Amid Push to Join MARTA, Clayton Still Mulling County-Run Transit Service

A referendum would have to be held first, but there’s confusion over the steps to get there.

The consensus was the Clayton Commission had final say over whether the ballot measure would go before voters, but commission chair Jeff Turner says he’s been told otherwise by his attorneys.

“I was initially under the impression that the Board of Commissioners would be able to make that decision but it was brought to light the state delegation or one of the representatives would have to make that request,” said Turner.

The sponsor of the enabling legislation, however, says that’s news to him.

“I’m not aware of any additional measures that we have to do in order for the commission to put this on the ballot in November 2014,” said Rep. Mike Glanton, D-Jonesboro.

Turner says he’s working to get clarification.

In any event, both Turner and Glanton want a referendum as soon as possible and support raising the county sales tax for transit.

From there, it again gets blurry.

Turner prefers a nonbinding referendum that doesn’t specifically ask voters if they want to join MARTA. He says the county is currently looking into multiple options including resurrecting C-Tran, the county’s former transit service.

“Do I feel like we need a transit system? Absolutely. But we need to do it right and we need to make sure we’re not going down the same road that led to the closing of C-Tran in 2010,” said Turner.

The state delegation, on the other hand, appears more inclined to support a binding referendum asking voters to specifically join MARTA.

“Joining MARTA would make a lot of sense,” said Glanton. “Clayton County was originally part of the MARTA Act and MARTA has already operated transit in Clayton and is very familiar with the county.”

Clayton delegation chair Gail Davenport and vice-chair Sandra Scott say they too prefer Clayton joining MARTA over the county pursuing its own transit service.

Clayton is working on a feasibility study, due for completion in September, exploring its options. Also under consideration is whether the county would be allowed to increase its sales tax by a fraction of a percentage to fund transit, rather than a whole percentage point.