Town Clerk Royston King has told Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan that the suspension of the city’s metered parking system would amount to a breach of contract, for which the municipality would have to compensate contractor Smart City Solutions (SCS).
Acting Mayor Sherod Duncan told reporters yesterday that King wrote Bulkan and informed that there is no provision in the contract between the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and SCS to suspend the project, while also warning of the implications of doing so.
“He says that a suspension at this point would be deemed a breach of the contract and the council is not in a position to pay the contractor the necessary funds if we are in breach of the contract, so in all of that he’s asking for clarity on the matter,” Duncan explained, while referring to the so-called “terror clause” in the contract.
Under Article 14 of the contract, if the city unilaterally terminates the agreement, it would be bound to “pay the concessionaire a lump sum payment equivalent to (i) the total direct and indirect, hard and soft cost cumulative gross investment of the concessionaire in the project; plus (ii) an amount equal to 25% of the direct and indirect hard and soft cost cumulative gross investment of the concessionaire in the project; multiplied by the number of years (or fraction) remaining under the term…(iii) the reasonable out of pocket and documented costs and expenses incurred by the concessionaire as a direct result of such termination.”
A review by the Attor-ney General’s Chambers last year said the aim of the provision was “to put the city in terror of terminating the agreement.”
In light of continuing public outcry over the financial impact of the project on citizens and city businesses, a decision was made at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting to request that City Hall have the contract suspended for 90 days pending review.
According to Duncan, King said the contract could stand up to legal scrutiny and warned that its suspension would constitute a breach on the part of the M&CC. In making a case for the project, King reportedly argued that it is needed not only for revenue but to address traffic congestion and to organise the central business district.
Despite King writing Bulkan for “clarity” on Cabinet’s recommendation, there was still no official word from the Ministry of Communities on government’s recommendation of a suspension.
Duncan told reporters that as Deputy Mayor he is in favour of revocation of the contract, but, acting for Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, with whom he acknowledged he has differing views, his advice to the Council is to heed the recommendation of the government, with whom they have enjoyed a favourable relationship.
Attorney Pauline Chase, whose law firm has filed court action on behalf of New Building Society against the city challenging the procedure under which the parking meter by-laws were brought into effect, opined yesterday that Minister Bulkan, being the one that signed the by-laws into law, also has the power to amend or revoke them if he so wishes.
Hold councillors accountable
Meanwhile, the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM) organised its seventh protest in as many weeks yesterday as it continued its campaign for the scrapping of the contract.
With the City Council bearing the burden of responsibility for the metered parking contract, MAPM is calling on citizens to hold their respective councillors accountable. Racquel Thomas-Caesar, an MAPM representative, stated yesterday that after two decades of waiting for local government elections, citizens should make sure that the persons they voted into power look out for their interests and account for why they voted for the signing of a contract, which some had not seen, with bylaws they were uncertain about.
Working People’s Alliance (WPA) executive Dr David Hinds was very vocal at the protest yesterday and criticised, among other things, the lack of consultation that surrounded the implementation of the project. “Economics is about people and so therefore I would scrap the contract and have a thorough consultation and maybe, at the end, people will agree to some form of parking contract on parking meters,” he said.
The protest saw a drop in the number of supporters yesterday. The crowd was much calmer than the recent demonstrations; there was no music, or marching or showy displays. The group that had drawn the crowd last week with their mock funeral procession came yesterday with minimum props; the contingent of mostly women wearing clamps over their mouths with the words “SCS and M&CC clamped.”
Some of the protestors wore black ribbons pinned to their clothing to show their solidarity with businesses that have reportedly suffered losses during the past three months that the parking meter system has been implemented.
Don Singh, of the MAPM, noted that continuing with the movement started on Wednesday, where businesses along Robb Street placed black flags on their buildings to represent a decline in their sales, MAPM will move to have flags placed on all businesses operating within the metered zone.
