Fisher calls for Black River mayor to be more vocal in making demands of JPS

Everton Fisher, a former mayor of Black River, has pressed Councillor Richard Solomon, the chairman of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation (StEMC) and the current mayor, to apply stricter pressures in his correspondence with the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to ensure that residents are better served.

The municipal corporation has been battling with JPS for months over a request for the power company to install 400 much-needed street lights across the parish.

“I’ve been on record, year after year, as an antagonist to JPS ... [for] about six years I have been targeting JPS,” Fisher, councillor for the Balaclava division, said during the monthly sitting of the municipal corporation last Thursday, continuing that he believes that the power company has taken the council “for granted”.

Fisher urged Solomon to “crack the whip”, further stating that he was, however, understanding that the mayor would not be in any position to “drape them up to do the things they are supposed to do”.

In an impassioned plea, Fisher stated, “Chairman, you have to make noise sometime, you have to let your voice be heard. JPS is not living up to the expectation and I know you’re going to say if Daryl Vaz can’t do it, you can’t do it, but chairman, I beg you, let your voice be heard, JPS need to behave better.”

In response, Solomon stated that he would not take the more “abrasive” approach.

“The reality is that, as many people know, empty barrel make a lot of noise and sometimes we don’t get much result. My approach is sort of different. I believe in partnership; I believe in having them at the table so that we can have the discussion,” he said.

“You see, sometimes we take an abrasive approach and what it does is allow them to stay away from the process as you just alluded to,” he continued.

However, Fisher pointed out that numerous council meetings have been held in which JPS has not attended. This, he expressed, was a telling sign of their attitude towards the municipal corporation.

Councillors frustrated

Councillors have grown frustrated that requests made to the office have not been addressed.

Layton Smith, councillor for the Myersville division, stated, “For too long we have been making reports to JPS about some serious issues and they acknowledge the report but yet still no solution to the problem.”

While referring to a situation that he believed might soon become tragic, Smith explained that in the district of New Building there is a light pole that holds a street lamp on it that has been broken since the passage of Hurricane Beryl. He stated that its wires connect to the home of a woman and that it was on the verge of breaking off.

Smith continued that he has visited the site and has taken pictures and has submitted them to JPS which responded that it would send someone to investigate it.

“Not even 15 minutes ago, I’ve been called by a citizen who said that fire has been gashing from the wire that goes to her house, and I’m sorry to know that it seems as if JPS is waiting on something to drastically happen before they take care of that pole and over and over we have been doing some of these reports and nothing is being done,” he said.

In September, the StEMC reported that 400 applications that were made in 2021 to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development have yet to be honoured.

At the time, Cetany Holness, councillor for the Junction division, had stated that the corporation had been “lobbying” for street lights for over five years and was unsuccessful. He recommended that the Ministry of Local Government be contacted on the matter, adding that a lot of street lights were damaged during the passage of Hurricane Beryl and that this could form as a basis for the request.

With the requests made for the 400 street lights still pending, Acting Chief Executive Officer Errol Lebert stated that, while the municipal corporation has grounds to seek additional lighting beyond the 400 that were first requested, it would be prudent to hold off on making a second request until the first has been addressed.

“A lot of them have been falling apart and a lot of them have been totally destroyed and would need to be drastically upgraded,” another councillor said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com