The elections are over and the next stage begins although in several districts persons remain to be appointed by the Minister as a result of insufficient persons nominating.
The three District II Councils must now meet and appoint their statutory boards. These are the Councils of North, Central and South Abaco. In these larger districts, the work load is broken down with Council and Town Committee members issuing contracts and spending the money for their area maintenance. The three main Statutory Boards, Town Planning, Licensing and Port, then have the burden for reviewing and approving building permit applications, reviewing and issuing occupational licenses for buildings, making recommendations on issues related to the shore line and sea bed. Many of the issues considered by Port relate to the sea bed which is Crown Land and final decisions on Crown Land issues must come from Nassau.
The Hotel Licensing Board members follow up on the annual inspection carried out by Nassau officials to see that any deficiencies are corrected. They must ensure that the monthly room tax is collected. The Tourism Board is an optional board which makes recommendations to Council and others on items to improve our tourism image. Road Traffic is the last board and is comprised of members from North, Central and South Abaco. They meet quarterly and deal with rental car franchises, taxis, bus licences and other road traffic matters.
The four District III Councils of Moore’s Island, Grand Cay, Green Turtle Cay and Hope Town function comprehensively with all council and statutory board responsibilities. The reasoning is that a single group in a smaller district can easily handle the communities affairs.
Town Committee members and Council members receive a stipend for their services, whether a District II or III council member. Board members serving under a District II council are appointed volunteers serving without remuneration.
Councils are given a budget and pay the bills for area maintenance. District II councils share their money with the towns which look after local town maintenance. Since the Council is made of Town Committee members, the sharing process works out fairly well.
Boards get no money but make decisions affecting construction, parking, town growth and the use of buildings for commercial purposes such as a stores, restaurants or bars. We often report on items arising in the Central Abaco District and the Hope Town District Councils. These are the two most active districts in the Family Islands, yet they operate under the same rules as islands with less activity. Nine years have passed with locally elected persons looking after many of their town’s chores. Various suggestions have been made to the Department of Local Government for perceived improvements to The Act or the accompanying Regulations to make the system function smoother.
The only change affecting Abaco has been the designation of Green Turtle Cay as a District III Council, pulling them out of the North Abaco District. That will make it much easier for those elected on Green Turtle Cay as they can now conduct their affairs while staying on home territory.
Of all the Family Islands, central Abaco including the nearby cays has the largest and most diverse economy with
• a rapidly expanding and healthy economy
• the fastest growing population
• the second busiest airport in the country based on aircraft
traffic
• the largest freight port handling over 2000 tons weekly
• the two largest public schools with over 500 students in each
• the largest dump and waste collection system
• the two largest immigrant squatter settlements
• a huge maritime tourism industry
• a large and expanding base of supportive second homeowners
• the highest rate of return visitors
• a high level of real estate activity
• a surging construction economy
All of this combines to make the governing process much more complex than for districts with a slower economy, a static population or a slower paced tourism product. Although the districts here have what appears to be a substantial budgets, $1 million for Central Abaco, money is a constant problem in attempting to provide the necessary services to a growing and dynamic area.
The addition of a professional town manager for the Central Abaco district would make the governing process much smoother. This would not take away any of the authority or stature of the Chief Councillor, the Council or the Town Committees. A manager would take orders from Council and free the Chief Councillor of many of the daily burdens of the position.
A knowledgeable manager in the Local Government Office for the Central Abaco District would bridge the gap between The Act and the Regulations that govern the process and the elected persons who have volunteered their services but are not necessarily conversant with the rules they must abide by or any pending issues to be resolved. Someone familiar with proper contract issuance would either save money or at least ensure that government got its money’s worth for services being paid for.
Local government has its problems and many persons are quite discouraged for several reasons.
• a lack of adequate funding to maintain the towns
• responsible for only basic maintenance such as garbage collection and road verge cleaning
• a lack of concern for local issues by central government
• many persons nominating appear to want the position only for the title and the prestige and are not committed to improving their towns
• little or no funding available for capital improvements
However, we have to realize that if we did not have local government in place, many decisions now made locally would have to be sent to Nassau for approval. Many of us can remember the frustrations of that process. Even though local government has its drawbacks, we must work to make it effective. It will always need to be adjusted to accommodate current conditions. Communities change and local government has to be able to change to fulfill its mandate.
The boards have yet to be appointed and begin their work. While appointing members to these boards, the Councils must look into their communities and select individuals with knowledge, understanding and vision. The decisions made by the boards can impact a town’s character in subtle but disturbing ways if not done carefully.
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