By Hetty Musfirah, Channel NewsAsia, 5 Jan 2013
AIM reiterates, town council served notice first
TODAY, 5 Jan 2013
Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu said a fundamental point in the discussions on Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) and Action Information Management Pte Ltd (AIM) revolves around the management of the town council.
In a post on her Facebook page, she said town councils were set up to make Members of Parliament (MPs) responsible for the maintenance and cleanliness of their constituencies.
Thus, the government put town councils under the charge of the elected representatives, and linked them directly to the MPs and their political parties.
Ms Fu said when the Worker's Party (WP) contested in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), it assured the voters that it could manage the estate well, based on its track record in Hougang.
Ms Fu said when the Worker's Party (WP) contested in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), it assured the voters that it could manage the estate well, based on its track record in Hougang.
Ms Fu noted that after WP won the GRC in the 2011 general election, it promptly put its people into the town council and directly appointed its own managing agent.
They were clearly in charge of Aljunied-Hougang TC (AHTC) right after the election, she said.
Ms Fu pointed out that 18 months later, AHTC got a "red band" for its collection of Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) in the reports card on town councils.
More than half of its monthly S&CC collection is overdue for three months or longer.
AHTC was also the only town council whose grade for corporate governance was pending its auditor's report.
Ms Fu said AHTC Chairman Sylvia Lim had said the fault is not theirs, but the PAP's, which allegedly terminated the financial systems provided by AIM.
Ms Fu said AHTC Chairman Sylvia Lim had said the fault is not theirs, but the PAP's, which allegedly terminated the financial systems provided by AIM.
She said this is untrue - and that it was WP that served notice to terminate AIM, and later asked for and received two extensions of time, until its own system was ready.
Ms Fu said it is the WP's responsibility to provide services in AHTC, as it did in Hougang Town Council - not the government's or the PAP's.
She added that "taking aim at AIM misses a fundamental point - the management of AHTC".
Ms Fu said a new team may take three or four months to settle in, but believes 18 months are enough to take over and be responsible for a town council.
"If not, how much longer should the conversion period be? 24, 30 months? Maybe 5 years?" she asked.
AIM reiterates, town council served notice first
TODAY, 5 Jan 2013
Following two further statements on the issue earlier today, Action Information Management (AIM) has come out to reiterate that it was the Aljunied Hougang Town Council (AHTC) that had initiated the termination of AIM's services.
Earlier today, AHTC's chairman Sylvia Lim disclosed a copy of the termination notice by AIM, dated June 22, 2011.
But AIM said the termination process began with a letter from the town council, sent to AIM, on June 10, 2011, which is already in the public domain.
In the letter, the town council informed AIM that it was developing its own software management system but needed more time to effect the transition, and requested an extension of the lease agreement.
AIM said it was willing to grant the extension to ensure a smooth transition and avoid any disruption to the town council and its residents. To avoid any doubt, AIM issued its own formal notice of termination on June 22, 2011 after seeking legal advice.
A follow up letter was also sent two days later to confirm that it would grant the extension requested by the town council.
AIM said it also readily agreed to a subsequent request for a further extension till Sept 9, 2011.
AIM said the town council also thanked AIM in writing twice for its cooperation and assistance. AIM was also willing to agree to further extensions, if requests had been made.
THE TWO LETTERS
The full text of AHTC's letter, dated June 10, 2011:
"We would like to inform you that Aljunied-Hougang Town Council is in the process of developing a Town Council Management System to support its operations effectively.
"We would like to thank AIM for the assistance rendered to us in preparing the migration of database to the new system.
"The new system is targeted to go live on 1 August 2011. While the new system goes live, we are planning to have the AIMS-TCMS (Financial Module) running concurrently till 31 August 2011, so as to ascertain the reliability of the new system.
"As such, we would like to put up a request to continue to use the AIMS-TCMS till 31 August 2011, for your favourable consideration please."
The full text of AIM's termination notice, dated June 22, 2011:
"We hereby give notice in accordance with Clause 9.3 of the Conditions of the above Contract that, owing to material changes to the membership of the Town Council, we will cease to allow Aljunied Town Council the use of the intellectual property and system functions relating to the developed application software currently used by the Town Council after a period of at least one month from the date of this notice.
"The provision of the developed application software will therefore be terminated with effect from 1 August 2011."
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