PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO · 2 Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach replaced Mr....

Ordered to be printed with the Minutes of

Proceedings

and Notes of Evidence

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PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Fifth Session (2014/2015)

TENTH PARLIAMENT

Eighteenth Report Joint Select Committee

Appointed to inquire into and report on Municipal Corporations and Service Commissions

18th Report of the JSC on Municipal Corporations and Service Commissions (with the exception of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission)

ii

An electronic copy of this report can be found on the Parliament website:

www.ttparliament.org

The Joint Select Committee on Municipal Corporations and Service Commissions

(with the exception of the Judicial and Legal Service Commissions)

Contact the Committee’s Secretariat

Telephone: 624-7275 Extensions 2277/2527/2283, Fax: 625-4672

Email: [email protected]

http://www.ttparliament.org/


iii

Eighteenth Report

of the

Joint Select Committee appointed to inquire into and

report on Municipal Corporations and Service

Commissions [with the exception of the Judicial and Legal

Service commission]

on an

inquiry into the Administration and

Operations of the

Penal/Debe Regional Corporation

Date Laid: HoR: 08.05.2015 Senate: 12.05.2015


iv


v

The Committee

Mr. Anthony Vieira

Chairman

Ms. Shamfa Cudjoe

Member

Mrs. Vernella Alleyne-Toppin,

MP

Member

Ms. Marlene Coudray

Member

Mr. Chandresh Sharma,

MP

Member

Mr. Devant Maharaj

Member

Ms. Marlene McDonald,

MP

Member

Mr. James Lambert

Member Mrs. Joanne Thomas,

MP

Member

Mr. Rodger Samuel,

MP

Member

Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach

Vice-Chairman

Mr. Prakash Ramadhar,

MP

Member

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Committee Mandate and Establishment

In accordance with provisions of section 66(A) of the Constitution of the Republic of

Trinidad and Tobago, on September 17, 2010 the House of Representatives and October 12,

2010 the Senate, agreed to a motion on the subject of the appointment of a Joint Select

Committee to inquire into and report to Parliament on Municipal Corporations and Service

Commissions with the exception of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission on all

matters relating to:

their administration

the manner of exercise of their powers

their methods of functioning; and

any criteria adopted by them in the exercise of their powers and functions.

Powers of the Joint Select Committee

Standing Orders 71B of the Senate and 101 of the House of Representatives outline that

inter alia the Committee is empowered to study and report on all matters relating to the

mandate, management and operations of the Ministry or Body assigned to it by the House.

In consequence, the Committee has the powers inter alia:

to review and report on all matters relating to:

the statute law relating to the Ministry/body assigned to it;

the program and policy objectives of the Ministry/Body and its effectiveness in the

implementation of same;

other matters relating to the management , organization of the ministry or body, as

the Committee deems it fit;

to send for persons, papers and records;

to adjourn from place to place;

to appoint specialist advisers either to supply information which is not otherwise

readily available or to elucidate matters of complexity within the Committee’s terms

of reference; and

to communicate with any other Committees of Parliament on matters of common

interest.


vii

Membership

The members of the Committee are as follows:

Mr. Anthony Vieira1 - Chairman

Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach2 - Vice-Chairman

Ms. Marlene Coudray3

Mr. James Lambert4

Ms. Shamfa Cudjoe

Mr. Devant Maharaj

Mrs. Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, MP

Mr. Chandresh Sharma, MP

Mr. Rodger Samuel, MP

Mr. Prakash Ramadhar, MP

Ms. Marlene McDonald, MP

Mrs. Joanne Thomas, MP

Secretariat Support

Secretarial assistance was provided by the following officers:

Mr. Julien Ogilvie - Secretary

Ms. Candice Skerrette - Assistant Secretary

Ms. Kimberly Mitchell - Graduate Research Assistant

Mr. Johnson Greenidge - Parliamentary Intern

Meetings

For the purpose of this inquiry, the Committee held one meeting with officials of the

Penal/Debe Regional Corporation on Friday July 25, 2014.

1 Mr. Anthony Vieira replaced Mr. Elton Prescott on the Committee with effect from September 23, 2013. 2 Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach replaced Mr. Subhas Ramkhelawan on the Committee with effect from May 6, 2014 following his

resignation as a Senator on 10 April, 2014 3 Ms. Marlene Coudray replaced Brig.(Ret’d) John Sandy on the Committee with effect from 16.10.12 following the termination of his

Senatorial appointment on June 25, 2012 4 Mr. James Lambert replaced Mr. David Abdulah on the Committee with effect from 16.10.12 following the termination of his Senatorial

appointment on June 22, 2012.


viii

Contents

Page #

List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. x

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ x

Table of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. x

Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... xii

Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Background of inquiry ................................................................................................................ 1

Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 7

Evidence received ....................................................................................................................... 7

Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 33

Findings and Recommendations ............................................................................................... 33

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 43

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 45

Appendix I ................................................................................................................................... 46

Entities falling under the purview of the Committee ................................................................ 46

Appendix II .................................................................................................................................. 48

Minutes ...................................................................................................................................... 48

Appendix III ................................................................................................................................ 64

Excerpt of Verbatim Notes of the Public hearing held on July 25, 2014 .................................. 64

Appendix IV ................................................................................................................................ 97

PDRC Organizational Chart ...................................................................................................... 97

Appendix V .................................................................................................................................. 99

PDRC Composition of Staffing 2012/2013 .............................................................................. 99

Appendix VI .............................................................................................................................. 101

PDRC Departmental Responsibilities ..................................................................................... 101

Appendix VII ............................................................................................................................. 107

PDRC Budget Formulation Process 2012/2013 ...................................................................... 107


ix

Appendix VIII ........................................................................................................................... 109

PDRC Financial Statement on the Recurrent Programme 2010 - 2013 .................................. 109

Appendix IX .............................................................................................................................. 111

PDRC Financial Statement on the Development Programme 2010 – 2013 ........................... 111

Appendix X ................................................................................................................................ 113

Training Programmes Undertaken during the period 2010 to 2013........................................ 113

Appendix XI .............................................................................................................................. 116

Additional Departmental Achievements during the period 2010 to 2013 .............................. 116

Appendix XII ............................................................................................................................. 120

PDRC Strategic Way Forward ................................................................................................ 120


x

List of Tables

TABLE NO. DETAILS PAGE NO.

Table 1 Departmental Objectives and Achievements 16

List of Figures

FIGURE NO. DETAILS PAGE NO.

