MTA tackles subway construction woes with new hire.

Board puts off decision on dissolution of rail agency

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week hired a California Transportation Department director to "revamp" the L.A. County agency's beleaguered rail construction program.

But the MTA board of directors declined to approve a 4-month-old recommendation from Chief Executive Franklin White calling for the dissolution of the Rail Construction Corp. -- the MTA's subsidiary that runs its rail construction projects.

Instead, the board delayed action on the recommendation for another month.

Jerry Baxter, District 7 director at Caltrans and currently an alternate ex-officio (non-voting) member of the MTA board, will take on his new job Nov. 1. The MTA has yet to decide on his job title or fully determine the scope of his duties.

Initially, Baxter will review the existing program and recommend ways the MTA can get better control over such things as construction inspection and supervision, which is now handled by construction management firms. It is estimated that developing new procedures will take Baxter about five months.

"We have unfortunately been engulfed in a number of events that have gotten a lot of attention and called into question ... our construction activities," sai White, in reintroducing his recommendation to eliminate the RCC and establish a MTA Construction Division, plus an MTA Board Construction Committee.

"Months ago, this item was referred to the Executive Management Committee (of the MTA board), which never calendared it. In the past 10 days, several board members have approached me about it."

MTA Board Member Gloria Molina urged the board to act. Molina's electoral district includes the Hollywood area, where subway construction has led to the rupture of water mains, sinking and cracking of Hollywood Boulevard and damage to privately owned businesses.

Molina said the RCC appears to be a "key culprit" in the Hollywood mess. Plus, she noted, the MTA's inspector general recently released a report indicating that the RCC had approved numerous change orders (increases in construction contract amounts) that appear questionable and were not adequately scrutinized.

"I don't know if any of you are as embarrassed as I am when you read the headlines -- oops, another water main we hit, another gas line, another rock in the way; we need another $800,000," Molina quipped.

Board Member James Cragin made the motion to approve White's recommendation, bu there was insufficient support for the idea.

"I go to the League of California Cities ... and other elected officials look a me and smile and say, 'What else is wrong?' It's just a litany of problems," said Cragin. "I want more accountability."

RCC Board Chairman Robert Kruse defended the existence of the RCC and said Metr Rail is "the best-managed public works project in the country." He said the RCC staff does an "excellent job."

Community activists urged the board to act as soon as possible, saying the boar should listen to its chief executive, not to the RCC, and "do the right thing."

Board Member Mike Antonovich said he wants to take action on the matter but fel voting last week would be inappropriate because L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Richard Alatorre weren't at the meeting.

Board Chairman Ed Edelman said he wanted to wait until Baxter finishes his stud and can recommend a course of action, but Edelman will be leaving the board at the end of 1994.

"Over the last year, I have become increasingly concerned about the rail construction program," White said in an MTA statement announcing Baxter's hiring. "Baxter's first responsibility will be to develop a new approach that will fundamentally alter our management of the construction of rail projects."

White's May 25 recommendation to dissolve the RCC came in response to an RCC request that the subsidiary's board actually be given more authority -- to approve some contracts and property purchases without obtaining MTA board concurrence.

White noted in his recommendation that the RCC was established as a subsidiary rail company of both the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and the Southern California Rapid Transit District, which have since merged to form the MTA.

"The subsidiary structure was envisioned as an interim step in the overall consolidation of the area's transit planning, construction and operation," Whit wrote. "Since the functions of the predecessor agencies were consolidated into the MTA, the original justification for a corporate construction subsidiary has ceased to exist."