MBTA chief agrees to step down after dispute

(NECN: Scot Yount, Boston, Mass.) – Dan Grabauskas will step down as General Manager of the MBTA. He has reached a buyout agreement with the transportation secretary and members of the MBTA’s board of directors. The MBTA board met behind closed doors for several hours before announcing that Grabauskas had agreed to step down. According to his separation agreement Grabauskas will receive the remaining portion of his $255,000 salary and benefits which had extended until next May. That with the benefits amounts to more than $327,000. The resignation agreement was effective immediately. Governor Deval Patrick had expressed concern over how the T was being managed in the wake of two Green Line crashes in the past year, one of them deadly. Secretary James Aloisi has also ordered a stem to stern review of the entire transportation system which runs on a $1.67 billion budget. Secretary Aloisi said the board unanimously agreed that Grabauskas should go and stressed the move was not political. Grabauskas was appointed to the post by Governor Romney and had headed up the RMV, a Paul Cellucci appointment. The Board then voted five to three in favor of paying out the remainder of Grabauskas’ salary despite the the fact that the T is some 8 billion dollars in debt. A spokesman for Governor Deval Patrick says the Governor, “strongly disagrees with the decision of the Board to approve a compensation agreement that is out of line with both the fiscal condition of the MBTA and the job performance of the General Manager.”