Figure I The Region of Penal/Debe 3

Figure II Electoral Districts within the Region of

Penal/Debe

4

Table of Abbreviations

ABBREVIATION MEANING

CEO Chief Executive Officer

CEPEP Community-Based Environmental Protection and

Enhancement Programme

CERT Community Emergency Response Team

DMU Disaster Management Unit

EMBD The Estate Management and Business Development

Company Limited

HRM Human Resource Management

MoCD Ministry of Community Development

MoFE Ministry of Finance and the Economy


xi

MoLG Ministry of Local Government

MoWI Ministry of Works and Infrastructure

MoT Ministry of Tourism

MPS Municipal Police Service

MTEST Ministry of Tertiary Education and Skills Training

NGC National Gas Company

NDC National Drug Council

NUGFW National Union of Government and Federated Workers

OSH Occupational Health and Safety

PDRC Penal/Debe Regional Corporation

PMCD Public Management Consulting Division

PSIP Public Sector Investment Programme

PSAEL Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Limited

PTSC Public Transport Service Corporation

SPORTT Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago

SRP Special Reserve Police

SWMCOL Solid Waste Management Company Limited

T&CPD Town and Country Planning Division

TDC Tourism Development Company

TTPS Trinidad and Tobago Police Service

URP Unemployment Relief Programme


xii

Executive Summary

At its Twenty-Ninth Meeting held on March 07, 2014, the Committee agreed to conduct a

review of the administration of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation for the purpose of

inquiring into the state of its administration. To this end, the Committee sourced both oral and

written evidence on the core areas of activity of the corporation.

Subsequent to reviewing the written submissions received on these areas, the Committee held a

public hearing with officials of the Corporation on Friday July 25, 2014, to examine in more

detail the relevant issues affecting the Corporation. These discussions focused on the following:

i. the Corporation’s strategic objectives and associated plans and initiatives.

ii. the adequacy of the Corporation’s human and financial resources;

iii. the Corporation’s relationship with external agencies;

iv. the adequacy of the corporation’s Organizational Structure;

v. the Corporation’s achievements and challenges;

vi. the development of leisure activities within the associated region;

The issues highlighted were not unique to this Corporation but are common to several of the

other Municipal Corporations examined by this Committee. Some of the findings made by the

Committee based on the evidence receive include:

Human Resources

i. there is a need for more resources to be allocated for the development of employees as

there is a high level of illiteracy among the Corporation’s workforce and a poor work

ethic. We also noted that the Corporation required additional workers in order to deliver

its services more efficiently;

ii. some supervisors lacked the skills and capabilities to effectively supervise;


xiii

Financial allocations

iii. the corporation benefitted from increased allocations for both its recurrent and

development programmes for three consecutive fiscal years: 2010/2011, 2011/2012,

2012/2013;

Public Health

iv. indiscriminate dumping practices remain a challenge for the Corporation;

Coordination of activities

v. the Corporation’s Regional Coordinating Committee was not functioning as it ought to

due to the constant absence of representatives of certain state agencies from RCC

meetings;

vi. the Corporation lacked a Communications Unit;

Disaster Management

vii. the corporation’s Disaster Management Unit (DMU) had adopted the Comprehensive

Disaster Management (CDM) Model which is focused on identifying mitigation as the

priority rather than relief and recovery efforts;

Municipal Police

viii. similar to most Corporations, the PDRC has a severe short fall of Municipal Police

Officers compounded by a lack of vehicles, equipment and resources to effectively

execute policing duties;

Developing Tourism in the Region

ix. With respect to the tourism prospects of the region, the Committee noted that the region

under the control of the Corporation had a relatively rich cultural heritage and ecology.

As such, we were of the view that the corporation in collaboration with the Ministry of

Tourism must do more to harness the tourism potential of the region.


xiv

Strategic plans

x. the corporation has a comprehensive Strategic Plan relevant to the period 2012-2015 and

has achieved moderate success in the implementation of the plans/initiatives set out

therein. The Committee found that there was a lack of specific timeframes for the

execution of plans/initiatives outline in the plan.

Relative to these and other issues outlined in this Report, the Committee has proffered a

number of recommendations that it anticipates will assist the Corporation to improve its

operations. These recommendations along with additional details on the committee’s findings

are stated in Chapter 3 of this report.

We expect that the Parliament, the PDRC, the Ministry of Local Government and other

stakeholders will take into consideration the findings and recommendations of this report, as

we work towards improving the services provided to residents of this municipality.


1

Chapter 1

Background of inquiry

1.1 Covering an area of approximately 246.91 square kilometers, the Municipality of

Penal/Debe is located south of the city of San Fernando and is bound by the regions of

Siparia and Princes Town. Its geography consists mainly of undulating hills and plains,

straddling the counties of Victoria and St. Patrick. (See Fig. I – The Region of

Penal/Debe5). Nine electoral districts comprise the PDRC including: Barrackpore West;

Bronte; Debe East/Esperance/Union Hall; Debe West; La Fortune; Palmiste/Hermitage;

Quinam/Morne Diablo; Penal; and Rochard/Barrackpore East (See Fig. II – Electoral

Districts within the Region of Penal/Debe6).

1.2 The Region is traditionally considered to be agricultural; however, there has been an

upsurge in business activity owing to entrepreneurism within recent times. The northern

area is in close proximity to San Fernando and is readily accessible to major transportation

facilities, and substantial communities have sprung up whose residents commute to job

opportunities in larger town centers such as Port-of-Spain. Further to the south the local

economy generally depends on the production and processing of fruits and vegetables, as

well as small-scale businesses and industries such as woodworking, carpentry, electrical

products and transportation. Also, in the deeper southern areas accessibility is very limited

and human settlement is sparse. Formal economic activity focuses on forestry and marginal

fishing industries7.

1.3 The Penal/Debe Regional Council is the local authority for the areas within the

municipality, responsible for providing the full range of local government services to a

population estimated at 89,392 persons from 26,067 households8. The Mission of the PDRC

5 Google Maps https://www.google.com/maps/place/Penal-Debe,+Trinidad+and+Tobago/@10.1819447,-

61.4427119,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8c358f5c1d488b01:0xc66d270edb410015?hl=en-GB 6 Summary Report of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation 2011/2013 7 Summary Report of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation 2011/2013 8 Central Statistical Office Community Register, 2011

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Penal-Debe,+Trinidad+and+Tobago/@10.1819447,-61.4427119,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8c358f5c1d488b01:0xc66d270edb410015?hl=en-GB

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Penal-Debe,+Trinidad+and+Tobago/@10.1819447,-61.4427119,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8c358f5c1d488b01:0xc66d270edb410015?hl=en-GB


2

is “to provide the services that our burgesses require so that it is the best living and

working environment to achieve and sustain social and economic prosperity.”9

1.4 The Corporation’s Council was elected subsequent to the October 21st, 2013 Local

Government elections. This Committee had not examined the operations or administration

of the Corporations functions since it began its work in 2010. Besides the lack of consistent

Parliamentary scrutiny of the affairs of the Corporation, the Committee was also cognisant

of the various administrative challenges which were confronting other Municipal

Corporations, such as;

a lack of sufficient human and financial resources;

archaic organisational structures and procedures;

overlapping of responsibilities with other community focused organisations;

inefficient service from associated Service Commissions, among others.

