OCTA Elects Reed as Its Public Member : Vote: Former state official edges ex-Villa Park Mayor Carol Kawanami when alternative choices are tallied.

Capping weeks of political haggling, Dana Reed has won the public member seat on the new Orange County Transportation Authority, which will oversee more than $500 million a year in traffic improvement projects.

Reed, a Corona del Mar attorney, narrowly defeated former Villa Park Mayor Carol Kawanami on the third ballot cast by authority members. Chapman College President James Doti finished third.

“Hopefully, the winner in all of this is the people of the county--the commuters,” Reed declared after the vote Thursday.

County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton was elected chairman of the new, 11-member board.

The OCTA is the product of a merger of the Orange County Transit District, which was responsible for the county’s bus system, and the Orange County Transportation Commission, which previously handled planning. For the first time, one agency will coordinate both highway and mass transit decisions.

Reed’s selection as OCTA’s public member means that county supervisors will have a powerful ally who favors a regional approach to traffic solutions. Kawanami’s supporters had hoped to shift the focus more toward the cities’ traffic problems.

“I intend to stay the course,” said Reed, an unsuccessful state Senate candidate earlier this year and former undersecretary of business, housing and transportation in the Deukmejian Administration. “That means continuing our emphasis on the I-5 widening and improvements in mass transportation.”

Reed said he will try to mend fences with the city delegates who fought hard to deny him the post--which he held at OCTC for 3 1/2 years.

Board membership includes six city council members and four county supervisors. The League of Cities instructed the council members to support Kawanami. But Anaheim Councilman Irv Pickler broke with the city delegates in supporting Reed, so the vote deadlocked at 5 to 5 during Thursday’s battle.

Ironically, Reed’s victory turned on San Juan Capistrano Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer, who was one of Kawanami’s strongest supporters. After the panel deadlocked twice, a point system was adopted in which everyone’s first, second and third choices among the three finalists would receive three, two or one points, respectively.

Unlike city delegates other than Pickler who ranked Reed last, Hausdorfer ranked Reed second, pushing him over the top.

Hausdorfer said he was unaware of the significance of ranking Reed second until Tustin Councilman Richard B. Edgar, a Kawanami supporter, pointed to it after the meeting. “I was totally unaware,” he said. “I wasn’t keeping track of the points.”

Edgar announced his intention to seek a national recruitment for an executive director. OCTA’s chief executive officer, Stanley T. Oftelie, a veteran at OCTC, said he will apply.

Meanwhile, two new faces joined the OCTA board Thursday--Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young and Los Alamitos Councilman Robert P. Wahlstrom.