— Councillors Carolyn Caesar-Murray and Malcolm Ferreira

TOWN Clerk Royston King, currently in Mexico with Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Councillors Oscar Clarke and Junior Garrett, continues to operate “independently” of City Council, and the recent parking meters’ debacle is just one case in point.These sentiments were expressed by Councillors Carolyn Caesar-Murray and Malcolm Ferreira, who are representing the two seats that Team Legacy (a community-based grass roots organization) won in this year’s Local Government Elections.

“There are many red flags surrounding the new parking meter system that is slated to be implemented. There are questions about the company, the manner in which the contract was signed, and the details of the agreement between the city and the company. Though requested, we are yet to see a copy of the contract,” a press statement issued by Team Legacy on Tuesday said.

At Monday’s statutory meeting of the M&CC, several councillors questioned why they could not gain access to the parking meter contract that was signed recently, and why the Council was not informed of the reason for the officers’ visiting Mexico.

Councillors were previously promised that they would be able to peruse the contract and provide their feedback. To date, however, the contract has not been made available to either councillors or the public; and Team Legacy is contending that councillors are not 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’, 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. 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. 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,” the release said.

Team Legacy said it understands that steps must be taken to reclaim City property and improve the City, but stakeholder consultations are still necessary.

“Team Legacy recognizes (that) some efforts are being made, but the current methods are unacceptable,” the release said.

The body said it has taken note of the recent actions at City Hall, and wishes to make its position on various matters clear and public.
“Once the votes were counted and councillors sworn in, our first surprise came when the councillors were told that there are no supporting mechanisms for the councillors to meet with the members of the constituents. No funding would be made available for establishing offices in the constituencies. We believe that this is an absolute necessity. The constituency councillors should be able to have an ongoing dialogue with their constituents – it is not efficient to have residents from all constituencies visit City Hall to meet with their councillors.”