RTD General Manager Loses Power to Award Big Contracts

Rapid Transit District General Manager Alan Pegg, under increasing pressure from RTD board members who have criticized his judgment, was stripped Thursday of his power to award contracts in excess of $25,000.

Pegg, 44, has run the RTD since 1987. He has recently come under heavy attack from at least five members of the 11-member board, in part for awarding a $99,500 contract to a firm that hired Long Beach City Councilwoman Jan Hall the same day she resigned from the RTD board to become a lobbyist for the transit district.

Although the board later rescinded the contract, citing a conflict of interest, Pegg’s judgment was further questioned after it was disclosed that he had also awarded a $99,000 contract to another firm to provide an assistant general manager in charge of the Metro Rail subway project.

The board voted 7 to 3 to limit Pegg’s authority to award contracts without its consent to $25,000, instead of the $100,000 limit he previously had.