Shakeup for management at CATS is coming

Embattled CATS CEO Brian Marshall says a shakeup of management for the transit system is in the works, but he would not provide details today or say when specifics will be released. Meanwhile, a committee meeting scheduled for Friday morning—at which Marshall was expected to present his long-awaited business plan—was rescheduled for Friday, March 8. The new business plan will reportedly detail how the public transit agency will expand services now that it is beginning to collect on a new 10.6-mill, 10-year property tax approved by voters in Baton Rouge and Baker last year. Carol Cranshaw, general manager of CATS, says she’s aware of a management shakeup and does not know if she will stay in the same position. “I think they’re going to take it from the TMG report,” Cranshaw says of the new direction. Marshall disputes any notion that he is using a recent report from TMG Consulting as a model for his business plan. “TMG sucked,” he says. The TMG report identifies serious shortcomings in CATS management and recommends replacing the public transit agency’s management team with outside experts. A written response to the report from the CATS management team obtained by Daily Report via a public records request says the TMG report is full of “errors, misrepresentations and omissions,” rendering it essentially “useless.” Read more and access the complete written response here. —Adam Pearson