Questions mount on the City Council

Jun 26, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor;
Most reasonable people would agree that Georgetown is in need of parking meters for parking regulation and revenue generation. Reasonable people will also agree that the way the city council went about contracting for this services and communicating its pending introduction to the public, is greatly lacking in transparency.
Firstly, a lame duck council executed a contract a few months before a new council is elected. Apparently this was too important to wait for input from the new council even though the proposal was initially submitted 20 years ago. Secondly, the mayor and team take off on a “due diligence of the contractor” trip, AFTER the contract is signed.
Due diligence should be done BEFORE the contract is signed and used as leverage to secure better deal from the contractor. Any trip after a contract is signed should be considered a vacation since at that point you have no leverage. Thirdly, and most egregiously, the contractor paid for the trip.
This is a conflict of interest. How can one claim to be performing “due diligence” on a contractor while that contractor is providing transportation, food and housing? All of this creates the appearance of impropriety.
This is unfortunate because this may be a good deal but no one is going to believe it is because of the way it was put together. However, if the mayor can shed some light on the following items, it may mitigate the situation:
1. Why was there no competitive bidding?
2. What is length of contract?
3. What are contract termination terms?
4. Who will be responsible for revenue collection? If it’s the contractor, how will the city ensure it receives its share?
5. Was an analysis of the contractors’ costs done to validate that 80% of revenue to the contractor is competitive for this service?
6. What alternatives to parking meters were considered? How about a small tax on gasoline sold in the city? In this scenario the city could have gained a 100% of revenue instead of 20%.
7. Is the 20% on a sliding scale? That is; will it rise and fall as revenue raises and falls?
8. Does a minimum revenue threshold has to be met before the city can share in revenue?
9. What are the projected initial parking rates?
10. Will council approval be required for rate increases?
Darren Braithwaite

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News