Simi Valley OKs Funds for New Phone System : Communications: Failure of service during quake prompted approval of $450,000 network and backup generator.

In the crucial hours and days after the Jan. 17 earthquake, frantic Simi Valley residents dialing City Hall to report damage or seek reassurance got nothing but a fast busy signal--the rude rebuff of a phone system on the fritz.

The trouble didn’t stop there. Emergency workers trying to coordinate emergency efforts by phone were doomed to frustration until a local company donated several dozen cellular phones.

Determined to avoid a repeat of that communications nightmare, the City Council on Monday agreed to spend $450,000 in federal quake aid to replace its decade-old system with a new phone network and backup generator by next spring.

“It’s an outdated system that we’ve needed to update for a long time,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “The earthquake gave us the kick in the pants to actually buckle down and spend the money to do it.”

Funded with a federal community development grant, the system will offer many new features including:

* The ability to handle hundreds of calls at once, and replacement of all phones.

* An on-site generator that will keep the phones up and running if the power fails.

* Voice mail for all phones, in addition to the three switchboard operators now working at City Hall, the Police Department and the Development Service Building.

“This is a system that will have a lot more flexibility,” Mayor Greg Stratton said. “That was really the problem we discovered with the old system: It has no ability to perform beyond the everyday requirements.”

In another earthquake-related action, the council agreed to spend $250,000 on the first phase of a $5-million project to repair cracked roads and crumbled sidewalks on nine major streets.

The city has been haggling with federal inspectors for months over how much of the street damage is quake-related and how much existed before the quake.

“They are fussing over every crack, and that takes time,” Stratton said. “In the meantime, we should get started on the repairs.”

Federal officials are expected to decide by next spring how much of the cost of street repairs they will reimburse. The City Council has set aside $1 million in federal quake relief to cover any costs not included in the federal aid.

“We’d like to spend that money to help people rebuild their homes and businesses,” Stratton said, “But until we hear how much we’re getting from the feds, we have to hold off.”

Included on the repair list are Alamo, Cochran, Kadota, Stearns and Tapo streets, Los Angeles and Yosemite avenues, Kuehner Drive and Madera Road.

Repairs, which have already begun on Alamo Street, are coming none too soon, Davis said.

“The problem starts with these fine little cracks, but then it rains and the water seeps in and those cracks become huge holes,” Davis said. “If you don’t seal those cracks early, you end up having to replace the whole road.’