After the Memphis City Council on Tuesday named two trustees to oversee the Memphis Area Transit Authority, rider advocates said they’re glad to know who the city is putting in charge of MATA, but that they have more questions and want to see improved transparency.
“I just want to meet with both of (the trustees), see what their intentions are about transportation and see which way we’re gonna go with this to make things better for the bus riders and also the drivers,” said Sammie Hunter, co-chair of the Memphis Bus Riders Union.
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The appointments of Rodrick Holmes, MATA’s current general counsel, and Walter Person, the city’s chief financial officer, were made without prior public notice and using a mechanism called “same-night minutes.” While resolutions of the council are normally not final until the minutes are approved at the next meeting, “same-night minutes” mean the vote is formalized the same day it is taken.
Attorney Allan Wade told council members in committee that they “needed to have more fiscal control over the money that we are providing MATA,” about $30 million this year.
“You asked the city attorney and me to try to direct us down a path where we may be able to reimagine what MATA will be,” said Wade, who represents the city council. “In the interim, however, we still need to fund certain operations … to keep providing transportation to the citizens, but we wanted more accountability, more reporting and understanding about where the money was going.”
The vote on Tuesday created a trust for the council to direct its funding for transit. It will be overseen by Holmes and Person. The trustees are likely to remain in the role at least until January, but possibly as long as 18 months, council members told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism.
“I think once Trustee Holmes and Person get a grasp on everything, what we want to do is make sure the CEO search is done right,” said Council Chairman J. Ford Canale. “We want to get to the bottom of what all has been going wrong. We want to know the true operational budget of MATA, what it truly costs to run it, but most importantly, right now in the intermediate, we want to get buses up and running and we want to get buses on the streets and filling those routes as fast and efficiently as possible.”
Councilwoman Jerri Green stressed that this is “not a private takeover of MATA,” but just financial oversight.
According to the trust agreement, the operations trustee, Holmes, is authorized “to carry on any business related to MATA, as directed by the city, in which the city may be financially interested,” while the fiscal trustee, Person, “shall be authorized to manage all fiscal and financial matters of the Funding Trust.”
The trustee agreement also says, “If MATA’s Board of Directors object or restrict the Trustee’s access and operational control over MATA’s operations in any way, the Trustee is authorized to withhold City Transportation Grant Funds …”
Before the vote on Tuesday, members of the Better Transit for a Better Memphis coalition handed council members a list of questions regarding the appointment of a trustee.
Though advocates said they were glad to know who will hold the trustee role, some of their questions remain unanswered, including:
- What are the trustee’s detailed responsibilities and job qualifications?
- What is the schedule for restarting the CEO search, and what role will daily riders and the public have in advising the selection?
“Once the trustees are appointed, what types of changes do they want to see? Because it’s all good for you to say we are the city and this is the city’s money, but how involved are you gonna be in the day-to-day operations of MATA without disturbing the power of the actual board?” asked bus rider Allison Donald. “If they choose not to do what you all say with the money, then what? That again leaves the riders holding the bag.”
Hunter said he has questions ranging from whether MATA will try to increase route frequency to when the agency will get a permanent CEO. A permanent leader is what the community wants, he said.
And Harrison Currie, president of the bus drivers’ union, said he’s awaiting a chance to read the biographies of the two appointed trustees.
Currently, employees are feeling “down,” he said, with a lack of transparency from the City Council and ongoing safety concerns aboard buses.
“We don’t have any leadership,” Currie said. “We need to hear the vision and make sure those plans go through. … Hopefully something will change after this. I’m looking forward to meeting the new people.”
Katherine Burgess is the government accountability reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at katherine.burgess@mlk50.com
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