City Town Clerk acting on his own – Team Legacy

Team Legacy, which holds two seats on the 30-person City Council today expressed concerns about the controversial deal for parking meters in Georgetown and accused Town Clerk Royston King of acting independently of the council.

A release from Team Legacy follows:

Team Legacy has taken note of the recent actions at City Hall and wishes to make our 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.

Secondly, the Town Clerk continues to operate independently of the council. The removal of the vendors from Stabroek Square, the demolition of the Dread Shop, the new parking meters system among others are clear examples.

Many times the members of the council learn about decisions taken and executed by the Town Clerk from the press. We are not duly consulted or informed.

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.

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.

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.

While we understand that steps must be taken to reclaim city property and to improve the city, we believe that stakeholder consultations are necessary. Team Legacy recognizes some efforts are being made but the current methods are unacceptable.