Councillors in familiarisation visit to city facilities
City councillors yesterday visited the various facilities that fall under the control of the municipality and concerns were raised about the storage of old vehicles at the Princes St stone depot and the maintenance of mechanical workshop.
According to acting Town Clerk Sharon HarryMunroe, the purpose of the site visits was to give the newly-appointed councillors a firsthand view of the facilities managed by the council. “This is our first visit for the year as the entire council and we would usually have it once we have new councilors being installed within the council. You would have known that we have a newly-elected set of councillors. We have them visit… so that when we have statutory meetings and other meetings, they have a firsthand view of what we will be discussing,” Harry-Munroe added, while voicing her confidence that with the visits, councillors will be able to engage in the discussions and speak from a position of knowledge. “You could not be presiding over the affairs of the city and you do not know the facilities of the city, you do not know the functions of it and the other services we have to offer,” she noted.
The councillors were previously presented with an overview of the services the council offers and what is expected of them as councillors and policy makers of the city. “The councilors need to have the overall understanding as to what takes place at council. We all know that the councillors are the policy making body and we are the administrative body. It would be a good thing for them to see some of the things that they need to make policies on,” HarryMunroe added.
At the council’s stone depot facility, which falls under the Engineer’s Department, a number of old and unclaimed vehicles were seen in the compound. According to City Engineer Colvern Venture, the vehicles would have been placed at the facility after the council carried out exercises to remove old vehicles from the council’s reserves and parapets. Councillors raised concerns about the space within the compound as it appeared that the vehicles were packed in a haphazard manner. Venture then stated, “Most of them reached to a stage [about] which the council has to make the decision— whether they are going to put them up for auction or we dispose of them, dispose meaning we dig a hole and bury them.” He later added that the council has been working with central government to assist in getting a plot of land and a crusher for old vehicles that weren’t claimed or auctioned.
Just a few feet away on Princes Street is the council’s mechanical workshop, which is responsible for the maintenance of all of the council’s vehicles and pumps. Councillors raised concerns about the maintenance of the workshop.
Councillors were also taken to the Kitty pump station and the Liliendaal pump station. The Kitty station drains water from, Kitty, Campbellville, Subryanville and other surrounding areas. The two pumps at the station, which discharge water at 80 cubic feet per second, were rehabilitated in 2010 and have been in operation since. The two pumps at Liliendaal station, which discharge water at 150 cubic feet per second, are used to drains water from areas east of Sheriff Street up to Cummings Lodge.
Due to the time constraints, the site visits were cut short. The councillors were due to visit the other sites like the East Ruimveldt Market, the Bourda Market and the other pump stations.