Officials in private hearings with Commissioners
A pall of uncertainty continues to hang over the administration of the Georgetown City Council as a Commission of Enquiry triggered by a report by the Office of the Auditor General into aspects of the financial management of the City Treasury unfolds.
The fact that two of the municipality’s most senior officials, Town Clerk Beulah Williams and City Treasurer Roderick Edinboro have been sent on leave to facilitate the work of the Commission of Enquiry is a clear indication of the seriousness of the assertions made in the report.
The report, released in July this year, pilloried City Hall for a slew of irregularities in its financial administration including what it says was a faulty computerized payment system that resulted in the overcharging and undercharging of ratepayers. The report also alludes to payments being made to some staffers at City Hall without the competent authority.
On the first day of the public hearings by the Commission of Enquiry which commenced in September only one member of the public turned up to give evidence and a City Hall source told Stabroek Business earlier this week that several weeks into the hearings only “a handful” of persons have shown up at the public hearings.
However, according to the source, several City Hall officials including Mayor Hamilton Green, the Town Clerk and the City Treasurer have been involved in private hearings with the Commission of Enquiry. The latter two officials are reportedly at the centre of the enquiry into some of the weaknesses in the decision-making processes and the administration of finances at City Hall.
Immediately prior to being sent on leave the Town Clerk had admitted in an interview with the Stabroek Business that there had been some procedural shortcomings in some of the decision-making processes at City Hall but strongly denied that any financial irregularities had been committed. Stabroek Business has learnt, however, that the work of the Commission includes the probing of possible misspending and irregularities in banking procedures by the municipality.
City Hall has been widely criticized for failure to make any real progress in the collection of millions of dollars in rates and taxes due to the municipality though the source told Stabroek Business that in recent months the Council has been able to make some headway in the collection of outstanding revenue. According to the source recent rates and taxes collection efforts have been focused on properties which, over time, had been converted from dwelling houses to business places such as storage bonds and stores but which had continued to pay rates and taxes applicable to dwelling houses. The source said that City Hall was continuing to focus on these defaulters and that while the preferred option was to have owners settle their obligations, the municipality was prepared to move to the courts where necessary.
Meanwhile, according to the source, the situation at City Hall “is far from normal” in the face of the ongoing probe. The source said that with Christmas just over two months away the municipality is yet to address arrangements for the anticipated surfeit of vendors likely to appear on city streets and pavements in a matter of weeks. According to the source while the Council is currently working with vendors to do repair and renovation works to the vendors’ arcade on Water Street the anticipated increase in the number of vendors will render it necessary to make other arrangements during the holiday period.
Asked whether the probe by the Commission of Enquiry was likely to be completed in the near future the source said that it was likely that the work of the Commission would be completed within the three-month time frame.
