Two months after a Judge ordered that he be paid his almost $30 million in outstanding benefits and in spite of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council’s repeated commitment to honour the ruling, former Town Clerk Royston King is yet to receive any payment.
According to minutes of the Council’s statutory meeting, held on July 11, 2022, Mayor Ubraj Narine has laid the blame for non-compliance with the court order at the feet of the Local Government Commission (LGC), which he has accused of misguiding officers who, he said, know what is required by the law.
According to minutes of a June 27th, 2022 meeting, also seen by this newspaper, Town Clerk (ag) Vanessa Simon-Brown, against whom King’s action for benefits was filed, informed the Council that a letter would be sent to the LGC “seeking a directive” on the matter.
The Court had by that time handed down its ruling more than three weeks earlier—June 3rd.
The Town Clerk stated the reason for seeking the Commission’s directive as being the very court matter, which the LGC had previously described as “ongoing.”
From the meeting’s minutes, however, Mayor Narine reported being in receipt of a letter from King’s attorney which referenced the court order for King to be paid all of his outstanding benefits. He then noted the Commission’s previous request that Council withhold any payment until the Court had made a pronouncement.
With that having been done, the Mayor said that the LGC could not then “suppress” the ruling of the court.
Noting the Council’s readiness to comply with the court’s ruling, Narine, according to the minutes of the meeting, said that 24 days had been given from June 3, to commence payment, and that the Council needed to stand by the ruling, which ought to have been also complied with by the Town Clerk.
The Mayor said that when the decision was taken that King be paid, the Town Clerk wrote the Commission “seeking permission,” with a response from the Commission that “they await the court order.”
“The Local Government Commission has no authority since [it] could not suppress a court order,” Narine said at the meeting, before adding that the Council was in receipt of the order from the Court and was ready to abide by it.
Councillor Patricia Chase-Green had at the time raised concerns of the Council being held in contempt with the passage of time.
Councillor Oscar Clarke had noted, too, that at the time, the Finance Committee had not been approached on the matter, with the Mayor adding that the Administration was not updating the Council on matters surrounding the issue.
According to the minutes of the July 11 meeting, Narine said he “does not have favouritism at the Council, but [there are] some officers who know the law, but the Local Government Commission [has] suppressed those officers.”
Through his attorney, Patrice Henry, King has given the acting Town Clerk repeated notice—with the most recent being a week ago—of his intention to commence contempt proceedings against her due to her failure to abide by the court order.
Meanwhile, the Town Clerk’s attorney, Darren Wade, had previously written to her, warning that she was in contempt and needed to ensure compliance with the court’s order.
On June 3, Justice Franklyn Holder granted King orders he was seeking to be paid his outstanding salaries, benefits, allowances and vacation leave from February 1, 2019.
Back in September, 2019, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall overturned the decision of the LGC to discipline King based on recommendation from a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the operations of City Hall.
Ruling on the challenge mounted by King, Justice Morris-Ramlall declared that the LGC acted unlawfully when it delegated its investigatory powers to an entity which was not a local government organ or authority and therefore the inquiry, its conclusions, findings, recommendations and the evidence obtained by it were all declared null and void.
She issued two Orders—the first quashing the decision to set up the CoI and the second quashing the decision to institute disciplinary action against King.
The Judge, however, refused to grant orders which King sought among other things, to be paid all of his superannuation benefits until retirement on January 29, 2020.
He was also refused an order seeking costs and aggravated/exemplary damages for the deprivation of his benefits while on administrative leave, and pension rights.
Following an application by King for judicial review, however, Justice Holder ordered that he be paid the total sum of $27,156,582 owed to him in benefits.
The Judge also ordered that he be paid interest at 6% per annum from February 15, 2019, when he filed his claim, to September 13, 2019, when Justice Morris-Ramlall’s delivered her ruling; and 4% from that date until fully paid.
Further, the Town Clerk has been ordered to pay to King, costs in the sum of $250,000.
The amounts owing which were granted by Justice Holder are basic salary calculated at $558,579 for the period February 1, 2019 to January 29, 2020, which amounted to $6,702,948.
Meanwhile, his monthly allowances—entertainment, travelling, duty and housing—for the same period, amounted to $1,612,980.
The next assessment was granted for reduced pension of his pensionable 31 years of service and gratuity; all totalling $15,844,166.
His vacation leave benefits stands in total at $2,996,488.
