Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 11, 2020 News
Kaieteur News – City Mayor, Ubraj Narine, is clearing the air over what he believes is a mis-conception of the decision to have Solid Waste Director, Walter Narine, repay almost $900,000 for the collection of garbage in the city.
The Council is demanding that (Walter) Narine repay the monies which were billed by Puran Brothers Disposal Inc. for collecting garbage around the city last year.
Already, there have been talks from (Walter) Narine about taking legal action against the Council.
The incident unraveled during a statutory meeting of the Mayor and City Councillors (M&CC) of Georgetown, on Monday.
The Solid Waste Director has so far claimed he received permission from Town Clerk (Ag) Sharon Harry –Munroe to hire the contractor after the City Council’s truck encountered mechanical problems for a brief period, last year.
He explained that the truck was supposed to undergo repairs in one week but it ended up being in the workshop for two months.
As such,( Walter) Narine claimed that he hired the contractor to fill in until the truck became operable again. The Solid Waste Director is, therefore, adamant that moves by the Council to have him repay the money is unfair
“I will be pursuing legal course as soon as possible,” Narine told Kaieteur News in an invited comment yesterday.
However, City Mayor (Ubraj) Narine emphasized that the decision is not one which Council took on its own.
“The decision to have the Solid Waste Director repay the money was not taken at the level of the Council, but at the Local Government Commission. The Council is just acting on the recommendation of the Commission. So, there should be no issue between Mr. Narine and the Council,” the Mayor stated.
The Mayor explained, too, that prior to the Local Government Commission’s recommendation, “there was a meeting between officials of the council including myself, Mr. Narine and the former acting Town Clerk , Ms. Harry- Munroe.”
The Mayor said that “I was not even in the country. I joined the meeting via Whatsapp call and when Ms Harry-Munroe was questioned about the expense, she said that she had not given any permission for Mr. Narine to hire the contractor.”
“Mr. Narine then, took it upon himself to commit to repay the Council for sum. The minutes of that meeting was then forwarded to the Local Government Commission for advice. The recommendation was later made that Mr. Narine should repay the monies as he committed to do,” he explained.
The Mayor informed that a committee investigated the matter and recommended that the Solid Waste Director make a one-off payment of the monies and that recommendation was sent to the LGC which granted the approval.
“But, I was taking easy on Mr. Narine at the statutory meeting on Monday- I asked the Council to give the Solid Waste Director six months to repay the money on compassionate grounds, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That was not accepted by some of the Council but I intervened because I wouldn’t want the public to think that Mr. Narine is being treated unfairly,” the Mayor said.
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