The candidates speak
Hamilton’s electors go to the polls tomorrow in what could be the last Corporation election ever with Government seemingly bent on scrapping the institution which is more than two centuries old. And the three-way mayoral battle could see history made with two candidates vying to become the first woman mayor of Hamilton. All three Mayoral candidates have pledged to fight Government’s plan to scrap the Corporations, all want to improve the franchise, currently limited to property owners who are up-to-date with their tax and all three want to improve the waterfront – but on scaled down from the rather ambitious $639 million plans unveiled in 2006. This week The Royal Gazette spoke to all three candidates to find out how they plan to run the City which has a budget of around $21 million.
Pay for Corporation politicians and more help for 'the back of town' are two of the key planks in Charles Gosling's mayoral campaign.
Mr. Gosling is backed by the majority of candidates standing for elected office in tomorrow's election, but he does not believe he is a dead cert and says he has a battle on his hands to win the three-way fight for City Hall. Speaking on Monday he said: "It is early days yet, the other two candidates have been extremely active. "In some respects pulling together a team has taken me away from that side of things which I now hope to make up for."
Under the current rules the mayor can kill any motion while two or more aldermen can do the same. "But that's not good government. You really need a team supporting you. In the past there's been nine separate agendas. They haven't coalesced quickly enough."
His team includes candidates for Alderman Glen Smith, Pamela Ferreira and John Harvey and candidates for Common Councillor Dennis Tucker, Nicholas Swan, Pam Quarterly, Walter Cross and Marshall Minors.
This new approach means the team can get cracking from day one believes Mr. Gosling who only became a common councillor, the lowest rung of elected Corporation life, in July last year.
He admits he has a steep learning curve, however he has plenty of corporate experience as Managing Director of Gosling's Limited while he also served as President of the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce.
Crime is a concern so Mr. Gosling has pledged to upgrade CCTV to high-tech digital equipment within 100 days of taking office although he is not sure how much it will cost. It would allow a sharper and easier way to access pictures.
Boosting CCTV coverage in North Hamilton is another declared goal, an area which has been neglected compared to other parts of the city, believes Mr. Gosling as evidenced by the overhead power cables and poor quality streets and sidewalks.
"It's a no brainer, there are almost two separate communities but it can easily be fixed, although maybe not overnight."
And he will also push for pay for councillors, alderman and the mayor and also for those who join committees. Mr. Gosling wants to open up committees to knowledgeable members of the public in a bid to boost consultation and decision making.
Not to pay for people's time would exclude a large section of the community argues Mr. Gosling who won't say what figure he has in mind for elected politicians or ad hoc attendees.
However he said people would be paid per meeting to reflect time put in. "I am not looking for professional politicians but it's the old thing what you pay for is what you get."
He also is pushing for great transparency and democracy with an expansion of the franchise to include all city residents on the Parliamentary Registry List. "We will open quarterly Corporation board meetings to the public, and hold Town Hall meetings so that the public can have input on Corporation projects before they begin."
A revamp of the waterfront is vital believes Mr. Gosling although he believes the current plan is "grandiose".
"We will revisit the current plans, and re-prioritise so that we keep the plan simple, and ensure that it is doable now and in the foreseeable future.
"We will preserve open space on the waterfront for the enjoyment of locals and visitors there is no need to overdevelop the waterfront and turn Front Street into Reid Street. The container dock currently on the waterfront is a waste of resources. The entire waterfront is the unpolished jewel of the city."
Something in scale is required although it will need sensitive talks with developers who have been working on the project for some while, recognises Mr. Gosling.
He also wants to emulate Monte Carlo and lure mega yachts while a public/private partnership would construct a proper cruise ship terminal and finger pier on a redeveloped Hamilton waterfront in consistent with Bermuda's needs. "We would hope by the end of our term we would have physical movement in terms of the development."
