The MTA has demoted a high-ranking manager — and cut his salary in half — for allegedly taking home an agency generator after Hurricane Sandy slammed the region, the Daily News has learned.
Gregory Lombardi was a rising executive in the NYC Transit division, earning $165,000 a year as assistant chief mechanical officer.
Now, Lombardi — whose father, Michael, was senior vice president in charge of the entire subway system before retiring — is a lower-level supervisor making $83,000 a year.
“He was slapped down big-time,” said a source familiar with an internal NYC Transit probe leading to the disciplinary move. Two transit workers who assisted him also were disciplined, the source added.
The probe concluded in late December, sources said.
PHOTOS: SEE ALL THE DAMAGE OF HURRICANE SANDY
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general’s office, meanwhile, has launched a spinoff investigation into possible overtime abuse by transit workers, sources said.
Lombardi’s Long Island home lost electricity during the storm. About five days later, two of his underlings helped him load an agency generator into an NYC Transit vehicle; then Lombardi took the equipment to his home, sources said.
After about three days — once his power was restored — he returned the generator, sources said.
Lombardi refused to comment when reached at his Levittown home. But his neighbors didn’t seem fazed that the public servant helped himself to executive treatment.
“What’s the big deal? I know people who also borrowed generators from their company. It wasn’t just Greg,” said Pat Gerhardt, 49, a hair stylist who has known Lombardi for 19 years.
As the assistant chief mechanical officer, Lombardi was second-in-command of a department responsible for the maintenance and repair of the entire system’s fleet of approximately 6,200 subway cars.
The demotion comes to light two months after Gov. Cuomo fired his emergency management chief for allegedly sending government workers to his Suffolk County, L.I., home to remove a tree felled by the superstorm.
A 33-year transit veteran, Lombardi in 2007 became one of the first two subway-line general managers in an organizational restructuring carried out by then-NYC Transit President Howard Roberts. General managers were given authority to run each line as their own railroad, with control over workers and train schedules.
“We have chased these line general managers for their leadership abilities and their talent to inspire people,” Roberts said at the time. “They will be responsible for sizing up situations and making innovative and immediate decisions.”
Current NYC Transit President Thomas Prendergast dismantled the program, saying he was concerned critical maintenance and inspection tasks were getting shoved to the side in order to improve on-time performance.
