OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Clayton County Board of Commissioners Work Session Summary – February 12, 2026

Board of Commissioners — Thursday, February 12, 2026
BodyClayton County, Georgia
SessionBoard of Commissioners
DateThursday, February 12, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:06:02

Transcript — Verbatim
0:06

Commissioner's work session is now called to order.

0:09

The date is June 10th, 2025.

0:12

And the time is 5 30 p.m.

0:14

At this time I will do roll call, district one.

0:18

Here.

0:18

District 3.

0:20

District 2.

0:21

Yeah.

0:21

District 4.

0:23

President.

0:23

All right.

0:24

Thank you.

0:24

All right.

0:25

At this time board members, um, we're moving on to item three, the preliminary items uh to date.

0:30

Are there any preliminary items um for the June 17th, 2025 regular business meeting that you would like to discuss at this time or even move to the regular agenda?

0:45

Seeing none, we'll move on to our items for our work session.

0:49

Um today we have with us Mr.

0:51

Kylie Greenwood from the this the CEO of MARTA, and he will come up to give his MARTA Q2 quarterly briefing for 2025.

1:00

Come on up, Mr.

1:01

Greenwood.

1:04

Thank you, Dr.

1:05

Anderson Henry.

1:06

Thank you.

1:06

And uh hello to um the Clayton County Commissioners, Board of Commissioners.

1:11

My name is Collie Greenwood, General Manager and CEO of MARTA, and um online with us.

1:16

We have uh uh our board members Katie Power and Valencia Williamson uh watching streaming, and I also have a number of esteemed colleagues here from MARTA Stephen Parker and Carrie Rocher Stevens, our chief of staff and carries our chief capital officer, uh, who will be uh observing this proceeding as well.

1:35

Um I wanted to begin if I can get the MARTA um agenda up.

1:48

So while that's happening, I'll just start by saying um we we will have our regular agenda items today, which is operations updates, proposed budget, the MARTA capital expansion, as well as community engagement and other news.

2:00

So this is our our opening page, and we'll just move on from there with okay.

2:09

So I'll just say next slide.

2:10

Is that what we're okay?

2:11

Thank you very much.

2:12

So that's the agenda as I've spoken of on the next slide is operational updates.

2:16

And the next slide from that starts what we normally start to talk about is our ridership.

2:21

So uh a lot of good news here in the in the fact that ridership is stable and continuing to rise year over year, not as quickly as we would like, but the the really you know, and you'll see this the cyclic dip that happens just leading into January each year, uh, from October or September to January, and if you'll notice along the linear the x-axis that happens every year going into the holidays.

2:44

But we started we were alarmed at one point because you see that separation between orange and blue, which we're where rail seemed to have been losing a lot of ridership.

2:54

And uh when we went back and and dug into it, it really we weren't so we were collecting the fares as people paid for their freeze cards.

3:02

We were collecting the taps as people were tapping to get through, but the thumb drive that is us as sort of connected to the motherboard, if you will, of this 40-year-old gate equipment was broken.

3:14

So we we were accepting the money, and that was all working, but we weren't able to um to communicate the taps to the national transportation database.

3:24

So it was under reporting but not under collection.

3:27

And and when we found that problem and the vendor pushed the fix, we can see that those lines started to close up again back to uh a more reasonable gap.

3:36

And so that's it for ridership.

3:38

There's a lot of things at play.

3:39

I always say that there are a lot of things that are outside of our control in terms of um the the modal share that Atlanta enjoys, somewhere around seven percent modal share of trips coming in and out of uh the city as compared to a lot of other transit forward cities that are enjoying 25%.

3:55

That is just a generational decades old uh concern, as well as the fact that there are cities like New York that are 49, 50 percent modal share.

4:04

So when your modal share is that low, your rebound uh opportunities are are somewhat diminished, but that's not stopping MARTA from getting all those things done that are going to absolutely grow our ridership back to pre-pandemic levels and beyond.

