Work on fixing the leaks at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza will soon enter a third phase. The city council gave its approval earlier this week to open the bidding process for the repairs.

Built in 1994 at a cost of $63 million, the facility had significant moisture intrusion, among other problems, relating to construction defects.

Some repairs were made after the city received $4.7 million in a litigation settlement, but additional repairs could raise the cost to significantly more than that.

So far, $3.3 million was spent on repairs in 2003 and another $1.4 million last year.

"Everyone knows there have been problems with the building from the beginning," said Elizabeth Perez, the city's construction project coordinator.

During heavy rains water steadily drips into the city's public works and community development offices, two of the areas of greatest concern.

"We still have water finding a way in," Perez said.

Phases 1 and 2 included repairing or replacing windows, roofing and decking.

Both phases have been completed successfully, according to a staff report, with no water intrusion in those areas.

There are 14 additional areas not previously addressed that are experiencing water intrusion, according to Perez.

Some of the new areas were discovered during the past several winters. An engineering consulting firm was hired to investigate the source of the problems.

"If it's too expensive, we can do the areas of the most concern first," Perez said.

The problem doesn't involve the building roof, but rather the walls. The plaster has to be removed and the walls redone.

"That's a difficult concept for people," Perez said.

Perez says that bids will be requested in both a lump sum to fix everything, as well as what the cost is for each individual problem.

Funding of $5 million to correct the problems has already been included in the city's budgets for this year and next. Some of the money was received from litigation involving the original contractor.

Perez anticipates accepting a bid by May, with construction beginning in June.

"Construction could go on for 18 months or longer," Perez said. "We want to see what we can get done before the winter."