Gary Hayes, the Regional Transportation Authority’s executive director, threatened to shut down all work on Tucson’s $180 million modern streetcar after the City Council took no action Wednesday on a proposal to turn Sun Tran over to the RTA.

Hayes’ threat came in an angry, chest-jabbing confrontation with Tucson City Manager Mike Letcher just after a 6-1 council vote to continue negotiations but take no immediate action on a transfer of the bus system. Councilman Paul Cunningham voted no.

Shifting Sun Tran from a city service to an RTA responsibility has become a focal point in the four-day-old strike by Sun Tran workers, who believe the RTA’s more stable financial status would offer them more job security and a greater potential for pay raises.

During the meeting, Hayes accused Letcher several times of botching transfer negotiations. Hayes and the striking Teamsters Local 104 pushed for the council to transfer Sun Tran to the RTA. Letcher shot back that Hayes was trying to hold the city “hostage.”

After the meeting, Hayes asked to speak with Letcher, and he jabbed his finger into Letcher’s chest during the ensuing shouting match. Letcher pushed Hayes’ fingers away, and the RTA consultant Dan Sullivan screamed at Letcher as he walked away.

Several people surrounding the altercation said Hayes threatened to stop work on the streetcar in retaliation for the council taking no action on the Sun Tran transfer.

Letcher confirmed this, saying Hayes told him, “The streetcar is going to come to a screeching halt.”

The city manger said he had “a real problem” with “an unelected manager” making unilateral threats about a project that has such a huge potential economic benefit to the region.

The streetcar has been worked on by officials from several local governments, along with Southern Arizona’s congressional delegation, and it’s being funded by large federal grants.

“I’m concerned. I don’t have that kind of power,” Letcher said. “He didn’t like the way things went today.”

Hayes said his comments were misinterpreted. He said he told Letcher that he – Hayes – had pulled out all the stops to get agreements on the streetcar approved and that “we didn’t get a quid pro quo from the manager’s office” on the Sun Tran transfer.

In addition, he said he told Letcher that if the city did not meet its state-mandated requirement for transit funding, that could put the funding for the streetcar in jeopardy. He said those might be the comments that were misconstrued because of the heated nature of the conversation.

“It got a little testy; it got little heated,” Hayes said. “I just wasn’t happy with the role he played at the meeting, and I told him that.”

Hayes later said that he’s not in the position to stop work on the streetcar.

About 200 Teamsters and their supporters packed the council chambers for the meeting, and another 200 more massed outside. Neither the striking Teamsters nor the RTA officials had much good to say about the council’s decision.

“It doesn’t do anything for us,” said Andy Marshall, leader of Teamsters Local 104. “We’re still on strike with no end in sight.”

Hayes said the RTA board will likely hold a special meeting next Thursday, but he said he didn’t think its response would be much different from one in May, when it stopped the transfer negotiations because of the city’s demands.

“I don’t think the circumstances are any different” from those in May, Hayes said after the meeting. “They just want to keep talking about it. . . . They never seem to be satisfied.”

Councilwomen Regina Romero and Karin Uhlich frequently made a point of saying they want to negotiate with the RTA board of directors – made up of officials from all the local governments – and not with Hayes.

“I find it troubling that we as the mayor and council are negotiating with an unelected appointed director of the RTA,” Romero said, speaking about Hayes. “It should be before the RTA board.”

The RTA board authorized Hayes to negotiate with the city, just as the council empowered Letcher and City Attorney Mike Rankin to negotiate.

Hayes said the council members are trying to make the issue personal and are vilifying him because they contend he’s not representing the wishes of the RTA board. Hayes said he is representing the wishes of his board.

Letcher and Hayes also bickered during the meeting about an intergovernmental agreement between the two entities worth $4.5 million in reimbursements to Tucson that expired at the end of June.

Letcher said Hayes is holding the $4.5 million over the city’s head to force it to approve the transfer to the RTA. Hayes said it was the city’s fault that the agreement expired and that it was charging improper items to the RTA – although the RTA has approved the payments for four years.

Contact reporter Rob O’Dell at 573-4346 or rodell@azstarnet.com

Its just a matter of time until the grown-ups are forced to step in.