Long-Term Contract OKd for Pasadena Rail Executive : Transit: For overseeing completion of Blue Line leg, he will be paid more than MTA chief.

Directors of the Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority agreed to sign a long-term contract Tuesday that calls for the agency’s new chief executive officer to receive $180,000 a year to oversee building a long-awaited light rail line from Union Station in Los Angeles to Pasadena.

The compensation package would make Rick Thorpe, currently manager of Salt Lake City’s light rail project, the highest-paid transportation official in Los Angeles. It would include additional financial incentives for getting the rail line to Pasadena finished ahead of schedule.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Julian Burke, who took a pay cut last year because of that agency’s financial problems, is paid $156,000.

Current plans call for the 13.7-mile rail line through Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, South Pasadena and Pasadena to open in the summer of 2003.

State lawmakers created the Pasadena authority last year out of frustration with the MTA’s track record on building Los Angeles rail projects. The MTA spent more than $240 million on the Pasadena line.

Thorpe said he faces a significant hurdle in completing the Pasadena line within its budget.

“The challenge is to get a project that is long overdue underway in the shortest possible time,” he said. “I’ve done it in San Diego. We were able to pull it off in Salt Lake. The ultimate challenge is to try and pull it off in L.A.”

Paul Little, chairman of the Pasadena rail authority, said, “We do have a deal with Mr. Thorpe.” Little said the contract calls for Thorpe to serve as chief executive until the project is completed. He will assume the post on Oct. 1.

Thorpe, 50, was chosen last month. His contract was approved Tuesday by a 3-0 vote, with one abstention and one member absent.

If Thorpe should be replaced before the project is finished, he could receive a year’s severance pay.

The contract also provides a bonus of up to 7.5% of Thorpe’s annual salary if he achieves certain performance goals.

The rail authority will provide him with $30,000 in relocation expenses, a Ford Explorer, health and life insurance and an annual contribution to a deferred compensation plan.

Thorpe, a civil engineer, oversaw construction of San Diego’s light rail network, which is considered a model for cost-effective mass transit systems. For the past four years, he has been a vice president of a major transportation engineering firm. In that role, he has served as project manager for Salt Lake City’s light rail project, which is running ahead of schedule and under budget.