get the job done, causing delays, Mills and Hawley said.

They made their pitch from the 7th Standard Road-Highway 99 interchange, the site of one of three major reconstruction projects in the new state budget.

The measure's success is particularly critical because the state has pledged to spend $6.5 billion on congestion-relief projects, Mills said. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime for California to get highway projects sorely needed under way," he said.

Proposition 35 opponents, meanwhile, say the state already can contract out work when it saves time, money and address emergencies.Today's rules, they say, save taxpayers money.

Developing new contracting procedures is what would delay projects, and Caltrans is hiring the staff it needs, said Ted Toppin, spokesman for No on Proposition 35.

The new processes, he also said, wouldn't require competitive bidding.

"This opens the door to a spoils system," Toppin said. "There would be no obligation to show the private sector does (work) faster, better or cheaper."

The issue has been the subject of state court, legislative and election battles for more than 10 years.

A measure by state highway engineers to ban no-bid private contracting by state and local governments on some contracts failed in 1998. Bill Wilbanks, head of Kern County general services, said Proposition 35 would not immediately affect how his division completes architectural and engineering work.

But he supports the measure as a means of heading off future restrictions on local governments.

Under current rules, he said, the county chooses freely between handling projects in-house or through contracts.

County staffers usually handle routine or "messy" projects that require institutional knowledge; outsiders usually do work requiring experience county employees don't have, he said.

An even mix of insiders and outsiders have worked on the new Public Health Department building, he said.

But without a state constitutional amendment like Proposition 35, local governments could be "one court case away" from losing local control, Wilbanks said: "This has the potential to head off future problems for the county."



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