Members of the City Council yesterday elected the six committees—City Works, Social Development, Information Technology, Legal Affairs and Security, Markets and Public Health, International Relations, Investment and Development Committee and Human Resource Management—which will run some of the city’s business for the next three years.
The Mayor and City Council held its first statutory meeting yesterday, during which these elections were conducted. A motion had been moved that each committee should consist of seven members. However, when it came to the nominations for the City Works committee, eight were made. During the first vote PPP/C Councillor Bishram Kuppen and APNU/AFC Councillor Lyndon Hilliman were tied with 17 votes each. In the second round of voting, Hilliman secured 15 votes and Kuppen 12 votes. As a result, the members of the City Works Committee are: Alfred Mentore, Gregory Fraser, Akeem Peters, Tameshwar Boodhoo, Dr Lionel Jaikaran, Phillip Smith and Hilliman.
Councillor Monica Thomas chairs the Social Development Committee and its members are Malcolm Ferreira of Team Legacy, Boodhoo of the PPP/C, Sophia Whyte, Desiree Liverpool, Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan and Linda Gomes-Haley.
The members of the Information Technology Committee are Ferreira, Duncan, Peters, James Samuels, Boodhoo, Gomes-Haley and Zalima Bacchus Hinds of Team Benschop for Mayor.
Councillors elected to serve on the Legal Affairs and Security Committee are Kuppen, Andrea Marks, Duncan, Bacchus-Hinds, Welton Clarke, Carlye Goring, and Yvonne Ferguson.
The Market and Public Health Committee is made up of Duncan, Kuppen, Ferguson, Jaikaran, Marks, Ferreira and Trichria Richards.
Boodhoo, Peters, Goring, Carolyn Caesar, Oscar Clarke and Junior Garrett were elected to serve on the International Relations Committee.
Sitting on the Investment and Development Committee are Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and councillors Samuels, Smith, Richards, Ivelaw Henry, Garrett and Kuppen.
Meanwhile, Ferreira, Noelle Chow-Chee, Oscar Clarke, Welton Clarke, Boodhoo, Bacchus-Hinds and Thomas were elected to serve on the Human Resource Management Committee. This committee was also renamed the Personnel and Training Committee at yesterday’s meeting.
Several new committees were also proposed by Town Clerk Royston King: Environment and Sustainability, Parks and Recreation and Social Rejects which would aid in removing vagrants from the city. However, these committees were not created as the council made the decision that the Legal Affairs and Security Committee should create terms of reference for them first. The Legal Affairs and Security Committee was also tasked with drafting a code of conduct for councillors to be presented at the next statutory meeting.
The council also made a decision that committees without chairpersons would elect a chairperson when the committees meet to discuss and make plans.
