May Pen, Clarendon — New mayor of May Pen and chairman of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, Winston Maragh, promised equal treatment for all at last Thursday’s installation ceremony here.

“No division will be left out, regardless of who their representatives are. I will be working with everyone. As you all know, I am a worker who takes pride in getting things done,” Maragh (JLP — Rocky Point Division) said.

The new mayor pledged to work with vendors and business operators to clean up and beautify May Pen, the Clarendon capital.

“This town cannot continue to look as it is now,” he lamented. “We will be having regular meetings with our vendors to ensure that solutions are found to the issues which always arise whenever we have a major holiday [and] we will be meeting with all business operators in all the towns as they will have to be involved in our beautification and maintenance projects.”

Maragh also outlined innovations to improve the management and maintenance of key parochial infrastructure.

He proposed the use of contouring and the planting of special grasses to improve the maintenance of gullies and drains; recharging acquifers to supply the municipal corporation’s minor water systems; as well as installing more solar-operated lights to increase street lighting across the parish.

The new mayor also called for the reintroduction of the parochial road patching programme and the divisional development fund to assist councillors with serving their constituents more effectively.

Maragh said the municipal corporation’s achievements in the upcoming term is dependent on an increase in its revenue intake; particularly property tax. He called on the National Housing Trust and the Housing Agency of Jamaica to work with the corporation to regularise properties that are not yet on the tax roll.

Maragh was first elected to the Clarendon Parish Council on March 6, 1990. He was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government in 2010 for distinguished service to local government and community development.

Twenty-two councillors of the Clarendon Parish Council, including Maragh, were sworn in during Thursday’s ceremony.

Councillor Clive Mundle (JLP — Frankfield Division) was selected as deputy chairman of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.