St James Parish Council delegation bound for Atlanta
WESTERN BUREAU — Mayor of Montego Bay, councillor Hugh Solomon will next month lead a delegation from the St James Parish Council to Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to deepen economic and technical ties with that American city.
In making the announcement, secretary/manager, Christopher Powell, told the recent regular monthly meeting that the delegation’s activities will include discussions with City Hall of Atlanta and the staging of town meetings with Jamaican residents in that city.
The cities of Atlanta and Montego Bay were twinned in 1972 in a move the council had hoped would provide significant benefits for the city of Montego Bay.
Since then, several trade delegations from Atlanta have visited the city with a view to deepen economic corporation between the Sister Cities. For the last ten years, the two cities have collaborated in staging annual health fairs in Montego Bay.
Last year, a host of volunteer doctors and nurses from Atlanta participated in the health fair. The team, which was led by Jamaica’s honorary consul in Atlanta and chairman of the Sister City committee, Vin Martin, included specialists in the areas of ophthalmology, gynaecology, dentistry and podiatry.
However, Powell said the council now wanted to expand on the Sister City relationship.
“Apart from the annual health fairs, we are now trying to get some form of technical assistance in the sense that we have a planner who is going to go up there (Atlanta) to work with their planner,” Powell told the Observer.
“He will get a chance to see how they deal with planning and compliance,” the secretary/manager added.
Powell said the council’s superintendent of road and works would also be a part of the delegation and he would be dealing with the areas of traffic management and road construction and maintenance.
“Revenue enhancement and areas of culture will also be looked at,” the secretary/manager added.