1.5 Therefore, as a part of a comprehensive review of all Regional Corporations, the

Committee was interested in acquiring an understanding of the current state of affairs at the

PDRC. The Committee was particularly keen in acquiring insights into the major strategic

plans and initiatives of the Corporation and in understanding the challenges confronting the

corporation.

9 Penal/Debe Regional Corporation. “About PDRC”. http://www.pdrctt.com/v5/about-pdrc/

http://www.pdrctt.com/v5/about-pdrc/


3

Fig I. - The Region of Penal/Debe


4

Fig II. Electoral Districts within the Region of Penal/Debe


5

Focus of the review

1.6 In order to gather the type of information it required to conduct its examination of the

affairs of the Corporation, the Committee requested that written submissions on the

following be provided to it by the Corporation:

i. a Summary Report on the administration of the Corporation for the period

2011 to 2013, comprising information on activities undertaken during the

respective years in areas such as:

a. Human Resource Management/Development;

b. Financial Management;

c. Public Health;

d. Infrastructural Development;

e. Policing and Security;

f. Disaster Management, among others

ii. a Status Report on the implementation of the Corporation’s Strategic Plan

(2012-2015); and

iii. the Draft Estimates for the Corporation’s Heads of Expenditure as per its

Short-Term Implementation Plan (2012-2013).

1.7 The oral and written evidence acquired is summarised in Chapter 2. The Corporation

provided the Committee with additional information as requested subsequent to the hearing.

These responses were received via letter dated September 23, 2014.

1.8 In accordance with Standing Orders 75(4)(b) of the Senate and 114 of the House of

Representatives, the Committee at a meeting held on April 24, 2015 considered and

approved this Eighteenth Report.


6

Ministerial Response

1.9 The provisions of Standing Orders 71(B)(13) of the Senate and 110 (6) of the House

of Representatives are applicable to this Report. They state inter alia:

“…The Minister responsible for the Ministry/Body under review shall, not later than

sixty days after a report from a Joint Select Committee, relating to the Ministry/Body,

has been laid upon the Table, present a paper to the House responding to any

recommendations/comments contained in the report which are addressed to it…..

If a Minister is unable to provide a response referred to (in paragraph above) the

Minister shall write to the Speaker of the House providing the reason the response

could not be provided…”

1.10 The sixty-day period commences on the date the report is tabled in the second House.


7

Chapter 2

Evidence received

2.1 The Committee met with representatives of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation at a

public hearing held on Friday July 25, 2014. The following officials represented the PDRC

at the hearing:

i. Mr. Premchand Sookoo Chairman

ii. Mr. Raymond Seepaul Chief Executive Officer

iii. Mr. Ballyram Lalla Municipal Police Inspector (Ag.)

iv. Mr. Chaythnath Maharaj Building Inspector I

v. Ms. Pearl Gallai Financial Officer

vi. Mr. Steve Heru County Superintendent

vii. Mr. Adrian Komal Engineering and Surveying Officer

viii. Mrs. Savistra Badall Disaster Management Coordinator

ix. Mr. Victor Pustam Public Health Officer

x. Mrs. Aura Martin-Sealy Corporate Secretary

xi. Mr. Vishnu Seunarine Personnel & Industrial Officer I (Ag.)

2.2 Hereunder is a synopsis of written and oral evidence provided to the Committee:


8

Status of Operations

Core responsibilities

2.2.1 The Corporation provided information on its operations for the period 2011 to 2013

in a, Summary Report (2011 to 2013), which included services, projects and strategies

targeting improvement in the administration of its affairs and service delivery. Initially

noted were the lines of business for the PDRC which are incorporated in its functions as

enshrined in the Municipal Corporations Act No. 21 of 1990 (Section 232), as amended by

Act No. 8 of 1992. These are listed hereunder:-

i. The distribution of truck-borne water subject to the provisions of the Water

and Sewerage Act (Chapter 54:40);

ii. The provision, maintenance and control of all Corporation buildings;

iii. The maintenance and control of homes for the aged established by

the Corporation;

iv. The maintenance and control of child care centres established by the

Corporation (subject to any other written law);

v. The construction and maintenance of all drains and water courses, except

main water-courses and highway water courses;

vi. The provision, maintenance, and control of such parks, recreation grounds,

beaches and other public spaces as the President may from time to time by

Order prescribe;

vii. The promotion of development within the Municipality in accordance with

the plans approved by the Minister with responsibility for physical planning;

viii. The maintenance of state property including – such police stations, health

centres, post offices, and other government buildings as the Minister to

whom responsibility for the construction and maintenance of buildings is

assigned may by order determine;

ix. The maintenance, control and enhancement of the physical

environment including – monitoring water courses, beaches and water

front areas, swamps, forests, game sanctuaries, savannahs, parks and

other open spaces;

x. The disposal of garbage from public and private property, the development

and maintenance of sanitary landfills, chemical treatment for insect and

vector control, abatement of public nuisances and dissemination of

information for primary health care;


9

xi. The development, construction, maintenance and repair of passenger bus

and taxi shelters and benches;

xii. The co-ordination of local and regional trade fairs, athletic events and

cultural displays and entertainment;

xiii. The collection and distribution of forms issued by Departments of

Government;

xiv. The maintenance and control of burial grounds and crematoria, subject to the

provisions of the Public Burial Grounds Act (Chapter 30:50) and the

Cremation Act (Chapter 30:51);

xv. The provision, maintenance and control of public pastures and

recreation grounds, subject to the provisions of the Recreation Grounds and

Pastures Act (Chapter 41:01);

xvi. Such other functions as the President may from time to time by Order

prescribe.

2.2.2 Further to the responsibilities of the Corporation prescribed above, assistance is also

provided in a variety of ways to schools, churches, community groups and other non-

governmental organizations as approved by the Council.

