Bay Roberts Town Hall too slow, says Bowering

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Councillor Perry Bowering is again raising concerns about how long it takes staff with the Town of Bay Roberts to respond to inquiries.

Under council’s new committee of the whole structure, which replaced the previous system of separate committees for each department, Bowering is the “topic lead” for public works making him a de facto chairman for issues affecting that department. As such, he gets many of the inquiries that come in from residents, which gives him an idea of the Town’s response times. Bowering said the amount of time some residents have to wait for a reply from town staff is unsatisfactory.

Bowering noted that on April 9 he put forward two issues that had been presented to him, but that a reply on one of them was not received until May 24. In other words, it took 45 days for the issue to be addressed by staff.

“For that long a time, it doesn’t let the staff look good because they’re (the public) expecting us, I’ll say me, to come back with an answer and I can’t give an answer in 45 days,” he said. “So, it doesn’t look good for all of us.”

Chief Administrative Officer Nigel Black acknowledged Bowering’s concern. He asserted that staff does their best to get residents, and Bowering himself, quick replies.

“Sometimes it’s a juggling job to see if we can get an answer to everyone as quick as they would like them,” Black said. “I would agree with you that that period of time is too long, so your point has been taken.”

Black noted that in this particular case, the response time was partly out of his control, but he committed that he and the other staff will try to get Bowering information much sooner.