CHAIRMAN of the Local Government Commission, Julius Faerber has said that the Commission is investigating the No Confidence Motion tabled against the City Engineer, Colvern Venture, and is expected to meet with Venture soon.

The LGC is responsible for the hiring, firing and management of the staff of the various local government organs, hence the outcome of the Motion, which was tabled back in January at a statutory meeting of the City Council, was sent to the LGC.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle, Faerber confirmed that the LGC is looking into the issue.

“We are in receipt of some documents that we are putting together, and when we would’ve completed our investigation, then we are going to have the City Engineer come to the Commission to answer to the charges that were levied against him; that is where the position is,” Faerber related in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

He added: “Within probably two to three weeks, we should be dealing with that. It’s quite a lot of documents that the Mayor and City Council sent to us. There were quite a number of complaints that came from the Council, [but] the City Engineer is a member of the administration, and so, the administration had to write to us to let us know that this is what the staff is doing. We got a letter from the administration recently; probably a month ago, so we are putting together all the documents sent from the City Council to us, and then we are going to have a meeting to deal with that issue.”

Venture is at the centre of accusations over issues surrounding the efficiency of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC)’s monitoring of the City’s various sluices, kokers and pumps, given the current rainy season, which often leads to flooding in the City.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Mark Phillips issued a stern warning to Mayor of Georgetown Ubraj Narine to bring an immediate end to the carefree approach to managing the drainage and other infrastructure of the city, meant to mitigate flooding during the ongoing rain season.

The mayor, in a subsequent response, laid blame at the feet of the City Engineer.