COUNCILLOR Andrea Marks on Monday complained that the Town Clerk, Royston King was making her and fellow councillors look bad by making unilateral decisions regarding Christmas vending.

Marks claimed that she received complaints from vendors that they are being charged $2,500 and $3,500 to vend during the Christmas season at locations where vending is not normally permitted.

King responded that it is an administrative decision to allow this kind of vending, thus indicating that it is not necessary to bring this matter before the Council. He said vendors are charged per square foot for the space they occupy.  Councillor Marks then responded that King ought to let the vendors know that he is the one charging the fees and not the Council.

“He is making us look bad out there. I fed up of this thing; I will bring a motion,” she said.  Councillors had in the past accused King of acting “independently” of the City Council.  Team Legacy councillors, for instance, had contended that the councillors were not being duly consulted or informed about important decisions being made by the City Hall administration, such as in the cases of the removal of the vendors from Stabroek Square, the demolition of the ‘Dread Shop’, and the new parking meters system, among other things.

“The Town Clerk continues to operate independently of the Council. Many times the members of the Council learn about decisions taken and executed by the Town Clerk from the press,” Team Legacy had said in a release.“When questioned, we are told that these decisions were made by the previous council.

However, we believe that even if decisions were made previously, the new Council should be able to, and must, review these decisions to determine if they align with the vision of the new council.“We believe this goes against the purpose of Local Government Elections (LGE).

We, the councillors, are the elected officials. We have been elected by the people of our City, but our efforts to act on behalf of our constituents and the City are being stymied at almost every turn.”