2.2.3 Assistance to the institutions within the municipality takes the form of essential

services; which are divided into the following two (2) categories:

Non-Chargeable Products and Services

i. Construction and maintenance of secondary roads, watercourses and all

associated appurtenances;

ii. Scavenging services;

iii. Provision and maintenance of recreational facilities, cemeteries, markets,

abattoirs and public conveniences;

iv. Provision of truck borne water;

v. Vector Control;

vi. Processing of building applications;

vii. Assistance in cleaning of beaches and rivers;

viii. Loaning of stage modules;

Chargeable Services

i. Sewerage disposal


10

2.2.4 The PDRC also indicated in its submission that it provides public services under

the Development Programme where funding for Capital Works are sourced from the PSIP.

2.2.5 At the public hearing held on July 25, 2014, the Corporation contended that it had

been successful in achieving its mandate during the period under review. It was expressed

that the Corporation was working on improving the quality of life of its burgesses and

suggested that this was represented by the execution of infrastructural projects such as drain

and road restoration projects and the upgrade of recreational facilities; the undertaking of

social intervention to combat social-ills such as crime and violence; and the efficient

scavenging services among others.

Organizational Structure – The Council

2.2.6 The Corporation outlined its organizational structure in its Summary Report (2011-

2013) which comprised both a political arm and administrative arm as is the case with other

Municipal Corporations. The Council of the Corporation consists of nine (9) elected

Councillors and two (2) Aldermen. The term of the office of Councillors and Aldermen is

three (3) years.

2.2.7 At the public hearing, the Committee was advised that the Corporation’s

geographical boundaries encompasses (in whole or in segments) the Parliamentary

Constituencies of Siparia, Oropouche East, Oropouche West, Naparima and San Fernando

West. As a result, the Corporation would engage the Parliamentary representatives

associated with these constituencies for assistance with certain challenges.

2.2.8 The work of the Council is carried out through its Committees. The remit of the four

(4) Standing Committees under the present Council are as follows:

i. Public Health

This Committee, also referred to as the Local Health Authority, has responsibility

over all matters pertaining to public health. These include:

enforcement of Environmental Health Legislation to ensure the adherence

of all aspects of the Public Health Ordinance and the Market and Abattoir By-

Laws;


11

environmental Sanitation – the cleansing and clearing of drains and minor

water courses;

scavenging – disposal of domestic, white and bulk waste;

removal of derelict vehicles;

emptying of cesspits and septic tanks;

vector control (dynafogging10);

rodent control;

canine control;

enforcement of the Litter Act through Litter Prevention Wardens;

maintenance of sanitation at the Public Markets and Abattoir; and

maintenance of Public Conveniences;

ii. Physical Infrastructure

This Committee is responsible for taking decisions and formulating policies

for matters relating to infrastructural maintenance, development and usage. These

include: roads; bridges; drains; recreation grounds and parks; cemeteries and

cremation facilities; buildings; plant and equipment (vehicles); and spatial

development.

iii. Personnel

This Committee is responsible for matters relating to employment and the

employees of the Corporation.

iv. Finance, Planning & Allocation of Resources

This Committee is responsible for the planning, supervision and approval of

expenditure of the financial resources of the Corporation.

2.2.9 It was also highlighted that the Council has the authority to appoint sub-committees.

As a result, five (5) such sub-committees have been established to deal with: (i)

Festivals, Heritage & Tourism; (ii) Sports, Youth & Gender; (iii) Citizen Liaison,

Communication, Security & Safety; (iv) The Environment; and (v) Buildings &

10 The term “dynafogging” refers to the practice of “mosquito fogging” in vector control. The term was

derived from the Dyna-Fog® machine used in the process.


12

Planning. Oral evidence received also suggested the existence of a sub-committee on

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The mandate of this Committee includes

visiting the Corporation’s facilities, inclusive of parks and pavilions. Reports of this sub-

committee are referred to the Personnel Committee for the Council’s information.

2.2.10 Also of note is the meeting of the Corporation’s Regional Coordinating

Committee. This meeting of the Committee is convened on a monthly basis and gathers all

key stakeholders to discuss matters impacting the Region. Ultimately, all decisions taken at

the various Committees are ratified at the Council’s Statutory Meeting.

Organizational Structure – The Administration

2.2.11 The administrative arm of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation gives effect to

lawful resolutions of Council and is entrusted with the efficient and effective delivery of

products and services to all stakeholders through Direct Labour, Contracted Services, and

Recurrent and Capital Works programmes.

2.2.12 The administration is headed by the Chief Executive Officer (See Appendix IV –

PDRC Organizational Chart). In 2013 the administration comprised approximately sixty-

one (61) Monthly-Paid Officers and five hundred and fifty-seven (557) Daily-rated and

contracted employees distributed among several departments (See Appendix V - PDRC

Composition of Staffing 2012/2013). The departments of the PDRC comprise the: Registry;

Secretariat; Accounting Unit; Tenders Section; Technical Unit; Mechanical Workshop;

Transport Section; Public Health Section; Personnel & Industrial Relations Section;

Municipal Police; Building Inspectorate; I.T. Unit; and Disaster Management Unit. The

responsibilities of each department are provided in the Appendix VI – Departmental

Responsibilities.

2.2.13 The Corporation lamented the continued presence of a “Personnel Department” as

opposed to a Human Resource Management Department and the absence of suitably trained

and qualified HRM staff. It was submitted that critical HRM functions such as training and

development, succession planning, performance management and conflict resolution, are

currently addressed in a piecemeal manner by forward-thinking senior administrative staff

at the Corporation.


13

2.2.14 In light of its Legal constraints the Corporation also indicated that in the absence

of in-house counsel, a panel of lawyers is utilized to attend to litigation matters which may

arise from time to time.

2.2.15 Interestingly, the corporation indicated that it was optimistic that Municipal

Corporations would be fully outfitted with these resources following implementation of the

Local Government Transformation and Modernization11 initiative.

Relationship with External Agencies

2.2.16 At the public hearing the Committee was informed that, the Chairman of the

Corporation works closely with various state agencies and seeks to resolve existing

relationship challenges. He indicated that some of the organisations/agencies with whom the

Corporation has a strong working relationship included: the PURE Unit of the MoWI; the

National Gas Company (NGC); the Palo Seco Agricultural Enterprises Limited (PSAEL);

the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago; the Community-Based Environmental

Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP); the Estate Management and Business

Development Company Limited (EMBD); and the National Drug Council (NDC).

