St Catherine councillors want revamped ALGAJ

Councillors at the St Catherine Municipal Corporation started their new term calling for a revamped and active Association of Local Government Authorities of Jamaica (ALGAJ).

At the first general meeting of councillors on Thursday, they noted that there has been no meeting of the association in a very long time.

"We need to have our situation dealt with, as ALGA is doing nothing for us as councillors," minority leader Theresa Turner-Flynn said.

"There will have to be an AGM, as this is a new term for councillors. Moreover there hasn't been one for seven years,"  Mayor Norman Scott said.

However, Scott told the councillors that their voices would be more effective when their obligations to pay their dues are dealt with. 

"We first have to regularise ourselves here with our financial obligations, as my checks revealed that some councillors had stopped their payments," the mayor said.

In the meantime, councillor for the Westchester division, Renair Benjamin, used the first meeting to call for responsibility for garbage collection to be returned to the local corporations.

"I do believe that the people would be better represented if garbage collection returned to the Corporation where we can serve the communities better," Benjamin said.

Benjamin said he was recently promised night collection, but none is being done while residents suffer the inconvenience.

Parish manager for the National Solid Waste Management Authority, Andre Gooden, told the councillors that the entity is doing its best to ease the problem of garbage pile-up. 

- Rasbert Turner

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