MP Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, the elected representative for West Bay Central, held a meeting at the Church of God Hall on Capt. Reginald Drive in West Bay on Monday night (October 24) to obtain feedback from members of the community on how to best move forward with the establishment of the West Bay Central constituency council. The discussion covered a wide range of topics, including her reasons for the creation of a council, its structure, purpose and how it would be funded.
Reasons for formation
As to her reasons for bringing the community together to form a council, Ebanks-Wilks explained:
The constitution, section 119, speaks about the establishment of the advisory councils and, as a result of that, back in 2011, under previous administrations, the Advisory District Councils Law was passed. However, that law was never enacted.
In this instance, the Premier committed on the floor of Parliament on the 15th July that we hope to enhance participatory democracy through district councils, which is in line with our strategic broad outcome.
One observation here is that Ebanks-Wilks appears to be taking her cue from the Premier in this case and is likely to coordinate her efforts (including the timing of the establishment of the council) with members of her community, working closely with the Premier and her other PACT colleagues.
Structure
Speaking more about the roles to be played by members of her community, Ebanks-Wilks indicated that her expectation is that registered voters in the West Bay Central constituency would make up the council membership.
In terms of specific appointments, she indicated that, based on what she understood about roles set out in the Advisory District Councils Law, once members of the community are nominated and elected, the officers of the council would include a chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer and secretary.
Loop News did raise a query, however, as to the proposed legal structure for the West Bay Central constituency council, in particular, whether it will be a not-for-profit entity.
Answering the question, Ebanks-Wilks said:
It is just gonna be established for members on an interim basis. I don’t want to overcomplicate it… we don’t really have any [legal] framework in place. So, it will just be the composition of a committee/advisory group until the legislation has been passed.
Objectives of the council
Turning her focus to the aims of the West Bay Central constituency council, Ebanks-Wilks made reference to the Advisory District Councils Law from 2011, saying that there is no need to “to reinvent the wheel” and that “a lot of what is set out in the 2011 Act… is still fit for purpose.”
Elucidating further, she said the following about the Advisory District Councils Law:
It speaks to the role of the council, which is to advise on polices and develop programmes intended for a more effective discharge of the relevant member’s duties in relation to the relevant electoral district, or in this instance, constituency.
And also to encourage and support amongst residents the formal and informal exchange of information of all kinds in respect of policies and programmes proposed by the member.
Once the council is ready to make a proposal to the relevant Minister, Ebanks-Wilks noted that, under the Advisory District Councils Law (which is not yet in force), “The relevant Member shall consider the advice given by a Council and determine what to recommend to the relevant Minister and also, the relevant member of Parliament shall provide directions to the council.”
See also
In addition to this, Ebanks-Wilks clarified that “the district council will also have an opportunity to make presentations to Caucus” and may make a special request to do so at any time.
Funding
With council membership and structure having been discussed, Loop News asked Ebanks-Wilks what is contemplated in terms of the financing of the activities and operations of the council.
Responding to this query, Ebanks-Wilks explained: “That is one of the reasons why this law was never passed. Because it requires a budget. My view, in looking at the different Hansard discussions, is… after [the Advisory District Councils Law] had been passed, there needed to be some sort of allocation in the budget to fund the district councils.”
Sharing further ideas for funding, one member of the public said:
In the meantime, with our act of good faith in this interim… I guess we could consider a fundraising committee.
In response, Ebanks-Wilks said that “I’d like to see many subcommittees formed under the district council, one of them [being] ‘fundraising’.
Next steps
Ebanks-Wilks will now do a further outreach to members of the West Bay Central community to ascertain who would like to play a role on the council and to gather their thoughts and suggestions about how to make positive improvements in West Bay Central and beyond.
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