New parking meter contract to be drafted

Sep 14, 2017 News

– Calls made for further suspension of Parking Meter by laws

A new contract for paid parking is expected to be drafted by officials of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, (M&CC) within the coming weeks.
City Hall announced on Tuesday that a decision was taken to implement the first recommendation of drafting a new contract.
The contract, according to officials attached to the Council will be drafted by a team consisting of members of the Georgetown M&CC and persons from civil society.
The full Council at a Statutory meeting held last week, Councillors were largely in favour of the option that the contract and project should be squashed.
As such, Mayor Patricia Chase Greene has instructed the Town Clerk Royston King to write the Minister of Communities requesting a further suspension of the parking meter by-laws.
The Parking Meter renegotiating committee had submitted to the council a report stating the findings of the committee and recommendations for the fiat of the council.
The Committee recommended that before the Council could continue the Metered Parking System with Smart City Solutions,(SCS) it has the option of addressing and resolving all of the points/ findings listed in this report, under findings of public consultations general concerns and review of contract.
The Committee had recommended that the council host public meetings to apprise all stakeholders of the findings of the committee and to articulate and further discuss the area that should be included in the new contract.
The Council also had the option of rescinding the contract with SCS Inc., leaving the city without any parking meters, or continue with a Metered Parking System in accordance with the legal and transparent process as outlined in the Municipal and District Councils Act 28:01.
The Committee stipulated “due diligence must be observed as it relates to any new agreement.”
Council has the option of rescinding the contract with SCS Inc. and set up and manage its own parking meter system, in accordance with the legal and transparent process as outlined in the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01 or await the outcome of pending court proceedings on the subject matter.
Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, had expressed Government’s position that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council is free to negotiate a new contract for paid parking, or make changes to the already existing contract, following objections from civil society.
Members of the public had raised objections over a decision by some members of the council to sign an agreement with the overseas based Smart City Solutions to provide parking meters for the city.
Minister Bulkan had therefore met with the council to have the matter resolved.
Bulkan had said that while the Government recognised the need for a solution to address traffic congestion in the city, adequate consultations should be conducted before the project can be implemented.
He said too that the central government recognized the need for the M&CC to raise revenue, but a committee must be set up to proceed with its consultations as though a contract never existed.
He explained that with this approach, the committee does not have to return to the already existing contract but is free to negotiate a new contract with a different company.

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