Metrolink Contract Angers MTA Board Leader

The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, bothered by a controversial new transit contract worth nearly $1 million, said Monday that the agency must do a better job of determining how its money is spent.

Triggering the reaction was a story in The Times Sunday disclosing that the MTA’s sister agency has hired an armored-truck company to haul cash from Metrolink commuter trains despite the fact that the MTA fired the firm over alleged mismanagement.

“It’s a question of public perception, and [Metrolink officials] will have to be responsible for explaining why they would do something like this,” said MTA Board Chairman Larry Zarian, whose agency contributes the bulk of Metrolink funding.

Metrolink, linking Los Angeles to neighboring counties by nearly 400 miles of commuter rails, is run separately from the MTA but relies on the giant transit agency for 61% of its operating subsidies. That means the MTA is the biggest bankroller behind Metrolink’s new cash-hauling contract with Los Angeles Federal Coin Inc., a security firm that the MTA fired 17 months ago for working without a license and allegedly falsifying state documents.

During its truncated tenure at the county transit agency, Federal Coin and its employees faced allegations of poor service, sexual harassment and mismanagement, among other problems. The final blow came when MTA officials discovered that the company was working without a state carrier’s license after its insurance lapsed and that it allegedly gave the MTA a falsified document to certify its state license.

But Metrolink officials said they reviewed the firm’s record and are satisfied that its affairs are in order. The company will start work next month in hauling about $400,000 a month from fare machines along the Southern California rail routes.

“We knew about their problems going in, we knew about the tax lien against them, we audited them and they’ve corrected their failings,” said Metrolink Executive Director Richard Stanger. “Granted, they’re not as qualified [as the next lowest bidder for the security job], but their contract will save us $550,000.”

Federal Coin President Jesse Ash declined comment Monday on the specific allegations against the firm over its MTA work, saying that they were not relevant to the new contract. “We have learned from the past. We have made some changes in-house, and we intend to give Metrolink good, quality service,” he said.

MTA chairman Zarian said that if the roles were reversed, he does not believe that the MTA would have ever hired a firm fired by its own sister agency. But he said he does not believe that the MTA has the power to try to block Metrolink officials from enacting the contract.

“They have made a decision, and they have to live with that decision,” he said.

Zarian did, however, direct interim MTA Chief Executive Joseph E. Drew on Monday to review the agency’s financial relationship and its communications with Metrolink. “I want to see that if something of this magnitude happens again, what are our rights [as the main sponsor of Metrolink] and what can we do about it?”

Zarian wasn’t the only one concerned about the disclosures.

An aide to MTA board alternate Hal Bernson--one of four MTA appointees to the Metrolink board--said Monday that Bernson will call for a Metrolink investigation next month to determine why officials were not better informed about Federal Coin’s history. The Metrolink board approved Federal Coin’s three-year, $942,000 contract by unanimous vote last month.

“If a company has a questionable history, we should be advised of that in advance,” said Francine Oschin, assistant chief of staff in Bernson’s City Council office. “I think the board [that oversees Metrolink] went into this decision completely in the dark.”

MTA board member John Fasana, however, said his own agency should shoulder more blame.

“Someone at the MTA should have let our own voting delegates know about this,” Fasana said. “There may have been a breakdown there. There was inadequate communication.”

But MTA board member James Cragin said the contract snafu shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who has followed the transit agency’s bumpy ride in recent years.

“This sounds like the MTA,” Cragin said. “Somehow or other, we never seem to have our act together.”