THE fire at the Georgetown prisons on Sunday has prompted Mayor Patricia Chase-Green to remind City Hall’s administration, headed by Town Clerk Royston King, that instead of sitting with paper and pen only, it needs to be prepared for emergencies.

“After going home from that fire last night, I recognised: “How are we prepared as a city to deal with such things? Had it been one of our assets, what plans do we have in place? What evacuation plans do we have in place? How do we go about it?” Chase-Green pondered.
She was addressing city councillors at the usual statutory meeting at City Hall on Monday.  “Those of us who look at the [series] ‘Criminal Minds’ can understand that we have people within our society with that kind of thinking,” she said.

As such, Chase-Green has called for City Hall’s security committee to draft a backup plan in the case of an emergency. “What is your ‘B’ backup plan? What is your ‘C’ backup plan? As elected mothers and fathers of the city, I am pleading with you to understand the seriousness of the management of this city.” Chase-Green called on the administration, along with the Legal Affairs Committee, heads of departments and chairmen of the various committees to have a serious look at what plans are in place in the event of a crisis.

“I seriously want administration to deal with it so we have arrangements in place. Where do you relocate? Where do you do X, Y and Z? What staff strength do you have in case of emergency? Who can you call other than the Constabulary? Is there another back up plan? Is there another department on standby? Do you have the Engineer’s Department on standby to do X, Y and Z? Those are the things you need to have in cases of emergency, instead of running helter-skelter,” stated Chase-Green.“The administration cannot just sit with paper and pen; they need to let other staff members share the responsibility of saving our assets,” she continued.