THE Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Six is working to iron out many pressing issues that had stymied development in the region.According to Regional Executive Officer (REO) of Region Six, Kim Williams-Stephens, a number of changes have been implemented to address concerns relating to questionable contracts, staffing, timely payments and fairness in the public procurement process.

The REO noted that since assuming office, she has been mindful of all the complaints and has been working to address them.

Williams-Stephens noted that there has been vast improvement in tender board procedures in keeping with the principles of accountability, transparency and community involvement.

“The Council has since taken a decision to ensure that everyone is involved in the process and there is equitable distribution of project among contractors,” she said.

She disclosed that the national procurement manual was made available and distributed to all the relevant stakeholders.

“So we shared it before we actually did the tenders, so if they didn’t know, we have to educate them. All of our awards are based in accordance with the manual.”

Commenting on the status of projects in the region, Stephen-Williams, who was appointed less than two months ago, reported that when the allotment report was compared to the expenditure, it amounted to about 80 per cent.

She explained that this could mean that 80 per cent of the capital work programme has been completed once engineers are paying only for services that were provided.

In terms of staffing, Williams-Stephen said the Council has written to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to fill several vacancies.

“We have sent out vacancy notices for house-mother and house-father at Orealla to strengthen the work of the administration by ensuring we get the full complement of staff and although we are not there yet, we have put systems in place,” the REO said.

William-Stephen also said sweepers and cleaners are being paid in a timely manner. She pointed out that there are challenges due to a shift in policy and a pervasive resistance to change, but expressed confidence that persons will get on board once the changes is in keeping with the spirit and administration of the law.

Within the past few weeks, Williams-Stephen said she has managed to cement great working relations with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the region to work together in the interest of residents.