2.2.17 As a result of these robust relationships, the problems identified by the

Corporation receive assistance. For instance, the Corporation has worked closely with the

Insect Vector Control Division and the County Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health to

address public concerns with the Chikungunya Virus. Officials present at the public hearing

also reported that the Corporation was working with the Central Tenders Board to ensure a

greater degree of transparency. For example, tenders for projects which are being

undertaken by the Corporation are now advertised in print media.

2.2.18 However, despite these strong working relationships, challenges arose with the

duplication of projects between the Corporation and state agencies such as CEPEP, MoWI

and URP. The Corporation has been able to effectively plan projects through its Regional

Coordinating Committee (RCC).

11 Ministry of Local Government, Draft White Paper on Local Government Transformation and

Modernization, 2013. http://www.ttparliament.org/documents/2207.pdf

http://www.ttparliament.org/documents/2207.pdf


14

2.2.19 The RCC was established to ensure there would be a network between the

Corporation and state agencies, non-governmental organizations and community-based

organizations. As the Committee has noted in its examination of many other Municipal

Corporations, the attendance of external agencies at RCC meetings is unsatisfactory. As it

pertains to the PDRC, in recent times, there have been improvements in the attendance of

organisations across Corporations at RCC meetings. The Corporation suggested that this

improvement in attendance maybe attributed to discussions held at the ministerial level.

Financial Operations & Statements

2.2.20 Funding for the activities of the Corporation is provided mainly by Government

subvention on a deficit financing basis. The Corporation raises a small amount of revenue

from services provided to its burgesses. The accounts of the Corporation are organized on

the basis of funds, each allocation is considered a separate entity. The Corporation’s budget

process is outlined in Appendix VII – PDRC Budget Formulation Process.

2.2.21 The ‘Corporation Fund’ was established by the PDRC Council for any purposes

specified in its resolution establishing it. Revenue for this Fund may be directed from:

i. Government subvention as allocated in accordance with the approved

Estimates of Expenditure in any fiscal year; and

ii. Donations and other contributions as may be directed.

The cash basis of accounting is presently adhered to by the Fund, under which expenditure

is recorded when paid. In terms of changes in financial position, the focus of the

Corporation’s “Statement of Changes in the financial position” is the Fund Balance.

Notably, any monies held in trust for third parties are shown as Liabilities and not as part of

the Fund Balance.

2.2.22 As it relates to banking practices, the Corporation presently operates one Bank

Account at First Citizen Bank Limited which is credited with Government subventions for

Recurrent Services and the Development Programme and includes: undrawn wages;

refundable deposits; severance benefits; funding for natural disasters; and other income. The

Financial Statements on the Recurrent Services for the period 2010 – 2013 (Appendix VIII)


15

records Total Releases & Revenue for the programme at $188,498,47512 and Total

Expenditure and Commitments at $191,273,746. As a result a total deficit of $2,775,271

was recorded. For the same period the Financial Statements on the Development

Programme (Appendix IX) captures Total Releases at $43,211,539 and Total Expenditure at

$40,310,265. Accordingly, a total surplus of $2,901,274 was recorded. Upon analysis of the

total funds released and expended between both programmes for the aforementioned period,

Releases amount to $231,710,014 and Expenditure to $231,584,011 noting a general surplus

of $126,003.

2.2.23 The Debt Policy for the Corporation is governed by the Municipal Corporations

Act No. 21 of 1990.

2.2.24 With regards to the Investment Policy of the Corporation, it undertakes reviews of

its cash balances on an ongoing basis to ensure maximization of interest income. It was

reported that such a policy has resulted in better treasury management and a reliable system

of payment to creditors.

2.2.25 The Corporation currently does not have an Internal Audit Unit. Instead, the

Corporation relies on the MoLG to conduct internal audits during the fiscal year. At the

public hearing it was conveyed that the Budgets Division of the Ministry of Finance and the

Economy also supports the Corporation’s auditing exercises. Additionally, external auditing

exercises are carried out by the Auditor General’s Department. This internal and external

auditing arrangement is similar to the arrangements within other Municipal Corporations.

The Corporation gave oral evidence that there has been some improvement in the

management of its finances since the appointment of a Financial Officer.

12 All monies quoted in TTD


16

Major Achievements & Constraints

Achievements

2.3.1 The Corporation also provided summaries of achievements and activities by

Department in its Summary Report (2011 to 2013). Table 1below, outlines the

Corporation’s major achievements for the period previously mentioned.

Table 1: Departmental Objectives and Achievements

Table 1 continues on the Next Page

X


17



18



19



20


21



22



23



24

2.3.2 Further to the preceding, other Departmental achievements are listed in Appendix XI

– Additional Departmental Achievements. The Technical Section, Building Inspectorate

and the Public Health Department are featured in this appendix.


25

Development of Leisure Activities

2.3.3 In relation to the Corporation’s responsibility to maintain recreation grounds (Page

20; item 6 – Technical Department), at the public hearing it was conveyed that, out of the

thirty-nine (39) recreation grounds in the region, twenty-nine (29) have been electrified with

perimeter lighting, twenty (20) were outfitted with cricket turfs and thirty (30) with

pavilions and jogging tracks. The Committee also noted the Corporation’s commitment to

ensuring accessibility for the differently-abled at the Bhupsingh Park multiplex. The

Committee commends this concerted effort to improve leisure activities for burgesses, in

particular for the differently-abled.

Training and Development

2.3.4 In addition, the Committee especially noted that during the 2013/2014 fiscal year,

staff have been trained in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act, Chap.

88:08 and were provided with personal protective gear and equipment via an established

OSHA Committee at the Corporation. This is significant as the Corporation identified a

general ignorance by employees of the OSHA Act as one of its persisting constraints (Page

26; Legal).

