More views on local government

By the time this paper is out, we will know which candidates were elected to our town committees. We must remember that those who nominated and those who were successful have volunteered to serve their respective towns to the best of their abilities.

In itself, being elected does not add any additional expertise to those individuals. They are the same persons with the same knowledge that they had before. Some may have managerial, trade or other knowledge which they may be helpful but the vast majority are ordinary folks willing to help their communities within the local government system.

Within the next week, these new town committees must meet, choose their chairman, deputy chairman and the members who will represent them on the district council.

In general, councils have more authority than the town committees and resolve the broader issues which are related to all the towns within the district. For Central Abaco, this includes the airport, dump, two public schools, the clinic and perhaps some highway cleaning leading north and south from the district.

Some items have duel caretakers. For instance, the airport comes under the authority of Civil Aviation with many aspects being handled by them. Grounds maintenance, at least on the public side of the fence, trash removal and janitorial staff are the responsibility of local government.

Abaco’s four District II councils will appoint their statutory boards with representation being divided among the towns within the district. These boards make the decisions that have long range implications for the area. With no zoning standards, they impose zoning on an ad hoc basis as situations arise. Strong and thoughtful boards will use their best judgement to see that town standards are maintained. They are not immune to changes, but they must recognize change and move with the times while looking out for their constituents.

Councils and town committees spend money for area maintenance and upkeep. The boards have no money but make decisions affecting residential and commercial interests off into the future.
Many of the elected persons will be newcomers and will have to learn their role and learn how to effect they changes they long for. Those who are re-elected have a head start with knowledge of the system.

However, there are few persons in our opinion now serving at the local government level with any in-depth knowledge of the system or how to best accomplish their goals within the system.

By early August the various components of local government should be up and running and many persons will go to a local government conference in Freeport to better learn their roles. This is somewhat like learning to fly an airplane in an intensive two-day course - it can’t be done. However, the delegates will be exposed to many aspects of the system and will return home with an enthusiasm to get started.

One of the common obstacles usually faced by local government persons is the lack of adequate funds to do all that they think should be done. In the past, this has led to some innovate partnerships, typically using local government funding for materials and volunteer labour to accomplish the job. Even for many jobs requiring a contractor’s expertise, using local help gets more results than the older concept of bringing in a Nassau contractor who must factor in housing and transportation for his crew. There are several examples on Abaco where various partnership arrangements have been beneficial. Our smaller settlements on the offshore cays seem to be particular adroit at forming these partnerships - Green Turtle Cay, Guana Cay, Man-O-War, Elbow Cay. Cherokee and Sandy Point have successfully partnered for the community good. There are probably other towns that have followed this route.

The recently restructured Hope Town District II Council faces an uncertain challenge. Once they allocate their budget to the three towns, then appoint their four statutory boards, they may have a nine or ten month period of inactivity. They have very little between them in common. They have no airport, clinic, dump, school or other common facility. Perhaps they will get involved in philosophical issues such as the environment, tourism matters or traffic concerns. Although they are not connected by road, golf carts are a predominant vehicle and present similar challenges in the three towns.

Vehicle franchises such as cart rentals would normally be dealt with by Road Traffic but the Local Government Act does not address the situation as would be encountered in the three-island district of Hope Town with no common road between them. Perhaps the individual town committees will be authorized to pass judgement on these matters.

The nature of the previous District III Hope Town Council allowed all matters of the three towns to be resolved at one monthly meeting. Depending on the agenda, this may have taken three or occasionally four or more hours.

Under the their new District II Council, the three towns will have individual town committees handling their own maintenance and upkeep chores without reference or interference to the other two towns. However, they are now saddled with four statutory boards with members from the three towns on each board. Each of these four boards will meet monthly with members congregating on one of the three island settlements.

This is government’s third attempt to resolve local government issues inherent to these three towns. With no direct transportation between these settlements, local government members must either have access to a boat or take a ferry into Marsh Harbour, then transfer to another ferry to the desired town. An evening meeting may require one or more charter ferries to get to a meeting or to return home. It appears that the administrator, who is the executive secretary to local government, will be riding the ferry eight times a month from Marsh Harbour. Whether this new arrangement will prove to be satisfactory remains to be seen.

The differences causing administrative problems between these three towns has more to do with the physical separation and distance between each island rather than philosophical issues. The three towns tend to view their individual town circumstances much more conservatively than the neighbouring commercial center of Marsh Harbour. A variety of suggestions have been offered as to a better local government managerial system but they all require minor changes to the Local Government Act.

Green Turtle Cay was originally paired with the North Abaco District administered in Cooper’s Town. It faced similar transportation issues that the Hope Town District now contends with. It was given singular status six or more years ago and it seems to be functioning well.

It will probably be late August or early September when our new local government bodies stabilize and begin their serious work.

We hope that their agendas will go beyond assigning school custodians and repairing toilets. We need people in place with vision who will look beyond tomorrow. Abaco is facing a period of explosive growth and it behooves all of us to see that our new district councils work effectively on major issues and that we give them our support.