CATS begins looking for outside management help

CATS will issue a request for proposals for an outside program manager to implement the public transit agency’s recently unveiled plan for improved service and efficiency. Board Chairman Isaiah Marshall tells Daily Report the board will “very soon” begin the search for a program manager who will assist staff management in “wrapping up and making sure we hit benchmarks for 2014” that were set after voters in Baton Rouge and Baker approved a 10.6-mill, 10-year dedicated property tax for CATS. Marshall declined to provide a specific timeframe for when the RFP will be issued. The decision to go with so-called staff augmentation is a somewhat tempered version of the contract management model that a consulting firm earlier this year recommended CATS adopt. That report suggested CATS should bring in a slate of outside experts to run the agency more efficiently and effectively. Management was sharply critical of the report, however; and, late last month, CATS CEO Brian Marshall—who is not related to Isaiah Marshall—presented his own, long-awaited business plan to the board. Among his suggestions is augmenting his staff with a temporary program manager as well as a permanent chief operating officer and human resources manager. Isaiah Marshall says the board will not take any action on Brian Marshall’s business plan when it holds its regular monthly meeting at 4 p.m. today. He also says the board is done discussing the suggestions for reorganization laid out in the consultant’s report. “Their job is done,” Isaiah Marshall says of the report’s creators. “There will not be any more discussion on that. We are moving forward with staff augmentation, and that’s it.” —Stephanie Riegel