And while the Commercial Center is mayor Bradley's swan song before he leaves office, what does he think of the job he did?
Love him or hate him, Mayor Bradley's style of leadership has influenced all the other 8 municipalities. He has demonstrated that projects, such as the Municipal Bond, are possible for local governments, whose revenue streams aren't on the same level of Central Government.
Plus, his campaign to cement as many streets as possible for the city, is a defining element of his terms in office. Under his watch, the City Council managed to cement 160 of them. Then, there are other initiatives such as working with the other 8 mayors to give security of tenure to the public officers who work for the municipalities. He also worked to unionize Belize City Council staff. He even gave 3 raises to the employees of City Hall, when previously, they hadn't gotten any in 10 years.
So, should the Mayor be considered among the best leaders of Belize City? How does he see it? Well, he said that if he was to grade his own performance, that grade would be a "B". he gave a few examples why, from his perspective, he lost points:
Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"And If I were to give an assessment - I'd grade it as a 'B'. One of the things that I think could have been improved is I think I needed a more strategic relationship with the Central Government in relation to legislation. And I think that this is something that I think could have benefitted the City Council. One of the major things I made as a priority was trade license reform, and I am somewhat disappointed in my own self that I would leave office, and we still have not had enacted legislation for that. That's a thing that we made a significant amount of hoopla over, and I would have said that I really would have wanted. I had an excellent relationship with the Prime Minister, and with the Central Government. But, I think that relationship needed to be more strategic to the point where we can say that specific programatic elements, and in particular, legislation, and financing aspects for municipal government could have been put in place. One of the things that I am personally concerned on is just the level of public confidence in Government. There is this notion that all politicians thief. There is this notion that Government doesn't necessarily work with people, and I think that we have done things to improve public confidence, but I think that I could have done more."
Bradley says that he and the current administration intend to perform a handing over of all of City Hall's business to the new administration. He also said that there will be a sort of final public assessment of the current council's performance, to be announced at a later date.
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