IT’S official.

Joan Astaire Gordon-Webley, who lost the South East St Andrew seat to the People’s National Party’s Maxine Henry Wilson in the September 3 general elections, is the new executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

Gordon-Webley’s appointment, which was announced yesterday by Bobby Montague, minister of state with responsibility for local government, at the official launch of Local Government Month at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston, confirmed an Observer report last Wednesday that the veteran politician had been offered the position.

“The prime minister. informed me of the name of the new executive director,” Montague said. “There has been media speculation and I am sad to say that I have to disappoint some persons in the media. The prime minister asked me to inform the director-general that the new executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority is a Jamaican, highly-qualified, highly-energised..

“It’s a Jamaican who has international experience in dealing with and treating people. It’s a Jamaican who does not have to shout on television to check her performance. The prime minister has asked me to inform you that the new executive director is none other than Mrs Joan Godon-Webley.”

Before declaring Local Government Month 2007 officially launched, Montague also announced Dennis Morgan as the waste management agency’s board chairman.

Gordon-Webley takes over from interim director Lorraine Robinson, who replaced Chris Powell for one week between October 29 and November 5. Powell was transferred back to the Local Government Reform Unit late last month after acting as the head of the agency for almost a year.

Among the many firsts Gordon-Webley said would be on her agenda, once she settles into office, will be to eradicate, at whatever cost, the scandals threatening the agency and its credibility.

“My heart is leaping because everytime you take up the paper you see some other scandal about the organisation,” she said. “We have got to make sure that people understand that we’re spending the people’s money. and I’m going to eradicate the scandals. I’m not about going there to make friends, and it’s not about going there to make enemies either because that’s not my intention. I intend to work with each and everyone.”

While she does not hold formal qualifications in the field of management, Gordon-Webley, who has worked in insurance, education and protective services, and who is a former advisor to the prime minister of Grenada, believes her extensive experience in national and international managerial positions will serve her well.

“I’m a manager, and once you’re a manager, you’re able to manage anything that’s put forward to you, and a lot of times it’s not a question of paper, it’s a question of your attitude towards your work, and I know that I’m going to do a good job because I believe that the people there will give me their support,” Gordon-Webley said after the function.

“Management. advising is what I’ve done all my life and it’s not about me, because no one individual can do it. You have to have a knack for managing people and not just manage but know that at the end of the day, the responsibility of making sure that people’s funds are spent correctly is in your hands.”