Parking Meter report for Monday’s statutory meeting

…as City Hall prepares to file appeal to NBS ruling

The final report of the Parking Meter Re-Negotiation Committee is expected to be submitted to the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) at Monday’s statutory meeting.

Town Clerk Royston King made the disclosure at a press conference on Friday, noting that consultations with the parking meter company Smart City Solutions have concluded, and the committee, headed by APNU Councillor Akeem Peter, is in the final stages of preparing the report.
The committee being chaired by Councillor Peter consists of Councillors Noelle Chow-Chee (VC), Oscar Clark, Jameel Rasul, James Samuels, Heston Bostwick and Ivor Henry.
The Mayor has mandated that two members of the public also sit on the committee, and Civil Engineer Owen Godfrey Edwards and Accountant Robin Hunte have been selected in this regard.
The re-negotiation committee, according to the draft TORs, was tasked with engaging Smart City Solutions with a view to renegotiating the terms of the agreement entered into between the parties; and, more specifically, to seek to take into account the concerns raised and addressed in the reports of the Special Committee in relation to costs, fines, enforcement, profit-sharing, areas, times and other factors identified in relation to the project, and any other relevant actions as the committee may, in its discretion, determine; or as may be suggested by the general council. Upon completion of the negotiation period, the new committee would have to prepare a report.

Appeal
King added that the City’s Attorney, Roger Yearwood, has already drafted an appeal to the recent High Court ruling by Justice Nareshwar Harnanan, to scrap the parking meter by-laws. Justice Harnanan ruled that the procedure used to bring into effect the by-laws was breached, resulting in them being invalid. The notice of appeal is expected to be filed by Monday.
On January 23, 2017, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan signed the by-laws that were approved at the December 13, 2016 statutory meeting of the Council, and the M&CC had entered into a contract with Smart City Solutions Inc on May 13, 2016 for parking meters to be implemented in Georgetown.
However, the New Building Society, in February 2017, filed an injunction in the High Court challenging the legality of the city’s metered parking by-laws. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NBS, Anil Kishun, in an affidavit, noted that the approval granted is unlawful “in that it was done in breach of the Municipal and District Councils Act,” and is therefore “null and void, and of no legal effect.”
He outlined that the notice of intention to apply to the minister for the approval of any by-law must be published in the Official Gazette not less than 14 days before the application is made. Kishun, in his affidavit, stated that this was not done, and the provisions of Section 305 of the Act were not followed, thus the minister’s approval was granted unlawfully, unreasonably, without or in excess of jurisdiction, and in breach of the statute.
This ruling came after the re-negotiation committee was formed to renegotiate the contract with Smart City Solutions (SCS), and was at a point of inking a new agreement. Under the proposal, persons would be entitled to pay $100 per hour, and could park in any space, as opposed to the initial system in which they paid for space and time.