Town Clerk’s unilateral actions making city council look bad, councillors say

ground is currently in a deplorable state and none of the residents had approached the council to address it.

Asked to clarify whether he had signed a lease with Rodrigues, King said that the Director has been given “no exclusive rights to the ground.”

There was no indication that this matter had ever been brought to the attention of the council prior to the agreement being reached. Its terms had not previously identified or discussed, with the sole mention being only during the Town Clerk’s announcements at the beginning of yesterday’s meeting.

At this point, Mayor Patricia ChaseGreen intervened, telling King that like in all other communities, there must be an oversight committee.

This committee is to include residents and a constituency councillor, who is to be specifically tasked with communicating the council’s policy on open spaces. “These grounds belong to council, regardless of who maintains it,” Chase-Green stressed.

Garbage fee not set

Additionally, the mayor also declared that the proposed $200 fee for garbage collection is not “set in stone.”

According to Chase-Green, social media is buzzing with claims that Georgetown residents will either pay or their garbage is not being picked up but this is in no way true. “We are in the consultation process. This council has not agreed to charge a fee for garbage collection. It was a recommendation and we are consulting. So, I don’t want to see in the newspapers that we are charging people,” Chase-Green stressed, while noting that council was already receiving reports that some trucks were collecting $200 from residents.

King told council yesterday that no such declaration had been made. “That is not the official message of the council. That is not emanating from me and I make all official releases on behalf of the council,” he told councillors.

Almost three weeks prior, King had announced at a press conference that council will be moving to charge residents a per barrel fee for garbage collection from February, 2018.

During the press conference, Stabroek News specifically asked that King state when council approved the charge and was assured that while the exact date could not be provided, it had actually been approved. He further said that the suggestion of a residential fee for the service was first made by the Director of Solid Waste Walter Narine, discussed at the level of the M&CC’s Finance Committee and approved by council.

He repeatedly stressed that approval of the charge had been given in principle and added that the council would work out the “modalities” of how the fee would be applied before February 1st, 2018.

He subsequently announced a series of consultations on the fee, saying then that it was only a proposal.