With mayoral elections due each year, Georgetown’s Chief Citizen, Patricia Chase-Green will have her stewardship put to the test and the current controversy over the parking meters contract could be a defining moment.
Hamilton Green served as mayor of Georgetown for 20 years and during that time the council, which served for 22 years held mayoral elections only twice. The only other person who functioned as an elected mayor during that period was Ranwell Jordan. Mayoral elections ceased in 1997 which was the year in which fresh local government elections were to be convened.
According to the Municipal and District Council’s Act: “The term of office of the Mayor and of the Deputy Mayor shall… be one year commencing on the first day of the month following their election.”
Chase-Green was elected to office on April 1, this year. After serving less than three months in office Chase-Green is currently facing what could be a crucial period in her tenure.
In November last year, the previous council approved a proposal by National Parking Systems (NPS) an associate of Smart City Solutions for the installation of parking meters in the city. In May, Chase-Green announced to the present council that the proposal had been approved, the contract signed and the project in the first stages of implementation. She did not, however, provide councillors with a copy of the contract nor an explanation of the terms of the agreement between NPS/SCS and the council.
The Mayor then, in the company of Town Clerk Royston King, Chair of the Finance Committee Oscar Clarke and councillor Junior Garrett, accepted an all-expenses paid trip to Mexico and Panama from NPS/SCS.
After several councillors including Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan raised concerns about their inability to access the contract, Chase-Green announced that it was a “private document of the administration.”
She explained that she took “a deliberate decision not to share the contract because we wanted to secure the investment. We have had bad experiences with sharing contracts, proposals and initiatives only to have them subtly taken away from the council.”
Though Chase-Green and her team have maintained that the council has completed due diligence and has negotiated a deal which is in the best interest of the municipality many remained unconvinced.
Stabroek News on Saturday asked Chase-Green if she believed that the way in which this matter has been handled could hurt her chances of serving more than one term as Mayor.
In response she noted that the matter is not yet concluded and she is sure that with the passing of time the matter will be seen in a different light.
“I’ve never had my reputation tarnished in the last council and won’t have it tarnished in this council. I have decided not to speak anymore on this parking meter issue. I will let time decide the matter. As for another tenure that’s a future concern to be dealt with in the future,” Chase-Green said.
