IT'S proving to be a tough year for the Corporation of Hamilton, with plenty of newspaper column inches taken up with tales of political infighting, public condemnation of plans by the organisation to evict one tenant - the Bermuda Society of Arts - from its City Hall premises and an independent commission concluding that the body "gives rise to serious concerns regarding accountability, transparency and legitimacy".Last week Edward Benevides was appointed Corporation Secretary and will hold the post for six months "during which time the Corporation will be analysing its management structure". Mid-Ocean News reporter Gareth Finighan and photographer Glenn Tucker met with Mr. Benevides to discuss his aims and the challenges his new post brings.

Q: Firstly, could you outline the mechanics of the Corporation, what your role is and how it ties in with the councillors and Mayor?

The elected members operate in a manner similar to a company's Board of Directors. They set out policy, strategy, policy and overall guidelines. The Secretary is very similar to a Chief Operating Officer or Chief Executive Officer in that all administrative and operational issues flow from the Secretary out. It's similar to the relationship between politicians and the Civil Service.

Q: What is the difference between a Common Councillor and and Alderman?

A: In days of old councillors are the initial members of the board while alderman are traditionally more senior. It has been traditional that the aldermen chair committees and support the mayor. You have the public, then one step are the councillors, then you have the aldermen at the next step up, then the mayor - that's basically the hierarchy. The aldermen are senior in our structure, although some municipalities don't have them - they just have councillors.

Q: So who has the ultimate say in decision making?

A: Generally any resolution put to the Board has to be approved by a majority. There are five councillors and three aldermen. Two aldermen must support a resolution but the mayor has ultimate veto, although generally he just lets the vote go unless there is a tie.

Q: How often do the councillors meet?

A: This body meets every other week but when the committees meet depends on the frequency of the projects that they're working on, sometimes it can be weekly, sometimes monthly.

Q: And you're in daily contact with the Mayor?

A: His office is right next door.

Q: Why is a Corporation necessary? Why can't Hamilton be run by Government as just another part of the island?

A: Well if you look at any other city in the world, although there might not be a Corporation they still have city managers and city elders that define policies for issues specific to the city. That structure has grown out of the UK and has carried on here.

Q: Can Government veto anything that the Corporation has decided?

A: Under the Municipalities Act 1923 the Corporation manages the city but the legislative bodies make law. Currently they allow the municipality to operate under its current form. What we have to have, for example when we post tariffs for say car parking, that has to be approved. The Permanent Secretary will pass that on to the appropriate minister and it has to be gazetted. Government will pass it on but it's not an Act and doesn't require Government to vote on it.

Q: Where does funding come from? And how big is the annual budget?

A: The majority of funding comes through duty on the wharfage. Obviously there are taxes. I don't have an exact figure for the budget but a rough figure for this year is around $20 million.

Q: And what does it have to do with that $20 million?

A: There are a number of things. Streets have to be maintained and we also manage utilities such as sewage, water and power. We also have to operate the docks, waste pick-up, parks - the general running of the city. The one thing we don't pay for is salaries for aldermen and councillors. They don't receive any remuneration.

Q: Who eligible to stand and who is eligible to vote.

A: You have to be a registered voter in the City of Hamilton or a nominee. You can also own business in the city.

Q: What's your background and why did you want the post?

A: I spent a number of decades in IT and telecommunications and customer service. I moved into banking about 16 years ago again in IT and headed up e-commerce for Capital G. Most of my work in the last 20 years has involved managing teams - bringing together groups of people to either perform as a project or department. I have also been involved in the Corporation of St. George's for the last seven years, first as a councillor, then an alderman, so I understand the structure. Working with people and team building is something that I enjoy. I had a discussion with the Mayor and the aldermen about assisting them with some consultation in June and.that's when I decided to leave banking.

Q: So you weren't working for the Corporation at all before this appointment?

A: No, my first day was last Tuesday.

Q: How are you finding the job so far?

A: Actually it's a little exhilarating, a little daunting. There are a lot of very good people here who are excited about getting things done. It's been a very good experience so far. I am excited and have met some great people and everybody seems eager to do a good job.

Q: And how big is your team at the Corporation?

A: We have just over 130 staff I believe.

Q: You mentioned your involvement with the Corporation of St. George's. Does that in any way represent a conflict of interest?

A: There absolutely no conflict at all because neither of them compete against the other for anything. We're not competing for more money from Government, we're not competing for space - it's like we're two brothers. Of course we face the same challenges but I believe being an alderman in St. George's gives me an insight into both sides of the organisation. Sometimes the members want to get involved in other areas but I think a separation between the Board and the organisation is necessary. It's a little easy to step over that sometimes and being an alderman gives me a very clear picture between operational management and policy.

Q: What are the challenges facing the Corporation?

A: There are a number of things. The organisation itself has been around for a while and what we see at the moment is to bring in some management structure - in the form of processes, not necessarily people. I also know that a number of the Board members are talking about transparency and looking at making changes from their side and that will have implications for the operational side. We want to bring the operational side up to what we consider to be a modern entity as well as bringing up our training, how we can interact with the city and how we can increase the franchise. I think people just want things to be dealt with, they don't want to know about it, and somebody has to do that effectively and efficiently.

