– M&CC says it will “call on its loyal friends with the appropriate resources to help”
The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has said that a ‘challenging’ period is ahead as it pertains to the collection and disposal of garbage within the Georgetown environs as disposal contractors Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers Disposal have “temporarily” pulled their services pending payments from the Council totaling some $300M for works done in the City.
Town Clerk, Royston King, in a released statement said “in the meantime, the administration of council will employ all of its resources using an inter-departmental approach to keep the city clean. A schedule of new collection arrangement and advisories will be published in the local media shortly.”
Moreover, he said that “the council will also call on its loyal friends with the appropriate resources to help to secure the integrity of the general environment of the City of Georgetown.”
See full statement:
The Mayor and City Council wishes to inform the public that its two garbage collection and disposal contractors – Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers Disposal – have temporarily withdrawn their services from the Georgetown Municipality. The council owes the contractors over ($300M) for works done in the City. Solid Waste Management is an extremely expensive exercise to the City; it accounts of 9.1% of the total budget of Council. This does not include other Public Health and Environmental services related to this aspect of Council’s responsibility. The monthly payment to both contractor is Forty Five Million dollars ($45M).
Earlier this year, the council and its partners (the contractors) reached an agreement, which in substance said, that the City Treasurer would focus on payment of the current accounts while working to fine a modus vivendi to settle the outstanding debts for 2016.
However, Council’s limited financial resources combined with its conduct to its employees and statutory obligations to provide a wide range of vital municipal services to local communities has facilitated a payment delay on the current accounts of the contractors for 2017. As a result, the Council entered into discussions with the two (2) contractors and offered a proposal going forward to settle its accounts with them. The proposal is with our contractors and the Council awaits their counter proposal and general reaction to it.
In the meantime, the administration of council will employ all of its resources using an inter-departmental approach to keep the city clean. A schedule of new collection arrangement and advisories will be published in the local media shortly.
The council will also call on its loyal friends with the appropriate resources to help to secure the integrity of the general environment of the City of Georgetown.
The Council anticipates full cooperation of all of its residents in all local neighbourhoods to support its effort, in this particular challenging period, by ensuring that they store their garbage in a proper manner, and that they wait on our collection trucks. Citizens should desist from dumping and littering their immediate and general surroundings.
Also, the City Treasurer’s Department has intensified its revenue collection drive to recover outstanding sums owed by corporations and individual property owners. Council needs every cent of its money owed by defaulters to continue to provide essential city services including: drainage, street lighting, designing and developing of green open spaces, enforcement of compliance with the city’s by-laws, maintenance of cemeteries, markets, pumps, and allied facilities, public health, community and environmental services, maternal and child welfare, markets, roads, building inspections and a host of others.
The Mayor and City Council will continue to keep the public inform on this issue going forward.
