–until reminded he’s still substantive town clerk

GEORGETOWN Mayor Patricia Chase-Green had to be cautioned on Monday when she referred more than once to Royston King as “the former town clerk.”
“Sorry, my apologies. And I don’t say sorry very often,” Chase-Green said in response to Acting Town Clerk Sharon Harry’s interjecting to remind her that King is still the substantive town clerk and that she should refer to him as such.

No one corrected the mayor when she referred to King as the former town clerk earlier in the meeting. But her continued reference to King as such drew some amount of heckling from councillors, which resulted in Harry bringing it to her attention.

Chase-Green was speaking at the council’s fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall. While the new councillors are expected to be sworn in soon, they will take up their seats from January 2019. The ‘old’ council will continue to meet until December 31, 2018.

After the Local Government Commission (LGC) ordered an inquiry into the operations of City Hall, King was subsequently sent on leave to facilitate the process.
Public hearings began on September 24 at the Critchlow Labour College on Woolford Avenue before CoI Chairman, Justice (ret’d) Cecil Kennard.

Over the past few weeks, the CoI has dealt with several complaints from vendors, businesses and other organisations and City Hall staff.

The inquiry has heard that it is common practice for standard operating procedures to be breached, particularly by King, in the awarding of contracts. Several businesses have so far testified that they were never given contracts, even though they had at times received payments through arrangements with the town clerk.

Chase-Green, who had herself been summoned to the CoI, told councillors Monday that she has been “thrown under the bus” for too many matters about which she has no knowledge.