CEO accused of running Siparia Regional Corporation 'like a parlour'

AS Government considers transforming Siparia into a borough, PNM Councillor for La Brea Gerald Debisette has accused the CEO of treating the regional corporation like a “parlour” instead of a multi-million dollar business.

Debisette’s statement came during the Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC) statutory meeting on Thursday as he joined with councilors on the others side of the political fence, to express dissatisfaction with the CEO Ann Hosein. Hosein was at the meeting.

The meeting became heated as councilors Doodnath Mayhroo and Shankar Teelucksing representing the UNC and Debisette, spoke in agreement about the unilateral decisions being made by the CEO, who they claimed was working against the interest of the 80,000 people they served.

Even chairman Denish Sankersingh added his discontent as he spoke of his attempts to get a proper working vehicle, as the official one assigned to him was a "disgrace to his office."

He said he kept ripping his trousers on a protruding spring on the front passenger seat. He said all the seats were torn and there were missing door handles, making it impossible to open from the outside.

Councillors also complained about the removal of a two-hour break for bank time for corporation employees, delays in getting material to commence or complete projects and the removal of allowances for wackermen and blower operators. The said the latter wqas done without consultation with the council or the employees' union.

Councillors also took issue with Hosein's communication with the Integrity Commission as it related to their declarations.

Mayrhoo, councillor for Avocat/San Francique said the CEO aught to get her priorities right.

He said decisions were being made without council’s approval which they were being asked to rubberstamp in the aftermath.

“The council is being severely undermined.”

He referred to report for the mid-year review, with a request for $19,350,143, which was submitted to the Ministry of Finance without council’s approval.

Mayrhoo said it should have been ratified by the council before being submitted.

“It is unacceptable that something as important as the mid-year review did not go before council before being submitted to the MoF (Ministry of Finance).”

Debisette agreed there should have been better communication.

Hosein responded by saying it was not her error but may have been an oversight on the part of the chief financial officer in bring it to the attention of council before submission.

Mayrhoo lamented that the corporation missed the opportunity to clear water courses before the rainy season, as an excavator and five of the backhoes were down.

Again, there was consensus from Debisette who told the meeting that Palo Seco councillor Dana O’Neil-Gervais’s request for a high vehicle from the CEO to get to residents marooned by Monday’s flash flooding, was rejected.

“That is inhumane,” Debisette told the meeting.

Instead of making funding for the equipment a priority, Myarhoo said the CEO had written to the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) requesting a cut in the allowance of wackermen and people operating as blowers, who were still operating on 2013 salaries. Owing to the increase in the price of gas, the allowances were increased from $10 to $25.

He said the money was catered for in the last allocation and would not have eroded the SRC’s finances.

“There are bigger fish to fry than wacker allowance and blower allowance,” Debisette said.

“Five backhoes down and the excavator down, these are things the CEO should be writing the line minister about rather than looking to take away $10 allowance from persons making the electoral districts look human.”

Both he and Mayrhoo pointed to the delay in hiring staff, speaking to the woeful shortage in the technical department, but a unilateral decision by the CEO to hire two people to join the public health department, again, without consultation.

“We can’t sit here just to blankly approve $13,000 (wages) per person. You should have come before and have discussions with council, outline the reasons why persons were to be hired.”

Concerns were also expressed about the delay in awarding contracts because of a staffing shortage.