Creation of St James Municipal Court depends on caseload

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:

Gerald Lee, secretary/manager of the St James Parish Council, says the municipal authority will have to drastically increase the number of cases it brings before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court in the parish if it hopes to be granted its own municipal court.

Lee made his comments during the regular monthly meeting of the council last Thursday. He said he has had discussions with members of the judiciary and the consensus was that if the council continues to only take a small number of cases before the court, its request for a municipal court could be deemed unnecessary and possibly denied.

Those discussions were held as a follow-up to a resolution passed by the council last year, seeking to have a municipal court established in the parish.

"I have had discussions with the chief justice on the matter, and I was assured that the matter is getting apt attention," Lee said. "Also, I have had discussions with the local resident magistrate, and she, too, is on board with the idea of the municipal court; however, she is awaiting a directive from the Ministry of Justice.

"But what is of note is that she has also made the point that although she is in favour of the municipal court, she has not seen enough cases coming from within the parish council right now to overwhelm the court. So, in other words, there is still room for her to take more cases from us outside of property taxes and trade licences. So we need to step up on that so we can strengthen our case for the municipal court," Lee said.

He added: "We are going to have to come up with a strategy to get some municipal matters before the court to get some resolution."

Mayor Glendon Harris, who chairs the St James Parish Council, said municipal matters have not been treated by the courts with the level of seriousness which they deserve.

"The reality is that the council and also the police - particularly the ISCF (Island Special Constabulary Force) - have been frustrated over the years by the way the courts have been treating these municipal matters and that has sort of caused them to drop their hands," the mayor said.

"We can recall the days when the ISCF had responsibility for environmental matters, and they went all out, but because of the way the court handled those things, they lost confidence in carrying out their duties in enforcing those municipal and environmental matters. So we can bring that to her attention," Harris added.