Memphis Mayor Paul Young on Friday fired all nine members of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) Board of Commissioners following the release of a third-party report that claimed the members were responsible for creating a “culture of poor accountability” for the troubled transit service.
Young reportedly called his decision an effort to create “a clean-slate environment,” according to NewsChannel 3, who revealed the mayor directly cited the third-party report completed by TransPro and sent to the city last week.
The report explains the third-party analysts were hired by Memphis to “assess the operations and financial conditions” of the city’s transit agency. They found that MATA suffers financial limitations, “an oversupply of transit service,” and lines that do not meet current demanded, but added that these “challenges are further amplified by a lack of focus on the daily needs of customers, poor financial management and oversight,” and projects that strain “the limited staff and fiscal resources of the Authority.”
TransPro’s report names the board dozens of times, including in its executive summary, where it notes, “Lack of Board oversight of staff recommendations has created a culture of poor accountability.”
A new board was recommended by the analysts, who wrote the previous members failed to provide reasonable oversight, having only recently passed a fiscal budget more than 100 days late and without questions.
The report noted, during the same meeting the board voted to cut its bus services with no discussion, and to raise bus fares from $1 to $1.75, in decisions that effectively “rubber stamped Management requests … with minimal, if any, questions or conversation.”
It also found the board has authorized the MATA CEO to pay $126 million in professional service contracts, despite only being able to produce contracts for $50 million worth of the spending.
In addition to replacing the board members, the report called for “performance metrics” on “operations, finances, and customer satisfaction,” in order to hold those in leadership accountable.
Young expressed hope the change would help MATA do a better job of serving Memphis.
“We believe the reset will help us to move more quickly toward our goal of creating a system that better connects our residents with jobs, healthcare, and essential services,” said Young, according to The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The troubles with Memphis’ transit system come as voters elsewhere in Tennessee consider expanding their mass transit.
Voters in Nashville will decide in December whether to approve a $6.9 billion transit plan to expand bus services, modernize traffic signals, and build new sidewalks, as the city’s numbers of bus riders recover to levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell seeks to finance a transit expansion with a combination of federal funding and a half-cent sales tax.
Opponents to the plan have noted sales taxes are considered regressive, as they can disproportionately impact those with limited means, while Nashville Tea Party founder Ben Cunningham warned property taxes could be hiked if the federal support should remain insufficient.
Cunningham has additionally called the plan illegal under the 2017 IMPROVE Act, which he argues does not include the infrastructure improvements sought in O’Connell’s referendum.
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.
Photo “Mayor Paul Young” by Mayor Paul Young.