Disputed $15,000 Paid to Contractor for Cleanup

As cost increases go for the Los Angeles subway project, it was not a staggering item.

But when transit officials decided last year to pay a contractor $15,000 extra to clean up a work site, they acted against the consistent recommendations of their predecessors.

The money was sought by Tutor-Saliba Corp., whose representatives said that the firm had incurred extra costs when officials ordered the cleanup of tunnel and station areas.

Records show that transit engineers and administrators recommended against paying the company extra, contending that the firm was required by its $61.5-million construction contract to keep facilities free of debris and to clean up trash every day.

“The contractor’s contention that the cleaning instructions (were) above what is required by the contract is without any basis,” wrote W.E. Johnson, the transit engineer who oversaw the project, on March 5, 1991.

The cleanup was ordered in November, 1990, Johnson wrote, after transit commissioners, engineers and safety officers found “a list of cleaning items that were in violation of the contract.” The commission’s chief contracting officer, Judith Weiss, wrote in a March 22, 1991, letter: “No additional compensation is due.”

The status of Tutor-Saliba’s demand remained unchanged until September, 1992, when newer transit officials decided to pay. In the end, Tutor-Saliba executives said the cleanup was performed to accommodate a visit by a Times reporter. Subway project manager Charles W. Stark said that he could not verify whether the cleanup was related to a reporter’s visit, but he defended his decision to pay the extra $15,000.

“The discussion was that the contractor has a responsibility to maintain a clean work site, but that the level of cleanliness in this case went beyond what could reasonably be expected,” Stark said in an interview.

Ronald N. Tutor, president of Tutor-Saliba, said the money was owed. “They directed us to literally pick up every tie wire,” he said, adding: “We worked Saturday, Sunday, 24 hours a day, to clean this place.”