The Tribune

A resident who reports a broken public facility to the local council should be able to find out who will fix it and when. Being told that a letter has gone to Nassau offers little comfort when the same problem is still there weeks later.

Across our Family Islands, people want to see their communities maintained and their concerns answered without every decision having to travel to the capital and back.

Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs Clay Sweeting’s proposal to give greater autonomy to councils that demonstrate responsible management deserves support. So does his intention to have island administrators coordinate government services locally, instead of simply passing requests along.

He has identified a frustration that Family Island residents know well. The next step is to give local officials the authority and resources to do something about it.

An administrator can convene every agency on an island and still accomplish little if nobody in the room can approve expenditure, assign a work crew or obtain a timely answer from a ministry.

The Government should establish which decisions can be taken locally, how much spending can be authorised and which matters require central approval. Residents should know those arrangements too. They should not have to work out the machinery of government every time something needs fixing.

Councils must accept their share of responsibility. Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper has expressed concern that some districts are leaving money unspent, while urging them to use their allocations prudently. Where communities have outstanding needs, their representatives should explain why available funds have not been put to work.

But there are questions to answer before concluding that an unspent balance represents neglect.

Was the money released on time? Is a contract awaiting approval? Has a supplier failed to deliver? Has funding already been committed to work that is still underway?

Poor planning should be corrected. Delays imposed from elsewhere should be identified. Encouraging councils to spend hurriedly simply to protect next year’s allocation would achieve very little.

Each district should publish a straightforward account of its priority projects, their budgets, progress and any obstacles. If a decision in Nassau is holding up the work, residents should be told. If the council has failed to act, that too should be equally clear.

Hope Town chief councillor Jeremy Sweeting has also raised an unresolved concern: councils remain unable to enforce local fee collection almost two years after the passage of the Local Government Act. The Government should explain what remains outstanding and set a timetable for resolving it.

Residents and businesses, in turn, deserve clear information about any fees, how they are calculated and what services they support. Greater local authority must come with the opportunity to question decisions and inspect accounts.

Smaller districts will need help to meet those expectations. A council with limited administrative staff should not be left permanently behind because it lacks an accountant or technical adviser. Shared professional support and practical training would allow more communities to take on greater responsibility.

Nor should access to assistance depend on whether a councillor enjoys a good relationship with a minister. The rules should be published, applied fairly and remain dependable when governments change.

For the public, success will be visible in ordinary things: a maintained public space, a completed repair, an application processed without a journey to Nassau, a telephone call returned with an answer.

Mr Sweeting deserves credit for proposing a more useful role for local government. Delivering it will require ministries to relinquish some control and councils to become more open about their performance.

Family Island residents have chosen to build their lives in communities they love. They should have capable local institutions that help them stay, raise their children and earn a living there.

Give those institutions the means to do the work, then hold them accountable for getting it done. After all, a better more organized local community is a better environment for us all.