Council pressed into making CATS board appointments

Last month, there was public discussion about the need to shake up the nine-member CATS board and possibly replace some of the four members whose terms were up for reappointment. Then, after 12 newcomers threw their hats into the ring, there was a push to defer the Metro Council vote on reappointments so that the candidates could be thoroughly vetted. But at Wednesday’s Metro Council meeting, after several council members previously said they favored deferring the matter, the group reappointed three of the four CATS board members facing the end of their terms. “We were disappointed,” says Edgar Cage, who works with Together Baton Rouge. “I can’t say whether the best candidates were chosen or not because there was no vetting process.” So what happened? Sources tell Daily Report at least some council members were lobbied hard by various groups and power brokers to get the board appointments settled in advance of the upcoming CATS board meeting on Tuesday. That’s when TMG Consulting will present a report comparing CATS to other transit systems and proposing major changes that could include partial or complete privatization. CATS board Chairman Jared Loftus, who was among those reappointed last night, says he never favored deferral and is pleased with the “great board we have to work with.” Loftus says talk of privatization is premature and that no one, including himself, knows what the TMG report will suggest. —Stephanie Riegel