Mayor unsure whether he will run for office again

FRIDAY, JAN. 20: Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling has remained tight lipped over whether he will run for office again later this year.

Corporation elections are due to take place in May under the new Municipalities Act for the first time.

And although Mr Gosling would not say whether he would stand for re-election he said the new election rules would have a major change in the dynamics of the city.

He told the Bermuda Sun: “I do not know at the moment whether I will stand again.

“I will know pretty well by the end of next month.”

Mr Gosling added: “The Municipalities Act does give all the power to the residents of Hamilton.

“Any Bermudian in the Parliamentary Registry list can run for any of the three positions of Mayor, Alderman or Common Councillor.

“Any resident of the city is eligible to nominate an individual and has the ability to vote in this election.

“We do have the situation that business will lose any say they have had having representation on the board.

“Hopefully moving forward the corporation will continue the level of transparency and open meetings that we have brought in.”

Earlier this week the Corporation of Hamilton held a town hall meeting to discuss the forthcoming municipal elections.

Mr Gosling told the Sun that for the Municipality to run better there needs to be better communication channels with government.

He added: “I would say we are in the waiting room at the moment waiting for the specialist or the GP.

“It is a little bit disappointing that since the change in legislation we have not had a consistent dialogue.

“We did have several good meetings at an early stage.

“But a lot of issues have come up from the changes in legislation and they need to be properly discussed.”