More pile-ups of garbage may be looming for the city after Puran Brothers Inc. discontinued collection services in 15 areas due to non-payment.
The pulling of the company’s services, which it had threatened over the non-payment, prompted the Mayor and City Council to once again lay blame at the feet of acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba, who hired the contractor without the council’s approval. The council is claiming Local Govern-ment Minister Norman Whittaker had promised a solution to ensure payment to the firm but no action was taken.
The affected areas are West Ruimveldt, East Ruimveldt, Castello Hous-ing Scheme, Independence Boulevard, West La Penitence, Jeeboo Land, North East La Penitence, East La Penitence (Freeman Street), Lamaha Springs, Lamaha, Albert-town, Kingston, North Cummingsburg, South Cummingsburg and Queenstown.
“We apologise to residents of the affected areas who will be inconvenienced and look forward to the Minister of Local Government and the Government doing the right and proper thing,” the council said in a statement.
According to the statement, the council had instructed Sooba to advertise for bids for the collection services in the affected areas but instead she “unlawfully and improperly” proceeded to identify a contractor without consultation.
“We reiterate that the Mayor and City Council was neither consulted nor informed about the purported arrangement with the Solid Waste Contractor. This is regrettable and we hold the government and the Minister totally responsible for this sorry state of affairs,” it added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green referred to the current situation as most unfortunate and blamed the current administration for failing to advertise for tenders for solid waste collectors for the affected areas.
Chase-Green stressed that she is still waiting to learn under whose authority Sooba acted since the arrangement to retain Puran Brothers was not authorised by the council.
She further noted that Whittaker had indicated that payments would be made to Puran Brothers without consulting the duly-elected council.
Chase-Green further warned of possible health issues resulting from the build-up of garbage, while blaming the administration and Whittaker for the situation. “I hope that good sense will prevail and the tendering process will be adhered to as soon as possible to ensure that the garbage is effectively cleared,” said Chase-Green.
When asked whether contingencies are in place to address collection in the affected areas, Chase-Green said the only available option is a tractor which in not capable of handling the additional work. She added that the council doesn’t have the required machinery.
“It was ventilated at the level of the committee and clearly decided that before any contractors can be assigned… the tendering process must be carried out,” added Ranwell Jordan, Chairman of the Public Health and Markets Committee and former Mayor.
Jordan emphasised that the money owed to Puran Brothers Inc. should be paid by Sooba in her personal capacity since she took it upon herself to engage the service.
The councillor stated that Whittaker had suggested to the councillors that the solid waste contractors be paid but Jordan pointed out that payments could not be made because there was no agreement between the contractor and the council.
Jordan added that there are other solid waste collectors who are also owed for work but could not be paid because of an absence of a contract between them and the council. Those contractors, according to Jordan, came on board at the invitation of the former town clerk.
Meanwhile, the city’s Public Relations Officer Royston King stressed that all the solid waste collectors should be paid and he reasoned that if only Puran Brothers will be paid, it will reflect a double standard.
