This story was updated on May 20, 2025, to clarify that Mike Vaquer is a lobbyist for Chatham Area Transit not Chatham County. The story also has been updated to add Vaquer’s denial that he lobbied against HB 756.
The clock is winding down on the Chatham Area Transit Authority’s current board of directors.
Under a measure finally signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp last week, the nine members of the current board must vacate their seats by June 30. A new, 11-member board will replace it the following day.
A draft letter now circulating among members of the area’s legislative delegation to Atlanta will thank those sitting on the current board for their service, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the delegation’s deliberations. The delegation is already discussing possible appointees, the person said.
The new law overhauling the turmoil-ridden CAT board mandated by the new law, House Bill 756, weakens the grip of the Chatham County Commission and its chairman, Chester Ellis, on the board. At the same time, it calls for additional and more varied voices on the board.
Deidrick Cody, chair of the CAT board, earlier this month described the new law as “ludicrous.”
Citing a budget surplus, Cody said the board “has come together” and “been doing what it’s supposed to be doing for the community. It’s been working out great for everyone involved.”
Cody said the bill had nothing to do with alleged board dysfunction and ineffectiveness.
There definitely had been “some bumps in the road” with the CAT board, he said. But the measure’s supporters pushed it as a political “favor for friends” and to “satisfy people, certain people that want to be more involved with transit.”
‘Should be represented’
Until the now-scrapped rules, the CAT board consisted of three Chatham County commissioners and three people appointed by the commission. That 6-3 majority gave the commission and Ellis, its chairman, sway over both the CAT board and the activities of the transit authority, whose operating budget in FY2023 was about $30 million and service area covers 438 square miles.
The new, expanded board will include two sitting members of the Chatham County Commission and one member each from the city councils of Savannah, Port Wentworth and Garden City.
In addition, the Chatham County legislative delegation will have three appointees on the new board, while the county commission, the Savannah City Council and Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority will each have an appointee on the board.
Bert Brantley, president and CEO of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the legislation.
“The communities that have service should be represented” on the board, Brantley said. “There should be a voice for Garden City, Port Wentworth and Hutchinson Island where obviously the ferries are very important. All of the folks that pay into the system, all these folks that have service, should have a voice on that board.”
Brantley said that for the chamber’s government affairs council, the legislation was timely because “it is a “critical time in the history of CAT.” He cited the need for a “solid” program of preventative maintenance for newly delivered river ferries and the possibility of expanding service.
‘We needed to bring some stability’
The legislation calling for the overhaul of the CAT board was unusual because state lawmakers seldom step into what usually are considered the prerogatives or more local government bodies.
But after at least two failed legislative efforts to revamp the board in the past 15 years, local lawmakers tried again to address the clouds that seem to swirl perpetually over CAT and its board.
In the past 12 years, CAT has had five executive directors and three interim executive directors. Two have been fired. Two have resigned. One was fired after he pleaded guilty to charges of operating a kickback scheme involving a bus-washing contract to a local company.
The latest measure was led by state Rep. Edna Jackson, a Democrat, and co-sponsored by two Republicans — state Reps. Bill Hitchens and Jesse Petrea — and two Democrats — Carl Gilliard and Anne Allen Westbrook. Ron Stephens, a Republican and dean of the local delegation to the capitol, provided crucial backing.
Jackson explained her rationale for pressing ahead with the bill:
“We needed to bring some stability because CAT is too important to the residents of Savannah and Chatham County. With all of the growth that is going on, there is a possibility we may even want to expand into some of the outer areas. That will be the decision of the new board.”
Ellis, the commission chairman, lobbied heavily against the bill. So did Mike Vaquer, a lobbyist for CAT, according to local business and political officials — an allegation Vaquer denies.
In the days leading up to the deadline for Gov. Kemp to sign or veto the measure, one member of the commission warned that approval of the bill would “open a can of worms.” Meanwhile, Ellis circulated a draft letter to members of the county commission that urged Kemp to veto the measure, according to a commission member who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal commission matters.
All but one of the commission’s eight members signed it.
Ellis did not reply to messages seeking comment about the CAT board and House Bill 756.
‘Awkward’
How easily the current CAT board will step aside is not certain.
It does not bode well that as the CAT legislation moved through the General Assembly and on to the governor’s desk, the board appears to have taken little heed of the likelihood that it would be dissolved by mid-summer.
Although the measure calling for the overhaul of the board already introduced and moving through the legislature, the CAT board on March 25 approved a $38,500 contract for Colin Baenziger & Associates, Daytona Beach-based municipal executive search firm, to recruit candidates for a permanent executive director. Stephanie Cutter, a former Savannah city manager, is currently serving as CAT’s interim executive director and CEO.
“This is a pivotal moment for CAT as we look toward the future,” Cody, CAT’s board chair, said in a news release. “Partnering with Colin Baenziger & Associates ensures we are casting a wide net and seeking out the best possible leadership to guide our organization into its next chapter.
The firm lists the executive director’s base salary as $206,000 annually, plus a $500 monthly vehicle allowance and other unspecified benefits.
The firm’s founder and chief executive officer, Colin Baenziger, told The Current that he was not told of the pending legislation when the board retained his firm.
That makes the search for CAT’s new executive director awkward, he said. “It could be a bit awkward for candidates that are interviewed by one board and working for a board with significantly different composition.”
The firm is scheduled to submit a list of candidates for the post by June 17. That list is to be narrowed by the board at its regularly scheduled meeting on June 27 — three days before the panel is set to be dissolved.
As of May 15, final interviews for the executive director’s post were still set for July 10 and 11.