Even if he is successful Mr. Gosling could be the last ever Mayor of Hamilton. He laments the fact that the alliance between the Corporation and Government has disappeared in recent years.
But having sat on various Government boards over the last few years and held talks with Government during his time as Chamber of Commerce President Mr. Gosling believes he can build bridges. "They know I am not politically aligned to a particular party. "They know I have the reputation of liking team work and being results orientated."
She's bidding for the leadership of the Corporation of Hamilton at perhaps the most challenging time in its history.
But Kathryn Gibbons believes her track record in just two years as common councillor demonstrates she can bring change if she makes the step up and becomes the City's first woman mayor.
Elected in June 2007 after winning the first contested Corporation of Hamilton election for that office since 1988, Mrs. Gibbons chairs the legislative, communications and staff committees and serves on the finance, property, and planning and development committees.
She said: "I haven't been a seat warmer, I have put in a lot of work."
As achievements she lists drafting a plan for reforming the Corporation and expanding the franchise to allow all City dwellers on the Parliamentary register to vote in Corporation elections. And she says she pushed for the creation of a human resources department. "Staffing has improved dramatically and we have a much more motivated staff."
Mrs. Gibbons said she had pushed hard for an extended 2007 audit with tangible results being seen in 2008.
Best known as the wife of former United Bermuda Party leader Grant Gibbons, Mrs. Gibbons, who works as a communications and marketing consultant for local companies, has a resume which includes management roles including a US pharmaceutical company where she managed a staff of 32 and a $12 million budget.
"If I do become the first woman mayor I hope it would encourage other women to get involved with public service.
"Hamilton would be playing catch up, St. George's has already had two female mayors while we have had two female Premiers. It is a little overdue."
She is up against a team of aldermen and councillors allied to rival candidate Charles Gosling.
But the Corporation has never been about parties or factions, said Mrs. Gibbons. "Personally I think the voters would prefer the nine elected members to think independently, that way they are accountable to the voters and not special interests."
If the Mayor was allied with a faction there would be no point in discussion, argued Mrs. Gibbons. "In my opinion that is not the way democratic municipal Government should operate."
Sustainable development on the waterfront is a key goal for Mrs. Gibbons after consultation with numerous groups on the Island. "I think the last version of the waterfront development scared a lot of people because of the way the computer graphics featured very heavy massing at one end.
"None of that is carved in stone. We have the opportunity going forward to do whatever we want after taking on comments from taxpayers and anyone who is interested. This will play a key role in Bermuda's economic future."
She said environmental studies were due to be finished by the end of the year. "At that point we either have to get the approval of Government to proceed or we have to stop."
Although the current plan had approval she said there now seems to be hesitation by Government about moving forward. "What is important is that after the election the dialogue starts again. At the moment it's basically come to a halt."
She said Government had yet to make its case for abolishing the Corporations an act she hopes can be stopped with respectful dialogue.
To press on would undermine local democracy, said Mrs. Gibbons. "Everyone at the Corporation recognises reform was overdue, a plan was created to effect reform, then that plan was ignored."
She said repealing the Municipalities Act was simple enough, but abolishing the Corporations might be very much more involved.
"There would be a series of complex negotiations with Government. I think they are underestimating how long it will take to conclude. I don't think there is any way it can be done in one year.
"There's no doubt the Corporation of Hamilton is facing the most challenging time in its history," she said. "The Government has just announced its intentions to abolish municipal government in Bermuda, a decision I believe undermines local democracy. We should be encouraging public participation at the local constituency level and expanding the right to vote, not taking it away."
She believes more parking is needed at the perimeter of the city. It might mean another storey being added to the Cavendish parking lot, halfway up Spurling Hill.
Parking is becoming a nightmare, said Mrs. Gibbons, because people were ignoring tickets and leaving their cars because the law wasn't being enforced.
One idea is to put a smart chip in sun visors, it could make paper parking vouchers a thing of the past. "It makes it easier for traffic wardens and gives us more information. In the long run it may make it more efficient and effective."
