MINISTER within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker, on Monday, met with a team of elected and appointed Officials of the Georgetown City Council headed by Mayor Hamilton Green and including the Town Clerk (ag) Ms. Carol Sooba in the Ministry’s Conference Room, Kingston.

The ministry stated that the main aim of the meeting was to review the operations of the Georgetown Municipality. Among matters discussed were: hours of operations of the Haags Bosch Landfill, City Hall’s inability to address solid waste management, Ministries’ support for clean up exercise, Council’s cash flow, and inability of the council to deal with repairs of vehicles which are lying at the council’s workshop at Princes Street.

Opening and closing hours at Haags Bosch landfill
The ministry stated that the Mayor wishes to have the landfill opened 24 hours daily, but the Council does not have the resources to finance such an extension of the hours of operations. The minister indicated that, based on information at his disposal, the Ministry of Local Government was prepared to support an adjustment to the hours of opening and closing of the landfill.

City Hall’s inability to effectively deal with Solid Waste management
The council’s inability to effectively deal with Solid Waste management in the City of Georgetown was raised; moreso, in the Groups 7 and 8 for which the Council has specific responsibility. It had been determined that this was due in large measure to the fact that only one of the Council’s 8 Compactor trucks was in operation. This was because of electronic problems which the Council’s Engineering staff were unable to deal with.

Inability to deal with repairs
Minister Whittaker recently visited the Council’s Workshop in Princes Street and met with the senior Staff responsible for the maintenance of these vehicles. It was determined that they were unable to address the electronic problems that were affecting the operation of these vehicles.
The Town Clerk was asked to examine the possibilities of outsourcing of the required works under the circumstances faced by the Council. The minister was advised by an engineer knowledgeable on these vehicles that some of the problems were not major.

Ministries’ support for a clean-up exercise in Ward One
A number of sector ministries have agreed to work with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development in a continual clean up exercise of several City wards. These ministries include Agriculture, Tourism, Public Works, Health and Natural Resources and the Environment. The initial phase of the clean up exercise will focus on removing overgrown vegetation, cleaning of clogged drains and removal of garbage at illegal dump-sites in the Kingston, Alberttown, Queenstown, South Cummingsburg and North Cummingsburg areas.
The Mayor’s request that this activity be rescheduled to allow for more discussions and greater collaboration was not supported by the minister who opined that the MLGRD is willing to take this course of action for future such clean up exercises.

Council’s cash flow issues
The council’s apparent inability to increase rates collection was highlighted as well as the need to focus on a property revaluation exercise, reclassification of some residential properties as commercial, and to improve on debt collection and the extent and quality of services provided
Other issues
Council will focus on clean up of markets and commercial areas of the City while the MLGRD will focus on a public awareness and education drive in Solid Waste Management.