4:18

Not the least of which are things like the new stops, a thousand amenities we've put in, the safe routes to transit, um, automated fare collection 2.0, which is going to allow people access into the system with their their credit cards, their watches, their cell phones.

4:33

It you know, you don't have to be a regular here with a breeze card to understand the system.

4:37

Uh the new trains, the CQ400s that we've already started to bring in, and we launched on January 30th, as well as um as well as the bus network redesign and one billion dollars being spent on our um station refurbishments.

4:53

Next slide, please.

4:54

One of those station refurbishments is airport station, and you can see here that we've got spring of 2026 for targeted completion.

5:00

And you can see here that we've got spring of 2026 for targeted completion.

5:02

A lot happening.

5:04

In the very beginning, the challenge to the team was I said, let's render seamless to transition from plane to train.

5:10

In other words, the airport environment itself is professional, clean, bright.

5:15

Let's make it the same when you when you enter the MARTA vestibule.

5:19

And they took that challenge and ran with it.

5:21

So the flooring, the cladding, the ceilings, the lighting, the just the ambient lighting, and all of the uh the um sort of the uh commercial offerings in terms of the look of the place uh is rather seamless.

5:37

And so a lot of that work is going on here in the picture.

5:40

Uh you can even see the Terrazzle floor on the upper right-hand corner matches that of the airport, and then of course, in those areas where we are different from the airport, like the exposed upstairs train platform, all of that's been replaced as well.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Economic Development████████████████████20%
Transportation Safety█████████████████17%
Sports Events█████████████13%
Healthcare█████████9%
Budget Equity Analysis█████████9%
Community Engagement███████7%
Personnel Matters████4%
Court Operations███3%
Pending Litigation███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Clayton County Board of Commissioners Work Session Summary – February 12, 2026

This summary is based on the supplied transcript, which states the meeting was called to order on June 10, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. and adjourned at 8:36 p.m.; the assigned synthesis date is February 12, 2026. No formal votes were taken during the work session.

MARTA Q2 Quarterly Briefing

  • Collie Greenwood, MARTA General Manager and CEO, presented the Q2 2025 briefing. Ridership is stable and rising year over year; a data-reporting gap caused by broken gate equipment underreported taps but not fare collection.
  • Airport station refurbishment is targeted for spring 2026; the FY26 proposed operating budget is $652 million, with no reduction to planned service, police, or security.
  • Capital budget includes $148 million for More MARTA Atlanta and $26 million for More MARTA Clayton County. MARTA Rapid South Lake BRT reached a documented categorical exclusion on May 21; final design consultant kickoff was May 19; CIG workshop was held in early June; transit-oriented development study began in April.
  • The 31-acre operations and maintenance facility is under demolition; construction starts Q3 2026 and is operational Q1 2029, with 700 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs.
  • Justice Center Transit Hub reached 100% design and cost estimates in May; RFP is to be released in Q3; completion is December 2027.
  • In Q&A, Commissioner Davis asked about an AJC report on Clayton payments; Greenwood said there was no issue. Other questions involved a bus stop on Upper Riverdale Road, a constituent’s denied access to MARTA committee meetings, job fairs, and bus stop cleaning responsibilities.

Human Resources: Virta Diabetes and Weight Management Benefit

  • Human Resources Director Pam Ambles highlighted wellness initiatives for 3,537 employees, including Total Health Complete, Sonic Boom, screenings, mammography, healthy vending machines, WalkAway, and Employee Gratitude Day.
  • Jack Thompson of Marsh McLennan Agency presented Virta, a diabetes and weight management program for Anthem members aged 18+ with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, or BMI of 25 or greater.
  • Costs are per member per month: diabetes reversal $249, pre-diabetes reversal $162, obesity reversal $162, and diabetes management $79. Projected enrollment is 37 in type 2 reversal, 37 in diabetes management, and 76 in weight loss; projected annual cost is $293,000, funded entirely by existing wellness funds with no additional county cost.
  • Projected gross savings are $496,000 in year one (net $203,000) and $611,000 in year two (net $318,000). Performance targets include a 1% A1C reduction, 5% weight loss, and 40% medication cost/dosage reduction; Virta reports an average 18-pound weight loss in 10 weeks and 87% of members stopping or reducing medications.
  • In response to a commissioner question, Thompson confirmed premium reductions were not included in the savings calculation but could be considered.

