GEORGETOWN Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan has reiterated his belief that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) ought to run the municipality as a business, as is the view of President David Granger with regard to capital towns.
Duncan, who is now performing mayoral duties, was speaking to the Chronicle yesterday in the context of Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan’s recent comments that government is not inclined to grant the $600M ‘bailout’ to the municipality.
Duncan said if government time and again chips in to provide assistance to the municipality, then that would be fine. However, it should not be a case where every time someone runs up the council’s accounts, the government has to be summoned.

On the issue of the $600M, though, he said he is not exactly sure what the minister’s mind on the matter is, as no official correspondence was received from him by the council.
People’s Progressive Party Councillor Bishram Kuppen, too, is not supporting a central government bailout for the council which he said continues to spend money without any accountability and transparency.
“How could council ask for more money, including from additional container fees and the unneeded parking meter system when they are resistant to a forensic audit of the books of the council?
“My position is that before any additional money is given to council, we must have a full analysis of its financial records and the control and accountability mechanisms in place to facilitate the effective and efficient administration of the city.”
Kuppen further noted that the majority of councillors are clueless as to the current financial state of the council and are not aware of the details of the expenditure and projects that are ongoing.

“We need a forensic audit of the city in addition to the council’s administration being staffed by professionally qualified administrators to oversee the day to day operations of the city. I do not support any bailout for the city until and unless the foregoing has been achieved.”
Other councillor, Akeem Peter offered that he was not surprised nor disappointed at the news that the government is not likely to grant the money.
“I quite understand the intended vision of the municipality. In regards to us being a corporative entity and is seeking $600M for the last two months of the year does not speak to that. As a municipality, we must be able present our finances (budget) in such a way that it speaks to the future and our independence as a municipality.
“Certainly now as policy makers we should be meeting to discuss other possible streams of income, and how we can put checks and balances in place for us to be better stewards,” he said.

At the council’s most recent statutory meeting, Councillor Junior Garrett moved a motion to approach government for a $600M bailout to assist with outstanding payments to garbage and other contractors.
But Minister Bulkan subsequently said: “This $600M bailout that we all have read about in the newspapers, where that particular council is looking for that support, what I can say…and from my own understanding and the limited current engagement that I have had with colleagues in the administration, is that, I do not think that there is any appetite on the part of the central government to be favourably disposed towards that request.”
The minister last month requested a financial statement from the City Council because he said he saw the need for a perusal of such in order to enable proper decision-making, and a source at City Hall had informed that after being provided the statement, the minister has concluded that municipality is not in a financial crisis that the public is led to believe.
Nevertheless, Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk Royston King have continued to insist that the City Council has spent all of its money on clean-up and other works in the city, and at the moment, is in a dire cash-strapped state.

Damage Control
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with this newspaper, the deputy mayor had criticized the management style of the town clerk, accusing him of micromanaging the affairs of the council and producing only “flawed” decisions.
“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.

“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 said.