KSAMC minority leader chides mayor over probe of Charlemont Drive development

By Nakinskie Robinson   

 

Chairman of the Minority Caucus in the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation, Andrew Swaby, has criticised Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams for what he says is a sluggish response to investigating the breaches in relation to the development at 11 Charlemont Drive.

 

The property is owned by President of the National Water Commission Mark Barnett and his wife, and is the subject of an Integrity Commission report and subsequent ruling by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

 

Mr. Swaby, who was speaking with the media on Tuesday, argued that the issues highlighted and the recommendations made in the Director of Public Prosecution's ruling have plagued the local authority for several years:

 

"These are issues that have dogged the KSAMC even as far back as 2021. On January 2022, the Minority Caucus identified some of the issues coming out of some court rulings and in the public domain, and we have put resolution on the table to the KSAMC which the mayor refused to take. As a result, we had resigned from the Building and Town Planning Committee."

 

Mr. Swaby, who is councillor for the Vineyard Town division, said none of the recommendations put forward by the minority councillors was ever implemented by Mayor Williams.

 

The recommendations include investigations into all reports about breaches reported to the KSAMC. 

 

Calling the mayor's approach nonchalant, Mr. Swaby cited a recent release by Mayor Williams that an internal investigation into the Charlemont Drive development was being carried out.

 

"As far as I'm aware, we should have been having the results of the internal investigation. I believe that he is trying to buy time on this one," the minority leader argued. 

 

Mr. Swaby further argued that the Corporation's probe into the inspections and approvals on the structure owned by Mr. Barnett and his wife has come two years too late.

 

But Councillor Swaby also took issue with the power structure within the KSAMC. 

 

"We have to talk about separation of powers. It can't be where the same person who recommend to the committee for that approval is the same person doing the enforcement. Clearly, there has to be a line of demarcation in terms of one set of persons who are dealing with enforcement and a set of persons who are recommending the approval," he suggested.   

 

He said the minority caucus stands ready to assist the KSAMC in improving its operations.

 

The minority caucus comprises 17 councillors from the People's National Party, out of the 40 divisions in the KSAMC.

 

Last week, the KSAMC said the controversial multi-family residential development owned by the Barnetts was the subject of an internal investigation that will take into account the variation in reports by inspection officers of the Corporation and the National Environment and Planning Agency.