WESTERN BUREAU — Allegations of impropriety at the St James Parish Council’s 10.5-acre Bogue Lands in Montego Bay are among the range of issues to be addressed by the new parish council, newly elected mayor, Noel Donaldson vowed Thursday.

“There are issues relating to the lands at Bogue, which are held in trust by the parish council on behalf of the people of St James, which will be given our urgent attention, I assure you,” Donaldson said after he was sworn in as the resort city’s new mayor.

His comment comes in the wake of the Local Government Ministry’s announcement, last week, that it had launched an independent probe into the issue. There have been allegations that the Council, which was then under the control of the ruling People’s National Party, had leased lands to councillors and their family members.

The Local Government Ministry has yet to indicate when the probe will be undertaken or by whom.

But in the interim, Donaldson said, the new Council — with its complement of 11 Jamaica Labour Party councillors and four from the PNP — would seek to regain public trust through improved accountability and efficiency.

“On behalf of my colleagues I pledge to you a new type of leadership for the St James Parish Council. (It is) a leadership that will focus on the timely delivery of quality services to the citizens of our parish and one that will (refrain) from any embrace of the corruption in the performance of our duties,” said Donaldson.

The young attorney was elected on a JLP ticket, but his father, Cecil, was twice head of the Council on a PNP ticket.

“We have a rich legacy of integrity and service by many who have served this city and parish in the past. We who have inherited this legacy, therefore (we) have an obligation to ensure that we not only match, but where possible, surpass the achievements of those whom we now succeed…,” he said.

To that end, Donaldson said the Council would ensure that there was no repeat of incidents such as the street people scandal. In the pre-dawn hours of July 15, 1999, a number of homeless and mentally ill persons were abducted from the city’s streets and dumped miles away in a deserted spot in St Elizabeth. An inquiry later revealed that the state’s resources — police officers, rope purchased by the Council and the local authority’s truck — had been used in the incident.

In addition to shunning any such behaviour, Donaldson said the Council would:

* throw its support behind groups that cater to the less fortunate, such as the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI);

* clean up, beautify and seek to keep the city clean through improvement of garbage collection;

* and investigate reports of illegal mining of marl on the Council’s property at Retirement.

In addition, Donaldson said, the new JLP-controlled Council would:

* facilitate a more orderly development of the city through the acquisition of a city engineer to work with the Council on the Greater Montego Bay Redevelopment Plan;

* pursue the establishment of a municipal court and police unit as part of a thrust towards greater autonomy and improved public safety; and

* facilitate employment for citizens through the establishment of an investment bureau geared at promoting and securing investment for the city.

“It is our intention to operate the St James Parish Council as a business — the people’s business — in which our sole objective will be to deliver accountable, responsible, effective transparent and responsive representation to those who elected us to serve,” Donaldson said.

Added the new mayor: “We recognise that our task will not be an easy one. But we are singularly committed to the restoration of trust in our local political leadership and we are convinced that as long as we maintain our focus on accountability and service we will, with your support, achieve our objectives.” Meanwhile, only 16 of the 17 St James parish councillors were sworn in Thursday as the Spring Mount Division is still up for grabs.

There is to be a magisterial recount on Monday when the numbers should reveal whether the seat will go to the incumbent, the PNP’s Donald Colomathi, or to the JLP’s Brendak.