Constraints

2.3.5 The Corporation also indicated a number of persisting constraints on its operations.

The constraints identified were grouped into eight (8) specific categories, namely:

Financial; Operational; Legal; Human Resource; Strategic; Technological; Marketing; and

Environmental. The following outlines the issues presented under the aforementioned

headings:

Financial

inadequate financial resources to effectively satisfy the needs of stakeholders;

bureaucratic impediments affecting the timely award of contracts by the central

tenders board;

absence of a resident auditing unit;

Operational

inadequate accommodation at the Debe sub office for administrative and

technical staff, garage and workshop facilities;


26

over emphasis on bureaucracy and inadequate focus on customer service, i.e.

delivery of quality goods and services to stakeholders;

inadequate stores and stockpile facilities;

Legal

general ignorance by employees of the occupational health and safety act

(OSHA);

inadequate resources for the implementation of the impending dangerous dogs

legislation;

Human Resource

absence of a human resource management unit;

inadequate monthly and daily rated personnel to satisfy the needs of stakeholders

(due to the constant additional burdens placed on the corporation, the current

permanent cadre is out-dated and has become entirely deficient);

weak leadership and supervisory and managerial inefficiencies in some

departments and inadequate number of competent public officers at the senior

level;

inability of the organization to attract specialist professional staff;

relatively frequent turnover of officers through transfers, promotion, etc.;

significant illiteracy and innumeracy levels among senior daily rated personnel;

poor work ethic of some employees as reflected by unpunctuality and

irregularity;

unacceptable level of productivity by some employees due to substance abuse

challenges;

Strategic

deficient coordination among state agencies with respect to infrastructural

development;

absence of systematic capacity building and institutional strengthening

initiatives;

an organizational mind-set of being reactive rather than proactive;

lack of adequate knowledge and understanding of the local government system

by inexperienced members of council;

inadequate retention of institutional knowledge and planning for succession;


27

Technological

inadequate and obsolete communication systems;

outdated manual data storage and report generating systems;

Marketing

absence of a communications unit;

inadequate dissemination of information to the public;

negative perception of local government bodies by the general public which

discourages collaboration and the establishment of strategic partnerships;

Environmental

obstruction of water courses due to unauthorized landfill practices;

indiscriminate dumping;

overgrown vacant lots.

2.3.6 The Committee paid particular attention to the constraints which may pose severe

negative impacts on the effectiveness of the PDRC. Interestingly these particular constraints

have appeared in previous examinations of other municipal corporations.

Inadequate Accommodation

2.3.7 Primarily, it concerns us that there is inadequate accommodation for administrative

and technical staff, garage and workshop facilities at the Debe sub-office. Inadequate

accommodation in one form or another tends to be a common issue for multiple

corporations.

Human Resources

2.3.8 In addition, it appears that some of the most significant shortcomings are concerned

with Human Resources within the Corporation. The Committee notes the pervasive HR

challenges among municipal corporations reflected in the constraints of the PDRC,

including the: weak leadership and supervisory/managerial inefficiencies; inability to attract

specialist professional staff; frequent turnover of officers; significant illiteracy and

innumeracy levels; and poor ethic among employees leading to an unacceptable level of

productivity. These significant HR problems surround another pervasive issue among

corporations i.e. the absence of a well-trained Human Resource Management Unit. The


28

absence of such a Unit indeed negatively affects HR practices within municipal

corporations and the PDRC in particular. HR constraints coupled with inadequate and

obsolete communication systems create a highly inadequate framework for the delivery of

local government services.

Municipal Police

2.3.9 Furthermore, officials at the public hearing pronounced on the issue of the incidence

of crime in the region and the Municipal Police Unit. With a compliment of 10 police

officers, like other Regional Corporations, the actual strength of the PDRC’s Municipal

Police Unit is well below its sanctioned strength. Officials also admitted that the existing

building that accommodates the Municipal Police Unit was inadequate and the Corporation

was in the process of sourcing another facility for this purpose. These officers attend to a

relatively low level of praedial larceny and petty crimes. It was submitted that in general,

the Corporation had a relatively low level of crime.

Dog Control

2.3.10 The Corporation is now in a state of readiness to execute its responsibilities pursuant

to the partial proclamation of the Dog Control Act, 2013. In this regard, the Corporation

indicated that it currently has the capacity to register dog owners. A direct telephone line

telephone has been instituted for this purpose, a complaints desk and the necessary

infrastructure to facilitate dogs capture are in place. Further, the Municipal Police and the

Building Inspector conduct inspections of the areas in which dogs are held.

Strategic Agenda

2.4.1 The Corporation submitted that its five (5) core values included; Service Excellence,

Honesty, Integrity, Sustainable Development and Optimal Work Environment. As a result

the PDRC developed particular strategic themes as outlined in its Strategic Plan (2012-

2015). The strategic themes and activities identified by the Corporation are as follows:

i. To meet and exceed citizens expectations with delivered municipal services;

In relation to the foregoing theme, the PDRC indicated its intention to:

- review and re-engineer business processes for approving building plans,

completion of certificates and other documents and reduce document

processing cycle-time, implementation and monitoring;


29

- train employees in all aspects of the approval system;

- develop a public education programme targeting home-owners and

prospective home-owners;

- improve the selection of contractors and the management of contracts

- develop and implement a long-term programme for paving of drains,

pavement construction, and bridge repairs;

- improve the infrastructure and aesthetics of Cemeteries;

- institute a permanent Customer Relations Management function in the

PDRC; and

- inculcate a business culture of service at the PDRC;

ii. To continuously interact with the public to encourage citizen involvement and

cooperation in municipal affairs;


- hold annual “Municipal Awareness” fairs in strategic public spaces to

publicize the services PDRC provides;

- market and promote among appropriate stakeholders, the idea of partnering

with PDRC in creating “The Beacon Region”;

- establish a programme of aggressive monitoring of government road

reserves and prompt reporting of encroachments; and

- develop a policy respecting prompt imposition of sanctions for

encroachments;

iii. To promote citizens’ well-being through effective primary health care services

and leisure facilities;


- committed to more frequent disaster preparedness assessments;

- maintain close collaboration with the National disaster preparedness body

(ODPM);

- design and institute a robust programme for safe storage and the sale of

produce;

- develop a plan for the daily servicing of public conveniences;

- collaborate with the Town and Country Planning Division to identify new

recreation spaces in the region;

- collaborate with the SPORTT Company of Trinidad and Tobago to develop

the selected spaces;


30

- provide sport and leisure facilities that cater to the differently abled; and

- involve the local private sector in sponsoring/subsidizing children’s

facilities in parks and open spaces;

iv. To efficiently provide and maintain physical infrastructure;


- collaborate with the Association of Civil Engineers to acquire the

services of a Civil Engineer to assist in developing a Preventative

Maintenance Programme for all PDRC public amenities;

- collaborate with the MoWI to develop specifications for all types of

construction works – road patching/paving, etc. – so as to ensure value

for money in these deliverables;

- train and re-train relevant employees in road construction, repair, and

rehabilitation works;

- conduct site investigations effectively;

- collaborate with the SPORTT Company of Trinidad and Tobago in the

outfitting of existing sport and recreation spaces in the region;

- develop and operationalize a systematic maintenance programme for

sports and recreational facilities; and

- establish a policy for involving clubs in managing sport and recreation

facilities, with appropriate operational guidelines, and appropriate

administrative and legal arrangements;

v. To create an aesthetic and environmentally ambient municipality;


