Metra board may decide executive director's fate today

Phil Pagano's long career with Metra could end today.

The Metra board is poised to take action concerning the executive director during an emergency meeting.

One week ago, board directors voted to suspend Pagano with pay in the wake of questions about financial misconduct. He is serving a 14-day contract during which time an independent attorney has been conducting an investigation into allegations that include awarding of an unapproved $56,000 bonus.

A Metra spokeswoman confirmed that the board was expected to vote on the status of the executive director.

Reached on Thursday, Pagano said he hadn't been informed about the meeting and had no comment.

The meeting comes amid federal scrutiny of Metra finances in the wake of the scandal. The Federal Transit Administration informed the agency Wednesday, it was limiting Metra's ability to use federal funds until it had reviewed the situation to ensure no government grants had been misused or were at risk.

And, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin asked the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general to conduct a separate probe of how Metra was spending federal dollars this week.

Meanwhile. the Regional Transportation Authority, which has financial oversight of Metra, issued a statement Thursday saying it was monitoring the situation. Depending on the outcome of Metra's investigation and the FTA review "the RTA will determine if additional action by our agency is warranted," RTA Executive Director Steve Schlickman said in a statement.