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Spalding shops: Parish Council knew
IF Portia Simpson Miller, the prime minister, had caved in to the raging calls for Richard Azan's head, the North West Clarendon member of parliament would have been axed, unfairly, it is now apparent.
Information carefully pieced together by the Jamaica Observer suggests that Mayor Scean Barnswell's Clarendon Parish Council was fully aware from early in the day about the construction of 10 shops at the Spalding Market that has consumed the Jamaican public and threatened to scuttle the political career of Azan.
AZAN… advised contractor to pass the operation of the shops to the council
1/5 
The key actors in this tragic drama would not go on record because of commitment to investigators, including the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), not to do so. But the Sunday Observer has obtained a credible picture of what unfolded, based on documentation, including the minutes of several parish council meetings and believable constituency sources clearly in the know.
It is also strongly claimed that the majority of the disputed shops were allocated to people identifying as supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), although the Sunday Observer could not independently confirm this.
In the meantime, Azan has received the invaluable endorsement of one of the country's top businessmen, Lascelles Chin, the chairman of Lasco, who finds the MP "good for politics".
"I really don't know what all this contention is about. In matters of politics, one doesn't always know where the truth lies, but I am very positive about Mr Azan," said Chin, who accepted the politician's invitation to give a motivational talk to students at Bailliston Primary School and found himself in love with the people and the area.
"He (Azan) is a minister who does a lot for the community. He is very efficient and very caring. If he commits to do something he does it immediately. And I find he is not looking for something for himself," said Chin.
While the facts appear to be on Azan's side, he is not yet out of the woods. The OCG has not yet disclosed its findings to which the public is most likely to attach credibility.
Plus, the May Pen mayor and head of the Clarendon Parish Council, Barnswell, remained insistent that he first heard of the project to construct the shops on PC property at the market at Spalding (invariably called Spaldings) on September 5, 2012.
"I don't recall any prior discussion with Mr Azan in which he told me about a project to build shops at Spalding before September 5 at the official opening of the market," Barnswell said yesterday.
Did John Bryant jump the gun?
The information obtained by the Sunday Observer traces the following chronological path:
* Last year, John Bryant of Bryant Construction won the bid put to tender by the parish council to repair the old market at Spalding, a town which seems to have outgrown its teeming population of hardy vendors, many of whom plied their wares impinging on the public thoroughfare.
* The repairs were completed sometime in August 2012 and the prime minister and the minister of local government, Noel Arscott, were taken on a tour of the refurbished market. An official opening was planned for September 5.
* Bryant was approached by vendors who wanted him to build shops in the vicinity of the market to accommodate them and cause them to leave the streets, while getting proper sanitary convenience.
* On or about September 1, 2012, Bryant spoke to Azan about the vendors' request and the MP promised to discuss the matter with the mayor. He later informed Bryant that the mayor had said the shops were needed by the vendors but that the PC did not have the money to build the proposed shops, upon which Bryant offered to build them on condition that an arrangement was made for him to recover his money from the PC.
* Bryant built a model unit on or about September 4, in time to catch the official opening ceremony. It was unclear whether he had received permission to build the unit.
* Following the opening ceremony where the unit was unveiled and received the tacit support of the many officials present, a total of 10 shops were built by Bryant's Construction at a cost of $1.75 million. With no formal arrangement in place with the parish council up to that point. Bryant and Azan agreed to a temporary measure to allow the contractor to collect rental fees of $5,000 a month from the vendors, using the MP's constituency secretary, pending an agreement with the Council. Some $213,000 was collected, which Bryant turned over to the PC after the matter emerged as a controversy in the media.
* Towards year-end, with still no formal agreement with the PC, Azan advised Bryant to pass the operation of the shops to the council and push for the elusive agreement.
The paper trail through the Clarendon Parish Council
The Sunday Observer picked up the paper trail in the Clarendon Parish Council at September 19, 2012, at the regular monthly meeting of the Public Health and Sanitation Committee which had been dealing with the issue of sanitation raised by the vendors who had called for the shops.
* The meeting was informed that the council's Commercial Services Manager Ralston Peters was absent and so could not report on the Spalding market, but that he was in the town handling the matter of registering the vendors.
* At the regular monthly meeting of the Finance and Estate Management Committee held on September 27, 2012, Mayor Barnswell was recorded as telling the meeting that "an agreement should be drafted for the persons who rent shops". The only three members of the committee absent were councillors Milton Brown, a former mayor; Carlton Bailey and Anthony O'Connor.
* A proposal was presented to the September 27 meeting by the commercial services manager disclosing that: "Matching wooden shops are being built to the rear of the (market) property for the sale of haberdashery and related goods (six were completed at the time of reporting). An additional and larger wooden building was constructed closer to the front of the property to accommodate at least three shops."
