This story was updated Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at 1:03 p.m. to add comments from Sen. Mallow regarding his plans to introduce CAT-related legislation when the General Assembly convenes next month and his comments about claims regarding his communications with other members local legislative delegation about his efforts to resolve the CAT dispute.
An attempt by a local state lawmaker to broker a deal to end the monthslong dispute over Chatham Area Transit’s new board of directors appears to have gone awry within hours after it was unveiled.
The Chatham County Commission and its chairman, Chester Ellis, have sought to undo a new state law that replaced CAT’s former nine-member board with an expanded board that the lawmakers who sponsored the measure said would make the panel more representative and better positioned to take on the transit challenges facing the area.
The dispute has become an expensive legal struggle and an embarrassing political one that has shed unflattering light on longstanding issues and tensions in the county’s governance. Ellis has called the new law “unconstitutional,” threatened to withdraw the county from the widely used transit system and leveled so far unsubstantiated allegations of financial improprieties against members of the new, 11-member CAT board, which was seated on July 1, in accordance with the new law…