The appointment of eight members to the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s Board of Commissioners was passed by the Memphis City Council. They were approved during the council’s regular meeting on Tuesday.
Sharon Harris, Tate Wilson, Willie Gregory, Gwen Sutton, William Mallory IV, Allison Donald, and Antwoine Clark were appointed, while Brandon Arrindell was reappointed.
This move comes after Memphis Mayor Paul Young planned to reappoint the board by September. During Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s Personnel and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting, Young noted there hasn’t been a quorum for “quite some time.”
Several board members resigned in 2025, following the decision for the city to enter into a trusteeship for MATA. This resulted in the cancellation of plans to interview candidates for a new CEO to head the transit agency.
MATA has reported to the city council to provide updates on transit operations under the leadership of city trustee Rodrick Holmes.
Young said MATA will still be led under Holmes’ trusteeship, however there are still plans to appoint a CEO and “reestablish the structure” of the agency. He said Tuesday’s appointments were a move in the right direction.
Arrindell was the only member of the previous administration to be reappointed. Arrindale and eight other members were selected by Young in 2024 to start “a clean slate” in transit, following the release of a TransPro draft report.
Maya Siggers, who was appointed in 2024, still remains on the board.
Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton said she was not eager to reinstate the board, due to concerns of “power-pulling” and changing the “hard work” done by Holmes.
Cooper-Sutton said though many of the appointees may be lifelong Memphians, many failed to have the lived experiences of consistent bus riders.
“Coming in and dismantling everything that attorney Holmes has put in place, and now that’s working — I ask the mayor to hold off, because what good is a board?” Cooper-Sutton asked.
“Moving forward right now, we need to make sure that all ducks [are] in a row, everything is in place, squared away, and whoever is on the board understands the importance of not dismantling what is working, and changing the CEO.
This is how we’re in the mess that we’re in now.”
Young said Holmes would have to “shift” at the end of the year. He said the new board would help select a CEO.
“I’ve been in the weeds with this on a very regular basis, and I know that the system is far better than what we all inherited a couple of years ago,” Young said.
“We want to make sure we’re continuing to move in the right direction, and I believe these folks have the ability to get us there.”