* The proposal also indicated that: "In the case of shops, similar arrangements (to vending stations in the market) are proposed at an annual rate of $120,000 or $10,000 per month. All shops must be wired and metered independently for electricity and the occupants pay to rid the council of this unpredictable expense. Where a shop is equipped with piped water the same system must apply where the user pays."
* At the regular monthly meeting of the Finance and Estate Management Committee held on November 22, 2012, JLP Councillor Pauline Reynolds asked how many stalls and shops were at the Spalding market and was told by Peters that there were 12 shops.
* Councillor T Gordon updated the regular monthly meeting of the Public Health and Sanitation Committee on January 16, 2013 that: "...There was nothing new regarding the shops in the Spalding market and garbage collection was being carried out on a regular basis." The assistant superintendent of roads and works (building), E Rochester also reported that "a design for concrete shops would be done".
* On January 24, 2013, the clerk informed the regular monthly meeting of the Finance and Estate Management Committee that: "Arrangements for the rental of the shops (at Spalding market) were in progress."
Media frenzy
* Bryant, in January 2013, opened negotiations with the parish council to hand over the shops and compensate him for money spent. The contractor paid over all money he had collected from the vendors, pending an agreement with the council.
* Disclosure by The Gleaner newspaper's Tyrone Reid of the untidy arrangement at Spalding triggered a media frenzy that in turn fed into public distrust of politicians, though often with good reason. Several organisations called for Azan's head, suggesting that corruption was lurking in the details.
* Impeccable Sunday Observer sources said that Bryant last Monday gave the council an ultimatum to resolve the issue by May 3, 2013, failing which he would remove the shops to another location from which the vendors could sell their goods.
* The Sunday Observer also learnt that the council is contemplating a lease agreement that would allow Bryant to operate the shops under the ownership of the PC.
For his part, Mayor Barnswell suggested that Azan had been "caught in the whole political game" and had done nothing corrupt. He conceded that there might have been council officers who were derelict in their duties in that they did not report that the shops were being built without formal approval by the council.
But when asked why he did not demolish the shops as soon as he became aware of them, Barnswell was adamant that he would not yield to such calls as the shops had become part of the assets of the council with a value of $900,000. He noted: "The vendors want the shops and they are happy. The parish council is making some money and we are happy and the builder is happy. This is what development is about."
‘Majority of shops allocated to JLP supporters’
BY DESMOND ALLEN Executive Editor — Special Assignment allend@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, May 05, 2013
BY DESMOND ALLEN Executive Editor — Special Assignment allend@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, May 05, 2013
IF Portia Simpson Miller, the prime minister, had caved in to the raging calls for Richard Azan's head, the North West Clarendon member of parliament would have been axed, unfairly, it is now apparent.
Information carefully pieced together by the Jamaica Observer suggests that Mayor Scean Barnswell's Clarendon Parish Council was fully aware from early in the day about the construction of 10 shops at the Spalding Market that has consumed the Jamaican public and threatened to scuttle the political career of Azan.
AZAN… advised contractor to pass the operation of the shops to the council 1/5 The key actors in this tragic drama would not go on record because of commitment to investigators, including the Office of the Contractor General (OCG), not to do so. But the Sunday Observer has obtained a credible picture of what unfolded, based on documentation, including the minutes of several parish council meetings and believable constituency sources clearly in the know.
It is also strongly claimed that the majority of the disputed shops were allocated to people identifying as supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), although the Sunday Observer could not independently confirm this.
In the meantime, Azan has received the invaluable endorsement of one of the country's top businessmen, Lascelles Chin, the chairman of Lasco, who finds the MP "good for politics".
"I really don't know what all this contention is about. In matters of politics, one doesn't always know where the truth lies, but I am very positive about Mr Azan," said Chin, who accepted the politician's invitation to give a motivational talk to students at Bailliston Primary School and found himself in love with the people and the area.
"He (Azan) is a minister who does a lot for the community. He is very efficient and very caring. If he commits to do something he does it immediately. And I find he is not looking for something for himself," said Chin.
While the facts appear to be on Azan's side, he is not yet out of the woods. The OCG has not yet disclosed its findings to which the public is most likely to attach credibility.
Plus, the May Pen mayor and head of the Clarendon Parish Council, Barnswell, remained insistent that he first heard of the project to construct the shops on PC property at the market at Spalding (invariably called Spaldings) on September 5, 2012.
"I don't recall any prior discussion with Mr Azan in which he told me about a project to build shops at Spalding before September 5 at the official opening of the market," Barnswell said yesterday.
Did John Bryant jump the gun?
The information obtained by the Sunday Observer traces the following chronological path:
* Last year, John Bryant of Bryant Construction won the bid put to tender by the parish council to repair the old market at Spalding, a town which seems to have outgrown its teeming population of hardy vendors, many of whom plied their wares impinging on the public thoroughfare.
