ATLANTA – State Representative Kevin Levitas (D- Atlanta) will pre-file legislation this week to reduce the size of the MARTA Board of Directors to seven members, down from its current eighteen-member board that is comprised of several state officials and appointments from Metro counties and the City of Atlanta.
Rep. Levitas said that his new legislation would bring MARTA in line with other transit boards across the county, including San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C. and would alleviate some of the problems associated with the MARTA Board’s “unwieldy” size. Rep. Levitas noted that at a recent MARTA oversight committee hearing in November of this year, one of MARTA’s own Board members agreed that a reduction in the number of Board members would benefit MARTA operations.
Rep. Levitas’ proposal would eliminate seats currently held by members from Clayton and Gwinnett Counties and reduce by two each the number of appointments to the Board made by DeKalb and Fulton Counties and by the City of Atlanta. In addition, the only remaining board member representing state government would be the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation.
Levitas remarked that a smaller Board could operate with improved efficiency.
“Chicago’s Transit Authority has seven members on it Board of Directors,” said Rep. Levitas. “The BART Board in San Francisco has nine members, and Washington, D.C.’s METRO Board has only six voting members along with six alternate directors. Why does MARTA need a board of directors two-and-a-half times the size of the San Francisco Authority?”
In discussing his proposed bill, Levitas pointed out that he also wants the General Assembly to consider proposals to bring MARTA under the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“If MARTA is to remain an independent authority, however,” Levitas said, “the size of its Board needs to be reduced to make it more manageable as a first step toward improving MARTA’s operations.”
Rep. Levitas’s bill will be assigned a number and then referred to a House committee when the General Assembly convenes in January.
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Representative Kevin Levitas represents the citizens of District 82, which includes portions of DeKalb County. He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2005, and currently serves on the Judiciary Non-Civil, Science and Technology, Transportation, and Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committees.