Majority of City Council supportive of Parking Meter amended contract

At a City Council meeting on Wednesday on the issue, 17 out of the 20 Councilors who were present, voted in favour of the project. Three Councilors, including the Deputy Mayor abstained from the vote. The Council, however, agreed that more reviews be done to the contract and they meet again to discuss the issue.

Majority of City Council supportive of Parking Meter amended contract

The Georgetown City Council may be inching closer towards the implementation of the parking meter deal following several amendments to the contract and the majority of the Council now being in favour of the contract with the Smart City Solutions company. 

At a City Council meeting on Wednesday on the issue, 17 out of the 20 Councilors who were present, voted in favour of the project. Three Councilors, including the Deputy Mayor abstained from the vote. The Council, however, agreed that more reviews be done to the contract and they meet again to discuss the issue.

Among the amendments made to the contract is for the cost for parking to be reduced to $50 for 15minutes, which would work out to $200 per hour.

Additionally, the duration of the contract has also been reduced from 49 years to 20 years. And the City Council would now be getting 20% of the revenue garnered from the project instead of the 10% initial offering. Additionally, the parking meters would only be installed in specific parts of the City as part of a pilot project.

Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan complained that he should have been given more time to study the Amendments to the contract. But the Mayor told him that the Amendments are based on recommendations coming out of a review of the contract by the Finance and Legal Affairs Ministries and that review was circulated weeks ago.

Although the majority of the Council voted in favour of the project, a decision was still made to have it further reviewed and discussed.

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