- seek Cabinet-level support for designating Debe a Heritage Site;

- collaborate with appropriate specialist entities such as the Town &

Country Planning Division, TDC and MoCD to conceptualize, design,

and transform Debe and other local iconic places into tourist attractions;

- develop a structured tree-planting programme involving residents to

preserve the region’s rural ambience;

- collaborate with Traffic Management Division to develop a Roads Plan

focused on alternate/connector routes, roundabouts, car parks, etc., to

decongest key road arterials and major traffic centres;

- benchmark more mature business associations to determine effective

approaches to mobilizing local business owners and winning their

support for town centre development and enhancement;


31

- engage local business owners in discussions to embellish the way their

business services are presented and merchandized; and

- engage local business owners, as part of mobilizing support for “A

Beacon Region”, in developing architectural designs for building

facades to enhance the appeal and aesthetics of business hubs;

vi. To forge and manage alliance relationships;


- exert influence to resuscitate the Regional Coordinating Council as a

potent instrument of synchronized infrastructural development;

- develop and implement a Communications Strategy and Plan to

mobilize, recruit, and commit external public service institutions to

building “The Beacon Region”; and

- collaborate with the Ministry of Health to maintain on-going public

Health Education Programmes for the Region’s schools, restaurants, and

the general public;

vii. Institutional strengthening


- benchmark the approaches of major state organizations in introducing

techniques of Supplier Management in PDRC;

- introduce a Quality Control business function/team in the PDRC;

- conduct product research when effecting purchases, including via

Internet resources;

- develop and enforce policies for treating with suppliers of poor quality

goods and services;

- benchmark state agencies in introducing a proper procurement policy in

the PDRC;

- train relevant staff in effective procurement processes and practices and

vigorously implement the policy;

- utilize product specifications that reflect engineering industry standards;

- review tendering emphasis toward seeking greater balance between

price and quality in effecting awards;

- ensure proper advertisement of Requests for Proposals (RFPs);

- develop accounting capability by training Accounts staff in Government

accounting systems and Quality Customer Service;


32

- reinforce these values throughout the Corporation by: i) Training and re-

training PDRC’s Council and staff in “Business Ethics”; ii) Discussing

aspects at meetings and conferences; and iii) Holding persons

accountable for breaches;

- establish a Project Management business capability in all critical

business functions and entrench as normal practice in the work culture;

and

- closely monitor and enforce the project schedules of contractors.

2.4.2 In its Status Report on the Implementation of the Corporation’/s Strategic Plan

(2012-2015), the Corporation also provided corresponding information on the projects and

initiatives which were being pursued or had already been implemented in relation to the

various strategic goals.

2.4.3 At the public hearing the Corporation submitted that its activities are closely aligned

to the sustainable development framework of the government and burgesses expect the

Corporation to adapt to the increasing demands. The Corporation intends to focus on the

provision of excellent service to its stakeholders and written evidence indicated the

intention of the PDRC to undertake and continue projects regarding the enhancement of its

administration and operations. Appendix XII – “PDRC Strategic Way Forward” outlines

those strategic projects identified by the Corporation. However, we should note that the

Corporation has identified that inadequate retention of institutional knowledge and planning

for succession continues to hamper its strategic capacity. This constraint would inform the

Corporation’s initiative for “Institutional Strengthening”.

2.4.3 The Corporation also reported that consultations were held with communities as

part of the Local Government Transformation and Modernization Initiative. These

consultations provided the opportunity for residents of the region to ventilate existing

problems and challenges. Additionally, in order to improve the manner in which the

Corporation facilitates public awareness, a website was being developed. These efforts are

aligned with item (i) (Page 28) of the Corporation’s strategic themes. However, to date no

such website has come online.


33

Chapter 3

Findings and Recommendations

3.1 Based on the written and oral evidence presented, the Committee has determined

that the under mentioned issues were of particular importance to the operations of the

Corporation and therefore proposes the associated recommendations for the enhancement of

the operations of the PDRC.

HUMAN RESOURCES

3.2 As service oriented state entities, the significance of a Corporation’s human

resources cannot be overstated. As such, we took particular note of the fact that at present,

the Corporation’s human resource management initiatives are not galvanized under a single

action plan but is being carried out in a piece-meal manner. Perhaps the segmented human

resource development strategies is characteristic of the lack of a HRM Unit.

3.3 A significant level of illiteracy and innumeracy among daily rated personnel of the

Corporation was one of the challenges the Corporation highlighted. Although, the

Committee was advised that the Corporation has undertaken various training initiatives to

enhance the output of its workforce, it was not clear whether any of these initiatives would

specifically address the literacy issues throughout the daily rate cadre.

3.4 The Corporation reported weak leadership and supervisory and managerial

inefficiencies in some departments and an inadequate number of competent public officers

at the senior level. To address these serious shortcomings, the Corporation signalled its

intention to expose both the Council and administrative officers to improved work processes

and measurement strategies such as a robust system of reporting and the application of

scientific project management techniques.

3.5 The Committee noted the Corporation’s continued use of temporary employment as

a means of alleviating deficiencies in its workforce. The Corporation reported that there


34

remains inadequate monthly and daily rated personnel to satisfy the needs of stakeholders.

Owing to the continuously expanding demands that are being placed on the Corporation, it

was clear to us that the current permanent cadre is out-dated and has become entirely

deficient. The reported inability of the organization to attract specialist professional staff is

another noted concern that we are now aware is an issue confronting several other Regional

Corporations.

3.6 A poor work ethic among employees, was reflected by high incidents of

unpunctuality and irregularity. We were quite alarmed that the issues of poor work ethic

was compounded by substance abuse challenges. On a more positive note, we were

encouraged by the training interventions that the corporation outlined in its Status Report on

its Strategic Plan (2012-2015). We trust that these interventions would translate into

tangible increases in productivity and improve service delivery.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that the Corporation collaborate with the MoLG and PMCD

for the purpose of instituting a HRM Unit within the next two (2) years. In the absence

of a de facto “Human Resource Management Unit” and in order to introduce a more

holistic approach to HRM within the Corporation, we recommend that a Human

Resource Management/Development Plan be formulated. This plan may be

formulated based on the Corporation’s Strategic plan and must reflect the challenges

facing the corporation in this area, the proposed solutions, time frames for the

implementation of solutions and the person/department responsible for the execution

of the various elements of the plan.

II. We recommend that critical assessments of training interventions be

undertaken to gauge the impact (if any) these interventions had on the quality of the

output of employees.

