“Troubling” decisions, double-dealing at City Hall eroding public trust – Town Clerk

Town Clerk Candace Nelson has outlined that growing concerns over financial and administrative decisions taken by the cash-strapped Georgetown Mayor and City Council are having a negative impact on operation of the entity and on public trust.
At a press conference on Thursday, the Town Clerk uncovered several instances where the Council had taken decisions without the requisite authority and without due procedure.

“The Council has been attempting to instruct me to carry out decisions that are troubling, unreasonable and ultra vires. The council has been taking decisions without proper organisational or legal authority,” she revealed.
The Council had lost a case against Houston Estate for the payment of rates, and was thereby required to comply with the subsisting ruling of the court, part of which is the issuance of compliance certificates. It has received legal advice to comply with the order. However, Nelson said she discovered an alarming revelation.
“I discovered a file in which His Worship advised the former Town Clerk not to regard that advice, and in fact continued to prevent Houston Estate from being issued with the requested documents. Even after that was brought to the attention of the Council, the Mayor insisted that the Council should not give certificates to the estate.”
In keeping with the Municipal and District Council’s Act, Nelson said she used the authority conferred on her to issue the certificate.
The Town Clerk said it appears as though Mayor Ubraj Narine is preventing the issuance of compliance and sanitisation certificates to Houston Estate and Giftland Group, but unilaterally wrote another corporation with outstanding payments with the intention of granting a temporary certificate. This ‘double-dealing’, she noted, cannot be continued.
“In practice and policy, there is no policy for temporary sanitisation certificates. And the issuing of those facilities is managed by administration, not policy-makers. This kind of doubling-dealing and lack of consistency on the part of the Council (is) affecting the reputation, image and treasury of the Council. It is continually eroding public trust, respect and confidence in the authority and work of the municipality.”
On another matter, she brought up the issue of disrespectful behaviour that has been meted out to her since her appointment in July, 2021. This is particularly from male Councillors, to whom she referred as ‘chauvinists’. At previous statutory meetings, she had asked for protection against such conduct, but according to her, it is usually ignored.
“I have been enduring intense pressure and persecution from His Worship and a clique of Councillors. They have managed to create a very negative and hostile work environment. It is not only affecting the general and specific operations, but systems of the Council to deliver vital municipal services to citizens…I am consistently humiliated at those meetings, and in many other ways. It is so bad that, on occasions, I have had to ask for the protection from the Chair – the Mayor. My requests have been largely ignored. I tend to raise this matter with the appropriate organisations before the end of this month,” the Town Clerk told media operatives.
For operations to run smoothly, Nelson is seeking to iron out such matters with the Mayor in the best interest of the municipality and citizens within its scope. Calls made by this publication to the Mayor for a comment on this development proved futile. (G12)