Q: An independent Commission recently claimed that Corp is "anachronistic and gives rise to serious concerns regarding accountability, transparency and legitimacy". Can you answer those criticisms?

A: Well it's definitely an opinion and it is an old organisation so I'm sure the policies and procedures could be viewed in a number of ways. Now whether that is a valid criticism or not I don't believe so. Things need to be updated but then again our Parliamentary process hasn't changed much either.

It may be the fact that the franchise bothers people but again that is policy not administration - that may be where this is coming from in that originally only landowners could vote. Certainly in its beginnings the Corporation had a limited franchise but I do believe that Government has said that it wants to look at whether the franchise is sufficient. I certainly think that, to be a vibrant city that needs to be reviewed but I don't know how the Board members will respond to that.

Q:The report also said that the Corporation structure has developed organically and is ill suited to managing modern Hamilton.

A: Again that's an opinion and is something that members will need to address but it's one of the things that we're reviewing - structure, management process procedures.

Q: But being totally objective about it, having just joined the Corporation, what's your initial view?

A: One of my mandates is to look at the management structure, but to be fair it's not that much different from any other organisation that's been around for a number or years and I've worked for a couple of those.

Q:The report also mentioned various other concerns such as the loss of cruise ships and the regeneration of the waterfront. Does the Corporation have anything in the pipeline to counter that?

A: The loss of the cruise ships and the regeneration of the waterfront are definitely concerns of the Corporation as well. We are currently having conversations concerning this and will announce any new developments in due course.

Q: The Commission also raised concerns that the city was becoming more and more a business centre rather than a lively, entertaining, people-friendly city.

A: Things have certainly changed from when I was a boy and it's definitely losing its quaintness. There's been a number of discussions and the City of Hamilton Plan is being reviewed. With that though it's important to remember that the Department of Planning and the Minister for the Environment have final say, so even if the City Fathers decline something the Minister can still approve it. Having said that, we normally work alongside the Ministry to develop a policy. There are a number of issues such as people wanting space and we have a constant struggle of asking how high do we go without changing our character. I don't think some people understand the implications of going beyond the current building height. Are we losing our character? That is something I don't know but I'm sure it's something that the Board members will need to review themselves. Just from what I see I think the city is going to change further and I think that's exciting. It has to stay vibrant and grow. There is encouragement for the redevelopment of the north area and for more residential use in the city. That may bring about some of the changes that we want and that's what we're looking at. Of course the more people you put into the city you have to review things like sewage and water, traffic and parking and that's where our impact is - these are critical issues when we start adding residentials.

Q: Although isn't there a theory that if we have more people living in Hamilton, there will be less commuter traffic?

A: That's the theory but Bermudians don't like to walk a lot. We like our cars and we don't like to walk in the rain so it will be interesting to see. If Government continues with free buses and ferries there will be even less reason for city dwellers to own a car.

Q: In your few days in the job have you been inundated with calls from motorists complaining about the planned 75 per cent hike in street parking fees?

A: I've had maybe half a dozen complaints but maybe I'm in my honeymoon period. Perhaps people believe that I'm new in the job and won't bang me for it but I'm sure people are expressing their views to the members of the Board.

Q: Do you think there is another challenge that you face - that if people have a complaint about a particular policy they will be coming to you rather than the actual policy makers?

A: Well in a bank if you have a problem you call the CEO and complain rather than the Board of Directors. With parking it was a little embarrassing to discover that it was cheaper to park on the street rather than in a parking lot. People could park on the street all day, take up spaces, double park and block roads and so it was more to get people to use the parking lots. At any time you can find 200 empty spaces at any given time on the top floor at Bull's Head car park - and that's only $5 a day. People might say it's outrageous but there is still cheap parking available in Hamilton. And remember, it hasn't gone up yet.

Q: In what way can the Corporation help with crime? Isn't that a police issue?

A: The Corporation needs to work with the police to see how we can assist. It might be lighting, it might be surveillance, how we regulate certain things - there are a number of things that we can do to assist.

Q: The Commission report concluded with a list of action items including a review of waterfront priorities, development of public safety initiatives and an assessment of the city's listed buildings. Are those things that the Corporation is very much aware of and is looking into?

A: From what I've heard I'm sure that that's a good start for the members of the Board to review.

Q: What is the current status with the Bermuda Society of Arts? Is it still facing eviction from City Hall?

A: All I can say on that is that the committee and organisation has been exchanging communications. Discussions have been ongoing and I haven't got anything on my radar at this point in time that it's an issue, although it's early days for me.

Q: Last week Opposition MP Trevor Moniz said he believed that candidates for the councillor elections didn't appear to have any strong views on key issues. Do you think that's fair comment?

A: What I would say is that sometimes the limitations of authority of the Corporation are sometimes misunderstood. The Corporation deals with issues facing the city and issues that may be important to the Government/Opposition may not be the same for the city. But it's something that the Board, as a group of nine, want to have as their focus. But it certainly doesn't hurt to have input and from my perspective that's what Mr. Moniz's comments were - another taxpayer saying 'this is what I think you should focus on'. That's where we are going to get our input from - the taxpayers.