CATS Chairman Isaiah Marshall today informed the public transit system’s board of two new committees that will help select a ninth and final board member in March and oversee new developments regarding the overhaul of the bus transportation system.
The Management Committee is comprised of Marshall, as chair, Deborah Roe and Dalton Honore. The Board Development Committee is comprised of Donna Collins-Lewis, Ryan Heck and Roe. Marshall says the committees were designed this month and will have no participation in helping CEO Brian Marshall—who is not related to Isaiah Marshall—develop a business plan for CATS, whose budget has changed dramatically since Baton Rouge and Baker voters last year approved a 10-year, 10.6-mill property tax dedicated to the bus system.
“The plan is already being put together by the administration,” Isaiah Marshall says. “So that’s not the purpose of this committee.”
Collins-Lewis says her understanding is that the new committees will help the board provide oversight to management. “It’s not our job to develop [the business plan],” says Collins-Lewis, who also sits on the Metro Council.
Heck, also a Metro Council member, says he does not know enough about the new committees yet to talk about them knowledgeably as a CATS board member. Roe and Honore did not answer or return calls seeking comment.
Brian Marshall was expected to present his long-awaited business plan to the board last Friday, but on Thursday the committee meeting was pushed to March 8. Isaiah Marshall declined commenting further on the committees, saying, “They’re pretty self-explanatory.”
In a memo to the board, the Board Development Committee’s purpose is outlined with the following bullet points:
• To prepare priorities for board composition.
• To meet with prospective board members and recommend candidates to the board.
• To conduct orientation sessions for new board members and to organize training sessions for the entire board.
The Management Committee’s purpose is outlined with the following bullet points:
• To oversee new system development, and to monitor and assess the existing system.
• To initiate and guide system evaluations.
• To facilitate discussions about system priorities for the agency.
