 The chief executive officer and her staff are public servants functioning under the regulations of the Statutory Authorities Service Commissions Ordinance.Following an election in 1887, Michel Maxwell Philip became the mayor, a position that had previously been held by only whites.Bridget Brereton wrote in her 2002 book "Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad 1870–1900" that "perhaps this marks the emergence of the coloured man as a political force in Trinidad".