T board, steward of transit, dead at 45

As meeting number 1,028 commenced, John Cappuccio, a Chelsea man who hawks newspapers on Sundays and spends much of his time advocating on behalf of transit riders, delivered the first of several eulogies to board members.

“You’ve been a help and a hindrance over time,’’ said Cappuccio, who frequently addresses the board, one of the many transit advocates who have tried to hold the agency accountable over the years. “But overall, we’ve done our jobs.’’

Tears are not usually shed for the death of quasi-public agency boards. Yesterday was no exception.

But there were laughs, earnest speeches, plaques offered to heroic train engineers, admonitions delivered to transit managers, and a fair amount of grousing about persistent cost overruns in construction contracts at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the nation’s fifth busiest transit system.

Several riders who showed up said they were worried that the state’s new transportation plan, which will shift responsibility for the T to a new megaboard beginning next month, will leave riders with an uncertain future. The MBTA board proposed a fare increase earlier this year, but abruptly put it on hold in August.

“For a lot of the ridership, you ask them about the fare increase, they’re still in the dark,’’ Lee Matsueda, an organizer with the T Riders Union, said in an interview. “It’s an unfair position to put riders in.’’

Governor Deval Patrick and his administration have said a decision on whether to raise fares will depend largely on a “top to bottom’’ review of the T’s finances that is expected to be completed by Nov. 1.

In the meantime, board members took care of their monthly business for the last time yesterday by approving 15 contracts, unanimously, worth a combined $26,368,629.39.

But there were two significant items of unfinished business.

The most controversial contract on the board’s agenda was pulled from consideration at the last minute. It would have paid PB Americas, the Big Dig contractor formerly known as Parsons Brinckerhoff, $8.3 million in federal stimulus money for work on an enhanced bus route through Roxbury.

Parsons Brinckerhoff was part of a $407 million civil and criminal settlement with the state for its role in the ceiling collapse in part of the Interstate 90 connector tunnel that killed a Jamaica Plain woman in 2006. The settlement allows the firm to continue doing business with state agencies, but Patrick and some lawmakers have criticized subsequent contracts with the company, even though Patrick’s own appointees have approved them.

“I assume this means we’re not going to do business with these guys?’’ board member Ferdinand Alvaro said during the meeting. There was no audible response.

But a spokesman for the outgoing transportation secretary, James A. Aloisi Jr., who is chairman of the MBTA board, did not discount doing business with the company.

Colin Durrant, the spokesman, said the contract was simply delayed because the public process for the enhanced bus route is not complete and the contract is not ready for a vote.

Board members had also been expecting to hear a report from the MBTA’s chief of operations, Richard Leary, in response to safety concerns raised by the federal government about a fatal crash on the Green Line in May 2008.

Board members voted last month to require Leary to deliver the report before the board dissolved.

But Leary, who is eligible for retirement, did not show up at the meeting, and the T’s interim general manager, William A. Mitchell Jr., said he did not know where Leary was.

“He has been nonresponsive on coming forward,’’ said Janice Loux, a board member who has been critical of the T’s response to the crash. “I am very disappointed that he’s not going to make that presentation.’’

Aloisi said he shared the sentiment.

Leary did not return a message left by a Globe reporter on his cellphone yesterday either.

A transportation official said Leary submitted his retirement papers effective Nov. 1. The official requested anonymity because Leary had not yet announced the retirement to his staff.

Board members said yesterday that they also wanted to make sure that the new overseers of the MBTA will press the agency to scrutinize its process of awarding millions of dollars in cost overruns every month to contractors who submit change orders on construction projects. In recent months, board members have been asking more frequent questions about the spending.

Before approving a $1.1 million engineering contract with Dewberry Goodkind Inc. for a maintenance garage, board member Grace Shepard complained that the initial project had begun nearly 20 years ago. The initial budget for the project started at $65,140 and has since been amended 22 times for an additional $13.4 million, according to MBTA records.

“This started in 1991,’’ Shepard said, “so this strikes me as kind of a way of life for some people.’’

Frank DePaola, assistant general manager for design and construction who began four months ago, said the T has hired separate companies to perform independent estimates on more recent construction projects, an effort that is containing overruns.

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.