King to be proceed on administrative leave today

City Hall COI

Town Clerk Royston King is expected to proceed on administrative leave with effect from today, as the Local Government Commission (LGC) prepares to commence its five-week probe into the operations of the Mayor & Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC). Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Greene has announced that Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Munroe will perform King’s duties in his absence.
The Town Clerk was instructed to proceed on administrative leave following receipt of a letter issued to the M&CC by the Local Government Commission (LGC), which called for a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to probe City Hall’s questionable expenditures and operations. That CoI, headed by Justice (retd) Cecil Kennard, will begin public hearings on September 24, and is expected to conclude its assignment on October 31. Necessary actions will be taken by the Commission after conclusions are drawn from the inquiry. Since this announcement was made, senior officials at the M&CC have refrained from answering any question relative to further activities at City Hall. Confronted by sections of the media for a comment at Monday’s statutory meeting of the Council, Mayor Chase-Green said, “I have no comment!” as she was whisked away in her vehicle. This development comes just two months prior to the holding of Local Government Elections to elect a new executive body that would oversee activities at the Council.
It has been claimed that this development became necessary, since numerous complaints had been made by employees of the Council and other agencies regarding the expenditure and decisions being taken by the Council.
Sections of the LGC letter referred to the urgency that is needed for the inquiry, and as such, all areas which were highlighted will be examined.
City Hall’s managing committee has, for ages, complained about the lack of funding, which stands in stark contradiction with its excessive spending. Concerns were raised over this issue, and it was noted that while the City Hall building is in need of repair, millions of dollars were being squandered excessively.
This year, $57 million allocated to the Council by Central Government was given to City Councillors to facilitate community projects. Additionally, some $58 million was used to buy furniture for the Office of the Town Clerk, and other large sums were set aside to purchase vehicles and machinery for the said office.
King’s office was also given $4 million for overseas trips, and $550,000 for local travel expenses, all approved by the Council. Electricity charges also have this year been hiked from $5 million to $9 million. The excessive spending continued with another $17 million being allocated to the Council’s City Week celebrations, which occurred a few weeks ago even though funds are desperately needed to restore the City Hall building, since sections of the structure have been deemed “unsafe”.