RTD May Give In to Shared Subway Role : Transit: Board will meet today to reconsider a construction peace plan offered by the county Transportation Commission.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has taken control of the Metro Rail construction project, but there are still signs that the Southern California Rapid Transit District may attempt to salvage some role for itself in building the subway.

A majority of the sharply divided RTD Board of Directors--apparently having had second thoughts about their recent actions--has scheduled a special meeting today to reconsider a peace proposal offered by the commission but rejected by the board last week.

The two big transit agencies have long been at odds over which one will complete the 17.2-mile subway. The RTD initiated the project, but changes in the law have since put the commission in control of the construction purse strings.

If the RTD board does reverse itself and accept the peace offer, it would be agreeing to share its authority over rail construction with the commission in return for being allowed to continue as the project builder.

The district is now tunneling the first 4.4 miles of the subway line that one day is to link downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley. In addition, the RTD has contracted with the commission to build the 6.8-mile second phase of the project, extending the line from MacArthur Park to Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. And it has been assumed that the RTD would undertake building the final six miles into North Hollywood sometime in the mid-1990s.

But in the current dispute, RTD’s construction role in the second and third phases of the project is at stake.

The $3.7-billion project is funded jointly with local, state and federal money. The commission, which oversees transit rail construction in the county, must approve all future Metro Rail funding. A commission audit last summer revealed that Metro Rail’s first phase is over-budget and two years behind schedule. The commission and the city of Los Angeles must pick up the tab for any cost overruns.

To hold costs down, commission officials set up a subsidiary nonprofit agency called the Rail Construction Corp. to take over building Metro Rail and all other rail construction in the county. The RTD was offered three of six seats on the new construction firm’s board of directors. That is the offer the RTD rejected.

“We have given blood, sweat and tears to this project and now somebody else is trying to come in and take all the glory,” RTD Board President Gordana Swanson said when the offer was made. “But,” she added, “we are just not going to give up.”

After some intense behind-the-scenes negotiating, a compromise was proposed by RTD Director Nick Patsaouras to settle the dispute. The “Patsaouras Compromise” proposed that the rail construction firm’s board have a seventh, tie-breaking member so that neither agency could dominate its actions. The six board members would be allowed to choose the seventh, independent vote.

That compromise has been rejected twice within the last month by the RTD board, 6 to 5. After the most recent vote last week, a series of amendments were added to the Patsaouras proposal by Swanson and her supporters in an effort to re-establish the RTD as Metro Rail’s prime builder. These were approved by a bare board majority, but proved unacceptable to the commission.

Acting swiftly in response, the commission staff canceled the $19.7-million contract it had signed with the RTD for design of Metro Rail’s next phase.

This action signaled the commission’s takeover of the final 12.8 miles of Metro Rail. Because the RTD had signed the original funding agreement with the federal government for the project’s first leg, the district will complete that work, officials said.

Over the weekend, Patsaouras worked to revive his compromise. He said he was successful in getting at least one director, Kenneth R. Thomas, to reconsider his position and agree to call a special meeting today.

Patsaouras is hopeful the meeting will result in a 6-5 vote accepting his compromise.

Referring to Thomas, Swanson said, “It appears one member on the prevailing side is reconsidering.”

Thomas could not be reached for comment.

Swanson, clearly unhappy about having to schedule the special meeting, still opposes the idea of the RTD sharing power with the commission through the Rail Construction Corp. She also wants more restraints placed on the commission’s authority over Metro Rail.

If the RTD board does not reverse course and if the commission takeover goes ahead, Swanson indicated the dispute between the two transit agencies may wind up in court or the state Legislature. Either step would likely hold up federal funding on the project.