Examining the work of the M&CC Commission of Inquiry

Mar 16, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,

We, at City Hall, have always held and still do hold the view that citizens need to be kept informed on all issues directly affecting or influencing the management and governance of their local community, in particular, and their city, in general.

This is necessary for two reasons:

(i ) To encourage civic participation by key stakeholders in the way their local communities are managed by the Council, and

(ii) To encourage public sympathy and cooperation to our efforts to improve conditions in the city.

These two have a reciprocal effect on each other and tremendous influence on the general progress and development of the city of Georgetown. No public entity, the municipality of Georgetown included, can effectively manage its responsibility without the participation and cooperation of its shareholders or stakeholders.

However, citizens can only adequately participate if they are empowered to get involved.

Empowerment comes through knowledge and knowledge through timely, accurate and trusted information.

Last year, the Minister of Local Government, prompted by concerns raised in the 2007 Auditor General’s report, appointed a Commission of Inquiry to examine certain specific and general operations of the Council.

It is against this background we feel obliged to bring citizens up to date on the work of the Commission of Inquiry, albeit aware that the work is still in progress.

The Inquiry is currently in its fifth month and, while it is close to completion, some two months have passed since the original deadline for completion.

The Commissioner of the Inquiry, Mr. Keith Burrowes, has stated in several stories carried in the local press he was more concerned about the integrity of the findings and recommendations of the report than with expediency.

It should be noted that the Mayor and City Council is an extremely complex organisation with a culture that is over 100 years old; each department and units within those departments possess their own sub-cultures.

The Inquiry has necessarily therefore had to go beyond quick fixes or personalities. It must address the core problems we face at the council.

The ultimate result of the Inquiry must be the Council’s ability to develop a model that can actually spur organisational change and begin the process that would transform the municipality to a modem organisation with the capacity and competencies to deliver appropriate and quality services to the citizens of Georgetown.

The work of the Commission appears to have been constructed on two platforms: awareness and process. Let us now examine these two areas:

1. Awareness: This platform highlighted the significance of the Commission to council as well as to the public. It permitted all the key actors within and beyond the council to share information on their perceptions of the Council and their responsibilities towards the city of Georgetown.

Also, it provided a forum for members of the public with specific complaints and reports on any aspect of the city, to bring them before the commission in full public view and hearing of the officers and ordinary people attending the sessions.

At the same time, it provided the Commissioner with the opportunity to understand the deep-seated problems, which continue to stymie our advancement toward a modem city, and inhibit our attempts to improve conditions in the Georgetown.

2. Process: this platform allowed the Commissioner and officer corps of the municipality to interact, in an atmosphere of cordiality, on their specific statutory and supportive functions and duties. Senior management

officials and middle managers were required to make oral and written presentations on their official assignments and obligations, both on a one-on-one basis and in groups. This provided three distinct but related benefits:

(a) Facilitated inter-departmental and cross-departmental strategy of sharing and analysing information in every area of our responsibility.

This resulted in cross fertilization of ideas, enhanced and new strategies, more practical tactics and more coordination in our work. Again, this construct provided a useful tool for us to measure our performance in the 60 wards of Georgetown. Immediately, we were able to identify the gaps in our collective effort to change conditions in the city. For example, in April 1970, the city was extended from 2.5 sq. miles to 15 sq. miles.

The main disadvantage associated with this expansion was that, there was no accompanying plan to increase the capacity and resources of the council to service the additional areas. As a consequence, there was a concomitant decline in the ability of council to provide for the basic needs of the additional local communities.

(b) Allowed management to reflect in a deeper way on what they are required, by statute, to do, at the council, and how we can better serve citizens.

Reorganising the way we do things at City Hall has caused officers to reflect on the need for meaningful change to advance the interest of the citizens. As a result, officers are working to develop new and modem systems that would make our operations more democratic, more transparent and more participatory.

(c) Simultaneously, this platform has given the Commissioner insight into the functions and operations of the municipality.

It permitted him a clear picture of our way of thinking about our responsibilities and to understand our language and interrelationships.

However, it was particularly heartening to hear the Commissioner talk about the things that are actually going right, the systems that are working to provide service to the citizens of Georgetown.

It is a nice balance which could boost the spirits of city managers and give them the zeal to make a difference in the way the city is managed.

Royston King

Public Relations Officer Mayor and City Council

 

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