Sinclair willing to serve as MoBay’s mayor again
The Bogue land that has been captured, we have said to sell the Bogue land, collect the market value, and put it into the development of a multi-storey car park, but that has not been done.
WESTERN BUREAU: DESPITE BEING a government senator and chairman of the powerful Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council Four, Councillor Charles Sinclair, who retained his seat in the recent local government elections, said he would be happy to serve another term as mayor of Montego Bay.
Sinclair, who trounced his People’s National Party (PNP) opponent, Andrew Brown, by an impressive 1,475 to 363 margin to become a three-term councillor for the Montego Bay North Eastern (Flanker) division, told The Gleaner that he would not have any reservations about serving as mayor again. He served as mayor of Montego Bay from 2008 to 2012 during the previous JLP administration.
“If you ask me, if I will give consideration to applying as mayor, then yes,” Sinclair told The Gleaner yesterday, four days after the JLP won 14 of the 17 parish council divisions in St James to become the majority party in the parish. “I am certain that that is part of the entire consideration that is going to be involved in the decision for that (position of mayor) to be made.”
PRIORITY ISSUES
When quizzed as to what are some of the issues that would get priority attention should he return to the mayoral chair, Sinclair was guarded in his response, intimating that he did not want to announce plans before a decision is taken as to who will serve as mayor.
“I am going to be cautious about how I answer,” Sinclair told The Gleaner. “I think you should wait until the appropriate time and then you ask me that.”
“If you are asking me to prioritise things, I think that would have to be done by way of consensus. I may have a particular preference, others may have their particular preference, but the resources may be of a particular kind and nature that you have to prioritise,” added Sinclair.
Before the local government elections, Sinclair was quite vocal on issues surrounding the future development of Montego Bay, especially regarding the sale of lands in the Bogue Industrial Terrace, which he had pursued vigorously during his previous stint as mayor.
“The Bogue land that has been captured, we have said to sell the Bogue land, collect the market value, and put it into the development of a multi-storey car park, but that has not been done,” said Sinclair, in reference to a suggestion he had made while being minority leader in the outgoing St James Parish Council administration.
“They (outgoing administration) have deferred that. They have not moved to collect the revenue there. If you are looking on revenue as against capital gain, revenue from rental, this administration has failed to collect over $24 million in revenue that could potentially go into other developments,” Sinclair had said at the time.