MOVES are afoot to upgrade the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) electronically so that the municipality can eventually phase out being a “paper-based” organisation, said Town Clerk Royston King.

Speaking with the Chronicle on the sidelines of the M&CC’s first statutory meeting since the installation of the new Council, King said the intention is to have the Council’s Information Technology (IT) systems upgraded so that information can be disseminated to councillors.

He disclosed that shortly, more will be heard of the online posting of rates and taxes for the benefit of citizens who wish to access such information online. The municipality is currently in talks with Mobile Money, he said.

Meanwhile, acting head of City Hall’s IT Department, Adunni Christian, reported at the statutory meeting on Monday that an email address was prepared for each councillor so as to be used to communicate with the various constituents, as well as to receive official documents from the municipality.

Christian was appointed acting head of the department ever since the services of its former head, Waynewright Orderson, was terminated by the City Council, King clarified.

An official at City Hall had told this newspaper recently that the IT Department had to undergo some amount of investigation. It was noted that despite millions of dollars being pumped into this department the quality of work coming out of it leaves much to be desired.

“The department has not been functioning to the maximum. In 2016 though, it will be equipped with the right people,” the source proffered.

Orderson had, for many years, been heading that department.

Citizens should have long been able to access their rates and taxes’ records online, but even this is yet to be done, the source pointed out.
“The situation is so bad that if a cashier is using the computer, no one else can go online at the same time.”

The source said the IT Department has, in the past, been recipient of countless monetary and other grants, but questions about where all of the money goes are often left unanswered.