RTD Fires Manager of Equal Opportunity; Insubordination Cited : Transit: Walter Norwood already had been relieved of authority over granting of minority contracts. That program had come under scrutiny.

Walter Norwood has been fired from his $97,000-a-year job as head of the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s equal opportunity office on charges of insubordination, The Times has learned.

RTD General Manager Alan Pegg, who fired Norwood last Friday, also accused him of “lack of cooperation” and “lack of communication,” according to a source in the RTD.

RTD officials refused comment and Norwood did not return calls.

Norwood began his job as assistant general manager in charge of equal opportunity on June 2, 1986. Until last spring, he was responsible for the RTD’s program to award construction contracts to disadvantaged minority contractors. He also was in charge of equal opportunity hiring and training programs at the RTD.

But last March, Pegg became angry at what he considered Norwood’s failure to communicate with him, the source said, and Norwood was subsequently stripped of all responsibilities except for equal opportunity hiring.

In a series of articles published last December, The Times found that the RTD and its sister agency, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, frequently awarded minority contracts on the Metro Rail project to companies that were minority “fronts” or were not in reality disadvantaged. At that time, Norwood appeared to be ignorant of crucial federal rules governing the disadvantaged contractor program he administered.

The RTD later hired a private attorney to study the minority contractor program. But Norwood’s method of administering the program was not a factor in his dismissal, the source said.