The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) will be looking to fill the position of Deputy Chief Constable in the new year says Mayor Patricia Chase-Green.
“While I know we have difficulties with the promotion of the constabulary department I am talking about the key promotions like the vacant Deputy Chief Constable post and that is the only one we will be discussed at that meeting…the first week in January we will look at it,” the Mayor said.
Her announcement came yesterday during the final statutory meeting of 2017 as she sought clarity from the Town Clerk Royston King regarding the reason for the post remaining vacant more than two years after the last Deputy Chief Constabulary Officer had resigned.
Added to that were the Mayor’s concerns that the last officer to act as deputy chief had not yet been paid for her services rendered in 2016 and 2017 during the period of time Chief Constabulary Officer Andrew Foo had proceeded on leave.
Her first attempt at obtaining answers from King were met with the response, “She will be paid now ma’am.” However, not satisfied with the answer, the Mayor continued to press him to explain why the officer has not yet been paid.
It was at this time that the Town Clerk called on the Human Resource Manager who explained that during the officer’s tenure as acting Chief Constable, no recommendation had been made by Foo before he had proceeded on leave.
It was at this time that the Mayor interjected and pointed out that while the Chief Constable did not make any recommendations, the M&CC accepted the officer as chief constable.
“The Town Clerk had the right to take the responsibility and pay her… the Town Clerk is the responsible officer not the Chief Constable so don’t come with no fancy talk to me,” Chase-Green said.
However, King asked that both she and the rest of the Councillors allow the Human Resources Officer to finish explaining the situation before jumping to conclusions.
“Subsequently, the recommendation was sent to the legal affairs and security meeting at which it was accepted. However, that report coming before council was deferred and it was only accepted during the first meeting of November,” the woman said.
Having heard the full explanation, Chase-Green returned her attention to the Town Clerk, before pointing out that he is the officer who holds responsibility for the city constabulary.
“Deputy Chief Constable Bailey had resigned in excess of two years and there is nobody there. What has the Town Clerk done?” she questioned.
“Your worship can I ask that we look at this matter at a later time? There are a number of implications for all that is going on in the constabulary and we would need to look at it at a different forum….I can now say to the Council that the monies owed to the officer, those monies are being processed and she will be paid,” King said.
While heeding his request, Chase-Green indicated that she did not want the post remaining vacant and indicated the matter will be addressed in the new year.
However, not long after making her statement, Councillor Sherod Duncan took the floor to describe the situation as a travesty since he believed that had the superintendent been a man, he would have already been paid for his time spent as acting chief constable.
However, fellow Councillor Welton Clarke accused Duncan of pushing the “popular button” as it is not a matter of gender or inferiority. “She is going to be addressed as she deserves to be but let us not bring gender into this because the records will show that this Council is very lethargic and very slow on certain things,” he said.
Not far behind was Chase-Green who reminded Duncan that it was she, who raised the issue.
On the issue of payment as well, the Town Clerk was happy to note that all M&CC employees have been paid their December salaries.
