7 News Belize

Mayor Bradley “Topped Up” City Manager Before Leaving Office
posted (February 7, 2018)
Right now, the Municipal Election cycle is in full swing, and with only 1 month to go, the electioneering is in high gear. And with the campaigning comes the political mudslinging and finger pointing.

Tonight the finger is on Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley. He isn't running for a third term, but many in his council are, and so, the Opposition is criticizing him for recently renewing the contract of the City Administrator, who only had a few months left.

It's widely held that an outgoing elected official should not be allowed to sign a contract which extends the employment of senior staff beyond the life of his term.

We caught up with the Mayor at another event and asked him about it.

In typical style, he said that he makes no apologies for it:

Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"Well, we did that, I think, in the month of November, and again, there is no chicanery. There's no - if you want to know something about the City Council, just ask me because we have ran a city council that's very transparent. This is part of our reforming of the municipal staff. So that, this is not something that only the Belize City Council did. All City Councils and Town Councils throughout our 9 municipalities - one of the things that our staff have been campaigning on is the idea that they should be given the right of tenure. One of the things when we did the Municipal Services Regulation is we formed a committee, which comprised the Mayor of Belize City, the Mayor of Belmopan, and the Mayor of Orange Walk. We had intense discussions about this, including with legal persons and technical staff. We raised it quite extensively, and we put together a document which all of us signed off on, which gave the right of tenure to all of our staff members. They only think that we could not agree with at that time is what would be the status of the City Administrator, and directors and managers. So that, it would have been my view at that time that the Municipal Services Regulations should have included every staff member, including the city administrator because one of the things I am very pleased with is that I came to the City Council, and I inherited a city administrator, and I will leave the City Council, and I will leave that very same in there. And I think that that is the way it should be. This is not something that I did just now, this is something that was done last year. It doesn't only affect the City Administrator, it affects all of our directors as well. We have 4 directors, and the idea is that those people should have continuity in their service because that bodes well. I think the City Council has improved. We've been able to attract somebody like a Marilyn Ordonez, who has a master's degree, and who has been the commissioner of income tax, to run our finances. That's very good. We have our director of legal affairs, Miss Margaret McKenzie. She's a trained attorney. She is the former Chief Magistrate. So that, if you want to improve the performance of City Council, if you want to make City Council more effective and efficient in our operations, you have to give people tenure. So, a new mayor won't come in and fire them. These are people who have very extensive experience. They are well trained. They are well capacitated, and they have to have security of tenure. And, that's the thinking behind it."

Daniel Ortiz, reporter
"What do you make of the complaint - or at least the criticism - that that is somehow unethical or irregular?"

Darrell Bradley
"Again, I didn't just do that. This was something that we did last year, and - "

Daniel Ortiz
"November you said, right?"

Darrell Bradley
"I don't remember exactly when it was done. It is part of a long term discussion, and I'm the mayor. I'm the mayor up until the last day of this month. I do things which I consider to be in the best interest of the City. People may disagree. They may complain, but I am the mayor. I was elected for a 3-year term."

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