State Rep. Deborah Silcox (R-Sandy Springs) is the new chair of the General Assembly committee that supervises MARTA’s budget.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee, or MARTOC, is a joint House and Senate committee meant to give oversight on the transit agency’s operation.
Silcox’s appointment by House Speaker David Ralston keeps the MARTOC chair position tied to the north metro area. For several years, MARTOC was chaired by former Rep. Tom Taylor of Dunwoody, who did not run for reelection last year. Before Taylor, the committee was chaired by former Rep. Mike Jacobs of Brookhaven, who is now a state judge in DeKalb County.
Silcox, now serving in her second term representing Buckhead and Sandy Springs in House District 52, has made transit and transportation her key issues. She recently successfully nominated Sandy Springs resident and vanpooling expert Steve Dickerson to the board of the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority, a metro-wide umbrella authority for transit agencies.