–for deceiving council on matters of import

SENIOR officers of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) admitted recently, under pressure from city councillors, that no contract is in place between the municipality and contractors who are conducting massive works on the canal along the Avenue of the Republic.

Acting Town Clerk Sharon Harry had led the Council to believe that a written contract is in place between the two parties, but later offered two other explanations, this being that the contract is in the Council’s budget, and that it was a verbal one.

This led City Mayor Patricia Chase-Green to blurt out: “Harry! Don’t play this Council with words this afternoon; don’t do it!” The setting was around the horse-shoe table where councillors were gathered at the most recent statutory meeting.

The City Council had contracted a number of trucks to remove silt from the canal at reference, but it has been weeks now since such works were halted because of City Hall’s failure to pay the contractors.
The mayor asked to see the project document from which City Engineer Colvern Venture was working, and Councillor Sherod Duncan on two occasions tried to clarify whether or not there was a written document, since a contract is not a project document.

But Harry kept insisting, “There is a contract,” until, after much back and forth, Venture left the meeting on the pretext of going to find the document.
He would later admit that there was no formal contract between the parties, except for a project document that was done by his department indicating costs, the hiring of trucks and other details.

Venture further admitted that the municipality does not usually do contracts for works like the hiring of equipment because of the amount of time the process takes. He said that verbal agreements are entered into, and the most reasonable person is selected.
At that point, Harry, on the advice of the mayor, withdrew her statement that there was a contract in place.

According to Councillor Heston Bostwick, written documents should be in place as long as the Council has to spend any kind of money. “It is unacceptable for us to accept this,” he said, adding that the administration insists that councillors do contracts for every project that has to be undertaken in their constituency.

Councillor Gregory Fraser felt that as an expert in his field, the city engineer should have known the cost for the work off the top of his head, and should have had all the other details at his fingertips without having to leave to consult a document.

Councillor Bishram Kuppen said it was alarming that the municipality acted in such an ad hoc manner; that as far as he knew, contracts need to be written out with anyone doing business with the council.

Deputy City Engineer Kenson Boston said that as of late, the drainage channel along the Avenue of the Republic is of prime importance, because it helps to drain off water not just from the Bourda district, but from Lacytown and Church Street as well.

This channel is also connected to Queenstown, Alberttown and Water Street, and affects the South Road and Croal Street channels which also encompass Brickdam, all the way back to Lodge.
“This is a very important channel which has a large capacity to hold water,” Boston said.