Sonia Grant
After spending more than 13 years on the Corporation of Hamilton, Sonia Grant can claim far more relevant experience than both of her rivals put together.
And she believes her track record is what's needed to pull together the Corporation after a fractious few years, now culminating in Government's threat to abolish it.
Out of the Corporation for more than three years after losing the Mayoral race to Sutherland Madeiros in 2006, Ms Grant is hoping to make it third time lucky.
In April 2006 she came just 21 votes behind winner Jay Bluck. When Mr. Bluck died just a few months into his term as Mayor, Ms Grant stood again but trailed Sutherland Maderios by 27 votes.
Ms Grant, a lawyer, then launched a legal challenge to Mr. Madeiros' reign, claiming Corporation officials wrongly interpreted the law by allowing companies and other organisations to change the nominees allowed to vote on their behalf after the election notice was published. That action was then dropped. However the hiatus from Corporation politics has not diminished Ms Grant's appetite for office. "In that time a lot of people in Bermuda and a lot of Hamilton constituents have encouraged me to try again for mayor. Given all that has transpired in the last two-and-a-half years it gives me concern that there's been such a lot of negativity. It seems to me the Corporation needs to be stabilised. It needs someone with a degree of experience. That's so important given the level of threat from Government, said Ms Grant.
Like all the candidates she believes the Corporations, due for the chop according to a recent announcement from Government, can be saved with the right approach. "It's all very strange there should be a Cabinet decision without any discussion with the municipalities. That seems to be putting the cart before the horse. Until such time as the repealing legislation is signed off by the Governor, it is not a fait accomplis."
But she said right now the Corporation of Hamilton seemed to be spinning its wheels. "For instance five years ago it had been agreed that resolutions would be published. It never happened. Then comes along a new Corporation and they decide to publish resolutions. That decision was made along time ago, it's just the staff never implemented it."
More effort needs to be made by the Corporation to bring Dockyard-based tourists to Hamilton, said Ms Grant, who said City dwellers were aghast at the dearth of tourists because of the missing cruise ships. But she was never really comfortable with the 2006 Hamilton waterfront plan which she said was "over-blown".
And she is vehemently against any idea of removing the docks from Hamilton which she said pulls in a minimum of $10 million per annum in revenue. That is about half the Corporation's budget, reported at about $21 million, although Ms Grant said she is still waiting for the annual accounts which should have been out by now, to know the true figures. "If we are giving away $10 million I want to know how it is going to be replaced because there is a tremendous amount of income that comes in from the docks."
Plans to revamp North Hamilton in the economic empowerment zone excite Ms Grant who says the proposal to compensate financially those who don't exercise their right to build higher will help revive the entire area. Reform of the Corporation franchise and voter registration is also necessary, said Ms Grant. "Why is it that one's voting rights, a fundamental human right, can be taken away if you are in arrears on taxation of three months or more? All of this should not be."
And she pledged to keep up pressure to give arrest powers to City Rangers similar to powers given to Park Rangers recently by Government.
"If they had powers of arrest they could tackle any number of problems from people washing cars on the street to drug peddlling."
Also on Ms Grant's agenda are plans to improve areas of Hamilton's infrastructure. "Some roads need resurfacing, North Street comes to mind."
Consistency of street sweeping is another gripe. "North of Victoria Street there is no daily sweeping of streets. One side of Front Street gets swept, the other side doesn't. It's all very peculiar. All streets should be swept daily. There's no reason why that can't take place."
The rest of the candidates
As well as elections for the post of Mayor, votes will also be cast for the office of Alderman and Common Councillor. Here are the candidates for those positions.
Alderman: David Dunkley; Pamela Ferreira; John Harvey and Glen Smith.
Common Councillor: Walter Cross; Marshall Minors; Graeme Outerbridge; Pamela Quarterly; Sheilagh Robertson; J. Nicholas Swan and Dennis Tucker.
