Local government was established in the Family Islands in 1996 and is now into the fourth three-year term. The intention was to bring government closer to the people, to let local people make the decisions affecting their communities. The present councils and town committees demit office at the end of June 2008 with newly elected persons taking office in July.
In July of this year the three councils on the Abaco mainland will either perpetuate the statutory boards or appoint new chairmen and board members as two years is their term limit. These three Second Schedule District Councils are the North Abaco, Central Abaco and South Abaco Councils. The three boards with the most activity are Town Planning, Licensing and Port Authority.
Our four Schedule III Councils, Hope Town, Green Turtle Cay, Grand Cay and Moore’s Island, have one more year to serve. These four councils are all inclusive and incorporate the authority of statutory boards.
Our observations suggest the program has yielded reasonable results when judged by the following:
• mowing the grass in school yards, parks and public areas
• mowing and cleaning roadside verges
• picking up residential trash
• minor maintenance to schools and public buildings
• issuing of shop licenses (Not the annual business licenses)
• issuing of building permits
The local government process has not been particularly successful when measured by the ability to
• maintain or impose town or neighborhood values
• refuse or limit undesirable businesses
• hold the mandated public meeting prior to preparing the budget
• attempt planning for future growth
• seek methods to improve traffic congestion
• request help or just get Nassau’s attention
• successfully lobby for adequate funding
• allow residents to see how local budgets are spent
• attract sincere elected or appointed candidates
• interact successfully with governmental agencies
• have government agencies seek and value local opinions
At the national level, government has not been attentive to the successes, failures or shortcomings of local government. The process is somewhat akin to giving a child his allowance to keep him quiet and sending him off.
Over the past five or more years, government has alluded to revisions to the Local Government Act. The general tone of these announcements was that Local Government would be given more power and authority. Recently, legislation was said to be under consideration to improve the system but no details were released other than to say administrators were to be classed as grade 1, 2, 3 or 4. That was not particularly informative.
The changes were not introduced in Parliament and any revisions must now come from the newly elected government.
District councils are assigned geographical territories which is a logical choice given the Bahamas archipelagic nature. However, in the case of Central Abaco it would make more sense to consider area economics when defining boundaries instead of arbitrary lines between communities.
Many of our central Abaco towns are intrinsically linked by tourism, high school education, medical facilities, shipping and freight handling, workers commuting to and from towns, garbage disposal and airport activity.
Our local government elected and appointed officials have offered their time to manage and solve local problems. The fact that they are now sitting on a council, committee or statutory board does not make them an expert on the topics they are presented with. Neither does their official position suggest that they no longer need to consult with their communities. They still must delve into current and future issues at the local level and seek appropriate solutions.
Conversely, elected officials and civil servants in Nassau are not intimately privy to all of our problems and acceptable options to resolve them. There needs to be much more interplay and consultation between governmental agencies, both local and central, and affected residents.
We may not always have the best solution but neither is government’s solution always good. When serious differences arise and unpopular decisions must be made, reasons should be forthcoming. The greater good to the community-at-large often over-rides local objections. An example was government’s purchase of private land several years ago to facilitate Marsh Harbour’s port expansion.
Several years ago, Green Turtle Cay was separated from the North Abaco Council and given singular status as a Schedule Three Council. Its economy is similar to that of Hope Town, Man-O-War or Guana Cay. This seems to be working well and this model should be extended to most of the towns in Central Abaco.
Even greater goals could be accomplished if the central Abaco economies could be combined with the Hope Town Council merging with Central Abaco Council. This would give continuity to the governing process and recognize the economic engine of Central Abaco.
The individual towns should then begin control of their own town’s decisions for town planning, licensing and port authority. This would streamline the appeal process by giving a local but higher authority, the Council, to hear appeals. Further appeals would then go to Nassau.The other major change needed is to recognize the dynamic growth and the economic impact of Central Abaco and give local government a town manager who would take orders from the Council. This qualified person would give continuity and order to the process. A million dollar budget could use some professional management help. Savings from effective management would probably offset the person’s salary. The position of town manager would also provide excellent training for future administrators or other government positions.
Whether you agree or disagree with the style of the four chief Councillors who have served to date in Central Abaco, they all concede that the demands on a person’s time are severe, particularly when considering they all had full time jobs.
The first local government secretary in Central Abaco was a college graduate in governmental studies and performed at a managerial level even though the job description did not indicate this. We are referring to the council’s working secretary, not the administrator’s position as an executive secretary to the council.
The person in this managerial position could lend assistance and guidance to the other chief councillors and the councils’ secretaries. Administrators must now teach new councillors and committee members their chores and obligations as well as the limitations imposed on local government. In this district, a city manager would relieve the administrator of some of his managerial burdens.
To those who complain that local government is not effective, we can only ask if they would prefer to relinquish what little power is held locally to let a bureaucrat in Nassau make these decisions?
It was the Ingraham government that originally instituted local government. Perhaps during this new five-year term, again headed by him, Mr. Ingraham will encourage and implement further changes to the system. We hope that the Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for Local Government will consult with those close to the system.
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