* The repairs were completed sometime in August 2012 and the prime minister and the minister of local government, Noel Arscott, were taken on a tour of the refurbished market. An official opening was planned for September 5.
* Bryant was approached by vendors who wanted him to build shops in the vicinity of the market to accommodate them and cause them to leave the streets, while getting proper sanitary convenience.
* On or about September 1, 2012, Bryant spoke to Azan about the vendors' request and the MP promised to discuss the matter with the mayor. He later informed Bryant that the mayor had said the shops were needed by the vendors but that the PC did not have the money to build the proposed shops, upon which Bryant offered to build them on condition that an arrangement was made for him to recover his money from the PC.
* Bryant built a model unit on or about September 4, in time to catch the official opening ceremony. It was unclear whether he had received permission to build the unit.
* Following the opening ceremony where the unit was unveiled and received the tacit support of the many officials present, a total of 10 shops were built by Bryant's Construction at a cost of $1.75 million. With no formal arrangement in place with the parish council up to that point. Bryant and Azan agreed to a temporary measure to allow the contractor to collect rental fees of $5,000 a month from the vendors, using the MP's constituency secretary, pending an agreement with the Council. Some $213,000 was collected, which Bryant turned over to the PC after the matter emerged as a controversy in the media.
* Towards year-end, with still no formal agreement with the PC, Azan advised Bryant to pass the operation of the shops to the council and push for the elusive agreement.
The paper trail through the Clarendon Parish Council
The Sunday Observer picked up the paper trail in the Clarendon Parish Council at September 19, 2012, at the regular monthly meeting of the Public Health and Sanitation Committee which had been dealing with the issue of sanitation raised by the vendors who had called for the shops.
* The meeting was informed that the council's Commercial Services Manager Ralston Peters was absent and so could not report on the Spalding market, but that he was in the town handling the matter of registering the vendors.
* At the regular monthly meeting of the Finance and Estate Management Committee held on September 27, 2012, Mayor Barnswell was recorded as telling the meeting that "an agreement should be drafted for the persons who rent shops". The only three members of the committee absent were councillors Milton Brown, a former mayor; Carlton Bailey and Anthony O'Connor.
* A proposal was presented to the September 27 meeting by the commercial services manager disclosing that: "Matching wooden shops are being built to the rear of the (market) property for the sale of haberdashery and related goods (six were completed at the time of reporting). An additional and larger wooden building was constructed closer to the front of the property to accommodate at least three shops."
* The proposal also indicated that: "In the case of shops, similar arrangements (to vending stations in the market) are proposed at an annual rate of $120,000 or $10,000 per month. All shops must be wired and metered independently for electricity and the occupants pay to rid the council of this unpredictable expense. Where a shop is equipped with piped water the same system must apply where the user pays."
* At the regular monthly meeting of the Finance and Estate Management Committee held on November 22, 2012, JLP Councillor Pauline Reynolds asked how many stalls and shops were at the Spalding market and was told by Peters that there were 12 shops.
* Councillor T Gordon updated the regular monthly meeting of the Public Health and Sanitation Committee on January 16, 2013 that: "...There was nothing new regarding the shops in the Spalding market and garbage collection was being carried out on a regular basis." The assistant superintendent of roads and works (building), E Rochester also reported that "a design for concrete shops would be done".
* On January 24, 2013, the clerk informed the regular monthly meeting of the Finance and Estate Management Committee that: "Arrangements for the rental of the shops (at Spalding market) were in progress."
Media frenzy
* Bryant, in January 2013, opened negotiations with the parish council to hand over the shops and compensate him for money spent. The contractor paid over all money he had collected from the vendors, pending an agreement with the council.
* Disclosure by The Gleaner newspaper's Tyrone Reid of the untidy arrangement at Spalding triggered a media frenzy that in turn fed into public distrust of politicians, though often with good reason. Several organisations called for Azan's head, suggesting that corruption was lurking in the details.
* Impeccable Sunday Observer sources said that Bryant last Monday gave the council an ultimatum to resolve the issue by May 3, 2013, failing which he would remove the shops to another location from which the vendors could sell their goods.
* The Sunday Observer also learnt that the council is contemplating a lease agreement that would allow Bryant to operate the shops under the ownership of the PC.
For his part, Mayor Barnswell suggested that Azan had been "caught in the whole political game" and had done nothing corrupt. He conceded that there might have been council officers who were derelict in their duties in that they did not report that the shops were being built without formal approval by the council.
But when asked why he did not demolish the shops as soon as he became aware of them, Barnswell was adamant that he would not yield to such calls as the shops had become part of the assets of the council with a value of $900,000. He noted: "The vendors want the shops and they are happy. The parish council is making some money and we are happy and the builder is happy. This is what development is about."
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