CATS to begin discussing consultant recommendations Thursday

The CATS board of directors will begin discussing Thursday recommendations on system operations and management spelled out in a report authored by TMG Consulting, delivered to the board about two weeks ago. “Tomorrow we take the first step on that path of deciding what is going to be done” to improve CATS, says board Chairman Jared Loftus, who also chairs the CATS F&E Committee that will meet tomorrow at 11 a.m. at CATS headquarters, 2250 Florida Blvd. “By no means are we deciding one way or the other on anything tomorrow,” Loftus says. “But there are big decisions to be made, there are a lot of questions out there, and tomorrow we begin to discuss them.” Among the recommendations made, TMG Consulting says CATS management and certain key staff positions should be turned over to a private company. TMG Consulting says contracted management is not the same thing as privatization, nor is it as extensive as the delegated management model in place at the public transit system in New Orleans, where a private company is in charge of all operations and maintenance. Contracted management could be put in place in CATS within three months, the consultants estimate, and would increase the system’s efficiency. Loftus agrees it will likely be months before any of the recommended changes are implemented. “Even if decisions were made tomorrow, it would probably be around four months,” he says. As for the tone of Thursday’s discussions, Loftus says he expects “a lively debate.” —Steve Sanoski