Georgetown: The Georgetown Municipality sent out a team of Officers to the Linden Municipality on an exchange visit to the Linden Town Council. The visit was a follow-up based on a request from the Linden Town Clerk seeking the assistance of the Georgetown City Council.
The Officers of the Georgetown Municipality were required to work for two days in Linden examining systems, policies and procedures in the various Departments of the Linden Municipality.
Officers were required to provide a critical review of the operations of both Municipalities. In the evaluation; the team from Georgetown was required to examine strengths, weakness and best practices in the various Departments. They were also required to identify similarities and differences in operations between the two Municipalities.
Town Clerk of Linden Jonellar Bowen, said the Linden Town Council is faced with many challenges, but the two Municipalities can work together to craft plausible solutions.
Linden Town Clerk said that the challenges faced by the Linden Municipality include; a narrow revenue base, high staff turnover and the inability of the Linden Municipality to attract and retain qualified professionals.
The chairman of the Interim Management Committee, Mr. Orin Gordon welcomed the Group noting that the visit was a timely one, since the Municipality is at the juncture of a political transition. He noted that the Guyana Association of Municipalities and the Town Clerk Association would help the Municipality in capacity building and furtherance of good governance. Therefore, it is important that theses organization be functional.
The Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM) was the brainchild of the Late Deputy Mayor Robert Williams; it was established to build capacity of Local Government Organs.
During the discussion Officers noted that the increase in revenue base is vital for the Municipalities to remain economical viable to provide sustained services to the citizenry. Therefore, Municipalities would have to explore other areas to garner revenue to sustain its works and if necessary expand its operations.
Also, for Municipalities to remain relevant its employees must be trained and retrained in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and other relevant areas. The Officers expressed the view that it is imperative that Municipalities restructure their operation in critical areas to meet the service needs of the population.
The Georgetown City Treasurer Ron Mc Almont and Linden’s City Treasurer were able to examine the accounting systems employed by the Linden Municipality; the Georgetown City Treasurer shared his knowledge and expertise on ways the systems can be improved. He noted that there is need to computerized tax information. He further noted that the Georgetown Municipality tax system is computerized but the Georgetown Municipality would be employing a more efficient system that would reduce the time Ratepayers have to wait to honour their obligations to Council, and rates information would be made accessible online.
Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Harry Munroe shared her knowledge on administration and records keeping and record Management; specifically relating to statutory agendas and minutes.
The Georgetown Municipality has agreed to provide training in several areas which will include immediate training to City Constabulary Officers of Linden.
The two Municipalities have agreed to reintroduce the Inter Municipal Games and Municipal Day of Sports. This is necessary to build the comradery among local Government Officers.
The Georgetown Municipality would facilitate secondment of Officer from the Linden Municipality.
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