After Troubled Tenure, BART Chief Resigns

The general manager of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, dogged by allegations of corruption on his watch and persistent health problems, offered his resignation to BART directors Monday.

Keith Bernard, 49, who has presided over the transit system for nearly 10 years, told the group he would step down, once a replacement is found, “to take a well-earned vacation and pursue other interests.”

Last year, Bernard took a three-month medical leave of absence from BART, citing job-related stress. However, he did not mention any specific health problems in his prepared statement Monday.

Bernard has come under criticism recently by directors who claim that his laissez-faire managerial style distanced him from the goings-on within certain departments of the rail agency.

In August, BART was embarrassed by the announcement of the results of a three-year FBI sting operation, which netted three BART officials in connection with alleged bid rigging for lucrative maintenance contracts.

The head of BART’s mechanical maintenance department has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy. Another maintenance manager has pleaded guilty, and a third has yet to enter a plea. More arrests are expected.

BART spokesman Sy Mouber said the FBI investigation “had nothing to do with” Bernard’s decision to step down.

But the president of BART’s board of directors, John Glenn, a 14-year veteran of the board, said the FBI sting was “primarily the reason” for Bernard’s announcement.

Several of BART’s nine directors, while praising Bernard as a man of integrity, blamed him for retaining a managerial structure that afforded him no independent checks on department heads.

Bernard had announced a plan to reorganize the system, but it stalled following the death in September of assistant manager Richard Demko, who was to have helped supervise the reorganization.

Bernard’s offer of resignation will be voted on at a public meeting of the directors on Thursday, Mouber said. If accepted, BART will begin a nationwide search to replace the general manager of the $180-million transit system.