Superior Court Clerk’s Staffing and Operational Needs

  • Clerk of Superior Court Chanae Clemons responded to the resolution to sever the clerk of superior court as clerk of magistrate court. She argued severance is contrary to O.C.G.A. §15-10-105 and that no official discussion occurred before the resolution.
  • She requested denial of the severance and approval of additional staff, training, and travel, with a maximum one-time cost of $650,000, compared with her estimate of more than $2 million annually for a separate magistrate court clerk’s office.
  • In response to board questions, she said the office operates efficiently and is open to a workflow meeting; she noted the magistrate court is paperless and needs a CMS upgrade. The county attorney’s office is not taking a position due to possible pending litigation.

Clean Up Amendments (Budget)

  • CFO Angela Jackson presented three budget amendments for the June 17, 2025 regular business meeting.
  • Budget Amendment 2-41: $19,555,903, recognizing revenue and reducing expenses. Funding sources are $14.8 million from public utility tax and $4.6 million from real property tax. Expenses include salary/benefit changes, litigation and settlements, warehouse supplies, elections overtime, indigent defense legal fees, and utility overages.
  • Budget Amendment 2-42: $300,000 for economic development intergovernmental expenses.
  • Budget Amendment 2-43: $2,632,629 for medical self-insurance benefits, fees, and performance bond expenses.
  • Commissioners asked about unexpected overage line items, monthly reports, and the timing of surplus revenue awareness. Jackson said she would begin sending monthly budget reports to the board. She also noted litigation budgeting is currently avoided based on an older legal opinion, and the indigent defense line item is coded to superior court, not the public defender’s office.

Sports Council Discussion

  • Brandon McCarden of the Office of Economic Development proposed a 13-member volunteer Sports and Entertainment Council to capture a share of the $8 billion sports tourism economic impact in Georgia and metro Atlanta.
  • Target sports include tennis, soccer, golf, basketball, softball, pickleball, lacrosse, volleyball, and esports; projected first-year return from youth golf, tennis, and women’s volleyball is $450,000 to $800,000.
  • Commissioner Davis expressed strong support. Commissioner Hambrick asked about membership; COO Detrick Stanford explained the council would be unpaid, include board appointees, leverage county, school, city, and private facilities, use market-rate fees for events, and have no initial county cost.
  • Commissioner Reeves raised concerns about existing facility maintenance and the need to make the county presentable to visitors. No formal decision was made; staff will continue developing the concept.

Traffic Calming

  • The Transportation and Development director reviewed a proposed residential traffic calming program: a 20% property owner petition to start, a traffic study, preliminary design with community input, and a 55% property owner approval threshold.
  • The SPLOST program includes $2 million allocated for traffic calming, with approximately $1.9 million remaining.
  • Board members discussed funding splits, with suggestions of 70/30 and 60/40, and whether residents should share ongoing maintenance costs.
  • Direction given: staff will prepare 3–4 cost examples using fictitious subdivisions and draft an ordinance with a placeholder for the funding mechanism.

Merger of Community Development & Economic Development

  • Director Patrick Ejike and COO Detrick Stanford proposed merging the Office of Economic Development into the Community Development Department to centralize messaging, set clear expectations, and smooth the land development process from inquiry to certificate of occupancy.
  • Four options were presented: merger, standalone economic development, returning OED to the Development Authority, or contracting out economic development. The presenters recommended the merger.
  • Board Q&A covered the proposed advocate role, project manager reporting to districts, and evidence for the change. Stanford noted the OED was standalone before 2017, housed with the Development Authority from 2017 to 2021, and returned to the county about 2021. No decision was made; staff will bring back a framework for further board consideration.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken; this was a work session.
  • Staff to produce traffic calming cost examples and a draft ordinance with a funding-mechanism placeholder.
  • CFO to provide monthly budget reports to commissioners.
  • Sports council and merger proposals remain under discussion and will be brought back.
  • The transcript’s own timestamps: called to order June 10, 2025, 5:30 p.m.; adjourned 8:36 p.m.

