Current Deputy Mayor of Hamilton Sonia Grant yesterday confirmed she will stand in the forthcoming city elections. The lawyer is believed to be the first woman to contest the top job in the Corporation?s history.

Miss Grant threw her hat into the ring and said her eye for detail and experience with major planning issues were two reasons why voters should plump for her ? and elect Hamilton?s first female Mayor ? on April 27.

Asked how she felt about her historic decision to stand, she told : ?I just want to be judged on my ability. The fact I happen to be female, that?s secondary.?

Miss Grant will fight it out at the ballot box with current Mayor Lawson Mapp and Alderman Jay Bluck.

The three-way fight could yet become four, although Graeme Outerbridge ? who contested the last mayoral election in 2003 and has campaigned for more openness and accountability at the Corporation ? yesterday said he had still not decided whether he would join the race.

Miss Grant, a practising probate attorney, has been on the Corporation for 13 years, serving as a councillor and Alderman before becoming Deputy Mayor.

Asked why voters should give her the nod, she said: ?My strength is in my attention to detail and the experience I have had sitting on the Development Application Board as the Hamilton representative.?

She added that this scrutiny of planning applications would stand her in good stead as the city continued to attract new developments, including the revised waterfront blueprint.

Miss Grant, who grew up in the city and now lives in Devonshire, said some of the issues she has dealt with during her time as Deputy Mayor included post-Fabian repairs, completion of the fourth-storey of the Bull?s Head Car Park, waterfront redevelopment plans, the bus terminal revamp and union negotiations involving the Corporation?s industrial staff, currently in the hands of the Supreme Court.

She stressed it was vital the Corporation reviewed its 2001 Development Plan with a view to allowing six or seven storey buildings, extending the current limit of five storeys which is currently permitted in most of North Hamilton.

And she added that sprucing up and resurfacing Joell?s Alley and Fagan?s Alley areas should start at the end of this month, while talks with Belco were continuing on moving all overhead electricity cables in North Hamilton underground.

Miss Grant made a commitment to opening up Corporation meetings. She said that personnel and staffing matters should remain behind closed doors ? but there was nothing to stop street, property, sanitation, sewerage and park issues being discussed in public.

?As far as I?m concerned,? she told , ?there is nothing to stop the Corporation from opening its next meeting on April 18 to the general public.?

?I have found the Corporation of Hamilton to be a first-class Bermudian institution and the fact that a significant portion of what it does is readily discernible to all ? notwithstanding that our meetings are still held in camera ? helps to keep everyone, members and staff, on our toes.?

Miss Grant also entered the debate on Mr. Mapp?s controversial decision to stand for a possible third term. He said he wanted to continue his involvement in development projects like the waterfront revamp. But rival Jay Bluck has already hinted that Mr. Mapp might be breaking a ?gentleman?s agreement? by putting his name forward again.

And Miss Grant said such an agreement was struck in 1997, when Corporation members reached an understanding that a Mayor should serve no more than two terms, or six years, in office. She said Mr. Mapp backed that resolution, passed by seven votes to two. Although not binding in law, she said all members were urged to honour the understanding.

Miss Grant, who voted against the resolution, said Mr. Mapp should not be allowed to stand again on the basis of the gentleman?s agreement, which she said she would adhere to, if voted in as Mayor.

Mr. Mapp, in response, said the agreement ?did not hold much water?.

He added: ?We have to go by what?s in the constitution and that does not give any time limits for mayors.

?We are there at the pleasure of the constituents. They have the power to vote you out or vote you in.?

Raising the issue of race, he said that ?people who did not look like me? had served longer than two terms and there was never a problem.

Mr. Mapp?s last election win was dogged by controversy after he claimed he was being bullied out of office by Corporation colleagues and he also said the two-term gentlemen?s agreement had been reneged upon.

Possible rival Graeme Outerbridge yesterday confirmed he was still weighing up his options on whether he will stand in the election. Meanwhile, he repeated calls for greater modernisation and accountability at the Corporation, and said meetings had to be opened up to the public with a one-man one-vote polling system be introduced with less weight given to property owners.

In December, Mr. Mapp confirmed some long-awaited steps towards modernisation, including a new website and some decisions being posted publicly. He said he had hoped to move towards a more transparent system, updating rules governing the Corporation which currently meets behind closed doors.

But he said this had been delayed and blamed ?mischief making? in the media amid reports of alleged internal strife at City Hall.

Under the Municipalities Act 1923, which governs the Corporation, members do not have the privileges barring them from being sued for libel which are enjoyed by House of Assembly members. This has long been given as a reason why meetings cannot be held in public.

The deadline for candidates to put their names forward for the election is April 20.