SENIOR officers of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) have complained that they are tired of being disrespected by some members of the Council, and have since decided that they will lodge a complaint with the Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU).  “After more than one year at City Hall, the elective Council has not made one policy on any of Council’s responsibilities or any aspect of the work of the municipality, but has been attacking officers on their work,” Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis has noted.  “Instead of making policies, certain councillors have fallen into the habit of interfering with the work of the administration. The role of the elective council is to make policy, not to do administrative work,” Lewis continued.  According to her, several senior officers have written to Mayor Patricia Chase-Green complaining of the disrespect meted out to them by certain city councillors. The officers said they are “embarrassed” by the behaviour of some councillors and that their counterparts in other ministries and agencies are making fun of them.

“The high level of disrespect shown to the town clerk and other senior officers; the way the Councillors are sullying the image of the Georgetown municipality by releasing fake news to the press and generally misleading the public…officers feel that there is need for collective action by the staff of the municipality to secure their integrity and to go forward with the development of the city,” Lewis noted.

In their letter, the officers have noted that notwithstanding repeated requests by Town Clerk Royston King, the Council, through its Market/Public Health Committee, has not been able to design a simple policy for vending in the city to guide administration on how to treat with this aspect of city life.

“The incumbent elective Council has not done much to improve the financial situation at the Mayor and City Council, nor to improve systems. In fact, for nearly two years the council has not made any policy to assist administration with its work or to improve the image of the Council. Instead, certain individual councillors have been critical about almost every action of the administration without providing alternatives or solutions to existing challenges at the Council. Yet, when the administration takes action to enforce compliance with existing by-laws, it is criticised by the very councillors who have not provided any guidance in this area,” Lewis said. Lewis added that the M&CC has received several “worrying” reports from its senior officers about their dissatisfaction with the behaviour and conduct of two councillors.