–says Gov’t has to do damage control for all his decisions

DEPUTY Georgetown Mayor Sherod Duncan has criticised the management style of Town Clerk Royston King, accusing him of micromanaging the affairs of the council and producing only “flawed” decisions.

In an interview with this newspaper on the sidelines of the fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall on Monday, Duncan made clear that he has no personal issues with King, but that his constant disagreements with him go to the root of how King manages.

During that statutory meeting, King announced that City Hall was finally able to pay wages and salaries for the month of September, and that stipends for councillors would become available today (Tuesday), although they should have already been paid.

But Duncan is of the view that, come what may, workers should be paid on time. “We have a contractual arrangement with them, and we have to meet that obligation. We cannot keep going forward where every month we are paying them late, two weeks late and all of that. I think if we value our workers, we will put all systems in place to pay them on time,” he said.

On the matter of the garbage situation, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has again said she is dissatisfied with the current situation, wherein heaps of garbage can be seen piled up on City streets.

Again, Duncan said the decisions taken so far by the administration have been found to be indecisive; as, at one time, the services of the private contractors are suspended, and at another, they are rehired.

“I am concerned about the garbage situation. We are indecisive in how we are moving forward. The public is complaining and we are creeping back (into) that same unkempt state,” said the Deputy Mayor.

NO CONFIDENCE

Duncan said he talks to the Mayor consistently on a range of issues, and that he has found her to be very cordial and professional. “I have found her to be a professional, and I think she has tremendous institutional knowledge because of her time spent at City Hall. She’s someone I respect highly, but whom I disagree with on occasion.”

But Duncan could not say the same for the Town Clerk. “I have no malice against the Town Clerk; nothing against the man and the person. I know little of him, but what is glaring is his management style and the way in which he leads,” Duncan stated.

He said King’s attitude became evident from the moment he moved the vendors from the Stabroek Market Square. “And I think Stabroek Market is more disorganised now than it was before they were moved,” he declared.

Duncan also spoke about the issue of the container fees. “We implemented it without being adequately advised by the legal counsel on the matter. We took members of the public to court, the court threw out the matter; that comes as an embarrassment to the Mayor and City Council.

“Look at the flea market: when we organise it, nobody turns up. The vendors have lost confidence in the Town Clerk. Look at how we pay wages and salaries. This is the 10th of the month; it was supposed to be paid since the 26th of last month. The movement of the vendors from Robb Street also comes on the shoulders of the Town Clerk.

“Look at the parking meter contract: the Ministry had said if there were no procurement and tendering procedures followed, the contract should be scrapped. The Finance Ministry said that the contract is ‘onerous’, the President said it is ‘burdensome’. The President also said the removal of the Robb Street vendors was ‘reckless’,” he said.

According to Duncan, if an employee has all of these negatives stacking up against him month after month, the decision to hire him has to be examined. He said there are many other similar issues that the council has had to deal with.

“Every time we try to implement something, there is push-back from the public, or the Government has to step in. Who can lead like this? You are micromanaging somebody, because every decision that you make is a flawed one, and that is a cause for concern.

If you have an employee and every decision that employee makes you have to go and correct him consistently, something is wrong. And six months more of this and it might as well (be) as (if) we didn’t even have Local Government Elections; because the Government has to keep stepping in in every instance in every major decision that has been made,” Duncan stated.

The unfinished Kitty Market, Albouystown Clinic, and Merriman Mall — where vendors are still without the promised light and water — were some other projects to which Duncan made reference.