– Mayor says follow guidelines or leave

OFFICERS have been objecting to the new system for revenue collection at the municipal markets, but Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has since said they can choose to follow the system in place or leave.

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC), in the interest of greater transparency and accountability, had decided that beginning March 1, last, all casual and itinerant vendors would pay their rent and other fees at special booths and no longer through revenue collectors.

“No monies would be collected by anyone other than persons officially assigned in those booths to do so,” Town Clerk Royston King had said about the new system.
The new initiative was rolled out first at Bourda Market and was intended to be taken to the other municipal markets.

The mayor recently told city councillors that revenue collectors have been objecting to the new system. “There have to be changes in all the departments of the city council. As long as you are in the system, you have to work with the guidelines. We are your employers. If we change a procedure, and you don’t want to do it, then the choice is yours,” she told councillors at their recent statutory meeting.

In keeping with the change, the town clerk had explained that there will now be verifying officers in place of revenue collectors. “They, along with staff from the City Treasurer’s Department and Internal Audit, will check and verify receipts. Those who are not in possession of official council receipts would not be permitted to sell or carry on business.”
“The objective is to allow the vendors to make a livelihood in a clean and safe environment,” King said, adding: “This would enhance financial accountability, transparency and reduce security vulnerability in this facility.”