Meeting Transcript

Commissioner's work session is now called to order. The date is June 10th, 2025. And the time is 5 30 p.m. At this time I will do roll call, district one. Here. District 3. District 2. Yeah. District 4. President. All right. Thank you. All right. At this time board members, um, we're moving on to item three, the preliminary items uh to date. Are there any preliminary items um for the June 17th, 2025 regular business meeting that you would like to discuss at this time or even move to the regular agenda? Seeing none, we'll move on to our items for our work session. Um today we have with us Mr. Kylie Greenwood from the this the CEO of MARTA, and he will come up to give his MARTA Q2 quarterly briefing for 2025. Come on up, Mr. Greenwood. Thank you, Dr. Anderson Henry. Thank you. And uh hello to um the Clayton County Commissioners, Board of Commissioners. My name is Collie Greenwood, General Manager and CEO of MARTA, and um online with us. We have uh uh our board members Katie Power and Valencia Williamson uh watching streaming, and I also have a number of esteemed colleagues here from MARTA Stephen Parker and Carrie Rocher Stevens, our chief of staff and carries our chief capital officer, uh, who will be uh observing this proceeding as well. Um I wanted to begin if I can get the MARTA um agenda up. So while that's happening, I'll just start by saying um we we will have our regular agenda items today, which is operations updates, proposed budget, the MARTA capital expansion, as well as community engagement and other news. So this is our our opening page, and we'll just move on from there with okay. So I'll just say next slide. Is that what we're okay? Thank you very much. So that's the agenda as I've spoken of on the next slide is operational updates. And the next slide from that starts what we normally start to talk about is our ridership. So uh a lot of good news here in the in the fact that ridership is stable and continuing to rise year over year, not as quickly as we would like, but the the really you know, and you'll see this the cyclic dip that happens just leading into January each year, uh, from October or September to January, and if you'll notice along the linear the x-axis that happens every year going into the holidays. But we started we were alarmed at one point because you see that separation between orange and blue, which we're where rail seemed to have been losing a lot of ridership. And uh when we went back and and dug into it, it really we weren't so we were collecting the fares as people paid for their freeze cards. We were collecting the taps as people were tapping to get through, but the thumb drive that is us as sort of connected to the motherboard, if you will, of this 40-year-old gate equipment was broken. So we we were accepting the money, and that was all working, but we weren't able to um to communicate the taps to the national transportation database. So it was under reporting but not under collection. And and when we found that problem and the vendor pushed the fix, we can see that those lines started to close up again back to uh a more reasonable gap. And so that's it for ridership. There's a lot of things at play. I always say that there are a lot of things that are outside of our control in terms of um the the modal share that Atlanta enjoys, somewhere around seven percent modal share of trips coming in and out of uh the city as compared to a lot of other transit forward cities that are enjoying 25%. That is just a generational decades old uh concern, as well as the fact that there are cities like New York that are 49, 50 percent modal share. So when your modal share is that low, your rebound uh opportunities are are somewhat diminished, but that's not stopping MARTA from getting all those things done that are going to absolutely grow our ridership back to pre-pandemic levels and beyond. Not the least of which are things like the new stops, a thousand amenities we've put in, the safe routes to transit, um, automated fare collection 2.0, which is going to allow people access into the system with their their credit cards, their watches, their cell phones. It you know, you don't have to be a regular here with a breeze card to understand the system. Uh the new trains, the CQ400s that we've already started to bring in, and we launched on January 30th, as well as um as well as the bus network redesign and one billion dollars being spent on our um station refurbishments. Next slide, please.

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