Former Building Official Under Investigation : City Hall: Inquiry centers on $5,000 consulting fee he accepted for helping a theater chain obtain city approvals. He says he did nothing improper.

Authorities are investigating a former Los Angeles city commissioner who had accepted a $5,000 consulting fee for helping a theater chain obtain city approvals for a remodeling plan, The Times has learned.

The district attorney’s office confirmed Thursday that investigators are examining the activities of Patric Mayers, an appointee of Mayor Tom Bradley who had served as president of the city Building Advisory Appeal Board for several years and resigned last year.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney declined to provide details. But sources said the investigation includes two letters Mayers wrote to a theater industry executive in 1987 and 1988.

In one letter, he asks to be paid $5,000 for assistance he had provided a contractor who was renovating a Sherman Oaks theater. In the second, he requested free movie passes from several theater chains, noting that he had helped at least one chain obtain city building approvals.

Mayers, a consultant and registered city lobbyist, acknowledged that he was paid about $5,000 in 1987 after helping a theater contractor who had run into problems with the building department. But he said he never sought to improperly influence actions of his city commission or building department officials. “Not knowingly, not intentionally, not actually,” he said. “I expect to be completely exonerated.”

Additionally, Mayers is one of several Bradley aides and appointees being investigated for possible conflicts of interest involving fund raising for the mayor, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. The district attorney’s office, the Los Angeles Police Department and the state Fair Political Practices Commission are jointly conducting the inquiry.

In early 1987, General Cinema was renovating part of its Sherman Oaks theater complex. City building officials indicated that the chain needed to provide handicapped access to employee dressing rooms on the second floor.

Records show that on March 23, 1987, city building department staff waived the requirement for General Cinema. The theater contractor estimated that the waiver could have saved the company more than $60,000.

The matter did not come before Mayers’ commission, which makes recommendations on building code enforcement issues to the Building and Safety Commission.

But three days after the waiver, Mayers wrote Bob Selig, then president of the Theater Assn. of California, that he had been “able to intercede and achieve a waiver of several imposing requirements” that city building officials could have placed on the theater.

Mayers--who is disabled and is viewed as an expert on building access for the handicapped--noted in his letter that he had pulled in “some major favors” for General Cinema. He asked how to bill for his services and set a price of $5,000 for his efforts.

He closed by telling Selig he would “appreciate your discretion.”

Generally, state conflict-of-interest laws prohibit local government officials from participating in or trying to influence official actions in which they have a financial interest. Violations can lead to civil fines or criminal charges.

Mayers said that he used “unfortunate” language in his letters, which The Times obtained under the state Public Records Act. But he insisted that he did not violate the law because he did not vote on General Cinema’s renovation or try to guide the decisions of city building officials.

Mayers said he did nothing improper in accepting the fee because it was compensation for legitimate consulting work.

Selig told The Times that Mayers touted his city connections. “He indicated he had a lot of political influence,” Selig said. “When somebody comes along and says I can help you at City Hall, you sort of perk up your ears.”

Cerritos-based Magnum Construction did the renovation on General Cinema’s Sherman Oaks theater.

James Egan, a former partner with the construction firm, said the company hired Mayers “to intercede for us with building officials. . . . He set up meetings with the building inspection department.”

Magnum’s former construction superintendent, A.J. Hill, said it seemed “rather odd or a conflict of interest” to be dealing with someone who was both a city building official and a consultant. “But who am I to make the call. . . . All I know is this thing got turned around.”

Mayers acknowledged consulting with city building officials about the problem, but he said he never asked them to take any action. Several city building officials involved in the permit approval said they could not recall the case or whether they talked to Mayers about it.

Mayers said that after consulting with city officials he merely advised his client on how to amend plans to avoid problems. He said the “favors” mentioned in the letter probably referred to getting busy building officials he knew to speak with him regarding General Cinema’s problems.

In January, 1988, Mayers wrote Selig asking for movie passes to several theater chains, including American Multi-Cinema.

“As a Building Commissioner, I have been able to provide, especially where there were difficult and subjective circumstances, an array of Building & Safety variances for AMC’s Century City 14-plex (some 15 variances),” Mayers wrote.

Six months before the letter, a building code variance on AMC’s Century City complex came to Mayers’ commission. Records show Mayers voted in favor of AMC’s request.

Mayers said he received theater passes from some chains, but not AMC. He also said that his vote was not related to his request for AMC passes.

Mayers resigned from the building appeals board in January, 1990, after Bradley’s office obtained copies of the letters, according to records and interviews. Bradley sought the resignation after becoming concerned that Mayers might be using his office for personal gain, said Bill Chandler, the mayor’s spokesman.

Mayers strongly denied that Bradley or his aides asked him to step down. He provided a copy of a letter Bradley sent him after his resignation that expressed regret at Mayers’ departure and described him as a “truly outstanding commissioner.”

Chandler said Mayers received a form letter sent to all departing commissioners.

An investigation into the activities of Mayers and several other Bradley aides was launched in December after a series of Times articles that reported that the members of the mayor’s staff and several commissioners raised more than $700,000 in political contributions in the last five years, often from lobbyists, contractors and developers with city business.

Former Bradley Aide Probed

Investigators are examining the activities of Patric Mayers, right, one of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s former building department appointees and political fund raisers. One area of interest is a $5,000 payment Mayers received from a movie theater contractor who had run into problems with his agency on a Sherman Oaks renovation job. In a March, 1987, letter, Mayers recounted his efforts and asked how to bill for his services and “pulling in some major favors.” Mayers denied any wrongdoing and said he merely offered advice to his client.