Gosling: ‘It’s business as usual. We will continue until the final day’
The Corporation of Hamilton will press ahead with long-term projects even though it could be disbanded within two years, according to the city’s mayor.
Charles Gosling also claimed that Thursday’s councillor election results showed that City residents were satisfied with the way the present administration was running the corporation.
The future of both the Corporation of Hamilton and the Corporation of St George are uncertain after the Government passed legislation reforming how the municipalities are run.
City Hall is now in a legal battle with the Government over the issue, and has taken its case to the Privy Council in London.
Speaking after the corporation’s team of councillors were sworn in at a ceremony yesterday, Mr Gosling said: “In terms of the day-to-day operations of the City are concerned, it’s business as usual — we will continue until the final day.
“If the decision goes against us it will give the Government carte blanche to do whatever they wish to do.
“There are no other avenues and we knew from the get go that our only recourse would be through the courts.”
Mr Gosling said that the administration will press ahead with upgrades to the City’s sewage treatment facility will continue, even though they will not be complete for several years.
He said: “That is an ongoing project. We’re in the final process of drawing up the plans and we have several million dollars set aside for this year to get into the building plans and actually start the project going forward.
“We’ve been very proud of the fact that we have not had any debt and this will get us in to debt, but it is going to be workable debt that we’re going to be able to pay off over ten or 15 years.”
Mr Gosling said the Privy Council appeal, which could be heard by the end of the year, will impact the constitutional rights of all Bermudians “in terms of the protection of their properties – something that is first and foremost in the constitution and should be recognised”.
Defending his administration’s record, he said: “The corporation has paved its way from the very get-go. It is not for any party to suddenly determine it is theirs and for their pleasure only.
“The original act of the corporation states very clearly that the monies of the council and those collected from the rate payers shall be invested for the upkeep of the city. We are willing to support the Government in any way we can, but our focus is directly on the city itself.”
Mr Gosling denied that the low turnout in Thursday’s elections was an indication of apathy among residents. Just 166 votes were cast out of 572 residents eligible to vote.
Three out of four of the corporation’ sitting resident councillors – RoseAnn Edwards, Jenefer Brimmer, and George Scott – retained their seats in Thursday’s election. But veteran councillor Henry Ming was replaced by newcomer Shawn Brown.
During yesterday’s ceremony, mayor Charles Gosling welcomed Mr Brown to the team, and also paid tribute to Mr Ming.
He said: “We have Shawn stepping in which means that unfortunately Henry Ming has stepped out. Henry has been a great guardian for the council. He was a past president of the Bermuda National Trust and a number of other organisations.
“He gave a good amount of gravitas to the decisions that were made by the council and we wish him well in his future endeavours.
“We have interesting days before us. I believe very much in the team aspect. It’s not only the team of the council it’s the team of the executive and the employers of the corporation and if we all work together we can do wonderful things together. ”
He said: “You can spin it so many ways. You can say that it is a the electorate were very happy with the way things were going and so why mess it up.”
Mr Gosling also questioned why the Government failed to put forward its own slate of councillors, who if elected, could have withdrawn the Privy Council appeal and assisted the Government in shutting down the municipality.
He said: “You have a government which has shown itself time after time to be extremely good at electioneering and getting out the vote and to be able to pinpoint the matters that are a concern to their members.
“They had the opportunity, just as anybody else, to put forward a slate of candidates to show once and for all to shut us up for ever, to bring in their candidates for them to run and to win and to show everybody that, yes, the majority of people want the corporations to be wound up. Why didn’t they do that? Because they knew what the result would be.
“I know the Government always says it was a part of their manifesto, but if you actually look at their manifestos, they talk about development of the waterfront, real estate development in north Hamilton, modernising the operations of the corporation, but there’s absolutely nothing in there about them taking it over.
“Whether the Government thinks we should be wound up in a heartbeat or whether we should continue, they should be in all regards supportive of the democratic process and I think that unfortunately uncovers their basic modus operandi.”
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