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A Charlotte City Council committee Tuesday approved a framework for appointing board members to a new transit authority, which would be enacted if voters approve a new 1-cent sales tax in November.
Some officials, however, were skeptical — even some of those who voted yes.
If voters approve the tax increase referendum, the Charlotte Area Transit System would be overseen by a new transit authority led by a new 27-member board, with members appointed from across Mecklenburg County. The city of Charlotte currently operates the system.
In a procedural move Tuesday, the City Council’s Transportation Committee voted 4-1 for the framework for appointments.
Council member Renee Johnson voted no, saying there are still too many questions. Malcolm Graham voted yes but said he wanted more assurance that actual transit riders would have a voice on the board. He also said the 27-member board would be unwieldy.
But Committee Chair Ed Driggs noted the legislation requires appointees to have specific qualifications, such as knowledge in finance or engineering. He said that’s a good thing.
“So if someone says, 'I meet the public transportation requirement because I’ve been riding a bus for 10 years,' in my mind, that is not the person we want on the board running a very large organization,” he said.
He said "getting on and off a bus" doesn’t qualify someone to run a multibillion-dollar agency.
Driggs told his colleagues he thinks council members raising questions before November’s vote is counterproductive.
“I’m concerned that raising issues like that puts a bit of a cloud over our big picture goal here," he said. "If we don’t actually get the referendum passed, we are nowhere.”
Robert Dawkins of Action N.C., who opposes the tax, wrote on social media that requiring transit riders to have special qualifications is “taxation without representation.”
If voters approve it, Mecklenburg County's sales tax would increase by 1 cent per dollar, to 8.25%. The new revenue would fund a multibillion-dollar transportation plan that includes buses, rail transit, roads, bike lanes and sidewalks.
Questions about safety have also been prominent in the wake of a high-profile killing. The Metropolitan Transit Commission — which is the current governing body for CATS — will hold a special meeting about transit safety on Wednesday. The meeting comes a week and a half after Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a Lynx Blue Line train in South End.
"This is not business as usual. There are a lot of concerns from the community," Johnson said.
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