III. Given that certain employees of the Corporation appear to be challenged by

psycho-social issues such as substance abuse during working hours, we recommend

that additional employee support be provided through an Employee Assistance

Programme. Also, “Adult Literacy” and “Life Skills” courses may assist in the


35

reduction of illiteracy and innumeracy levels as well as improve the work ethic of

employees.

IV. We recommend that the Corporation collaborate with the MoLG and the

NUGFW to develop a process (should one not exist) for investigating instances of

substance use during working hours.

V. With regards to the proposed application of “Scientific Project Management

Techniques”, we recommend that in the Ministerial Response to this report, the

Corporation through its line Ministry, provide details on how exactly the application

of these SPM Techniques are expected to enhance the quality and quantity of output

of the corporation.

VI. We strongly recommend that the Corporation work very strategically and

assiduously towards filling vacancies in key and other positions. Given that increased

monetary compensation for key officers may be unlikely at this time, consideration

should be given to developing internal arrangements for providing additional

incentives to employees. For instance, an employee recognition programme comprising

non-monetary rewards should be considered.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

3.7 It was not surprising to learn that like several other Municipal Corporations, over

90% of the Corporation’s financial resources are derived from Central Government

subventions. It was also noted that with regards to the “Corporation Fund”, revenue

contained may be derived from donations. In terms of achieving greater financial autonomy,

it was discouraging to learn that income generation projects were not given major priority in

the Corporation’s Strategic Plan, especially in the face of “inadequate financial resources

to effectively satisfy the needs of stakeholders”.

3.8 The Committee noted the bureaucratic impediments affecting the timely award of

contracts by the Central Tenders Board.

3.9 In relation to budget allocations, we observed that there were increased allocations

for both the recurrent and development programmes of this corporation for three


36

consecutive fiscal years: 2010/2011, 2011/2012, 2012/2013. With respect to, recurrent

expenditure allocations, this corporation benefited for an increase of approximately $22

Million in 2012/2013 compared to the previous year. In terms of Development Expenditure,

the corporation benefited from an increase of approximately $1.2 Million over the said

period. Most of the funds assigned to the development programme were allocated to the

Items “Drainage and Irrigation” and “Local Roads and Bridges”.

3.10 In terms of the audit function within the Corporation, as is the case in the other

Regional Corporations we have examined, there is no Internal Auditor and audits are

conducted by the Audit Unit of the MoLG.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that a more comprehensive plan for revenue generation be

formulated by the Corporation. This plan should not only identify potential sources of

revenue but also strategies for acquiring same. In this regard, an effective taxation

regime along with Public-Private partnerships should be pursued.

II. We recommend that in the Ministerial Response to this Report, the MOLG

provide the Parliament with a summary of the nature and findings of all audit

activities undertaken by the Ministry in relation to the PDRC during the period 2005-

2015.

III. The Committee recommends that the Corporation collaborate with its fellow

Corporations with a view to lobbying central government, in particular, the Ministry

of Local Government and the Ministry of Finance and the Economy, to consider the

introduction of an Internal Audit Unit within regional corporations to strengthen the

existing systems of checks and balances.

PUBLIC HEALTH

3.11 Indiscriminate dumping practices remain a challenge for the Corporation. This is a

persistent challenge in the face of staff shortages, particularly, Litter Wardens and

Municipal Police. The Committee also noted the issue of the obstruction of water courses

due to unauthorized landfill practices.


37

3.12 In relation to the recent increase in reported cases of the Chikungunya and Dengue

viruses, the Committee believes that the Corporation must mobilise its resources (though

limited) to ensure that it supports the work of the Ministry of Health’s Insect Vector Control

Division and the County Medical Officer in their mosquito eradication initiatives.

3.13 We were encouraged to learn that a sub-committee of the Council on Occupational

Safety and Health Administration has been established and was active The mandate of this

Committee includes visiting the Corporation’s facilities, inclusive of parks and pavilions.

3.14 Information received also indicated that during the 2013/2014 fiscal year, employees

were trained in the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act,

Chap. 88:08 and were provided with personal protective gear and equipment. The mandate

of the OSHA Committee includes visiting the Corporation’s facilities, inclusive of parks

and pavilions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that the Corporation actively seek to increase its complement

of Litter Wardens.

II. The Committee recommends that the Technical Department of the PDRC give

priority to the clearing of obstructed water courses due to unauthorized landfill

practices. The area of Penal-Debe is known to be flood prone and obstructed water

courses further increases the probability of flooding. Appropriate signage along with

notices alerting persons to cease and desist from these practices should be erected

and/or disseminated with immediate effect.

III. We recommend that the Technical Department of the PDRC develop a cyclic

plan to clean and maintain overgrown vacant lots. This exercise may be expedited in

collaboration with CEPEP, URP and private landscaping companies. Attention should

also be given to the proper disposal of solid waste collected at vacant lots, perifocal

spraying and other methods of vector control.


38

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT

3.15 As was mentioned above, expenditure under the development programmed during

the period 2010-2013 increased from $10 Million in fiscal 2010/2011 to $16 Million in

2012/2012. The major items of expenditure were “Drainage and Irrigation” and “Local

Roads and Bridges”. The increases in allocations under the Development Programme over

the three fiscal years may be considered insignificant compared with increases in allocations

under the Recurrent Programme. It is quite clear that significantly more money is spent on

personnel costs compared to developmental projects. The latter in our view impacts the

lives of burgesses more directly.

3.16 The Committee is also concerned that, although the Corporation works with the

Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), CEPEP and utilizes short-term employment,

officials indicated that maintenance of roads, traces and drains remains challenging.

3.17 The Committee noted the Corporation’s commitment to ensuring accessibility for

the differently-abled at the Bhupsingh Park multiplex. We commend this concerted effort to

improve leisure activities for burgesses, in particular for the differently-abled. The

Committee noted that no commitment was made by the Corporation to retrofit all of its

buildings and property or to enforce building codes on privately owned businesses to ensure

greater access for the differently-abled as per the provisions of the Equal Opportunity Act,

2000.

3.18 It was stated that through its linkages with the Planning Unit of the MoLG as well as

the Caribbean Local Economic Development Project (CARILED) in recent years, the

Corporation’s interest in Local Economic Development (LED) has been heightened. The

Committee was pleased to learn that the Corporation is positioning itself to play a more

active role in the economic development of the municipality.

3.19 We also noted the persistent issue of deficient coordination among state agencies

with respect to infrastructural development. It is unfortunate that the Corporation’s Regional

Coordinating Committee was not functioning as it ought to function due to the constant

absence of representatives of certain state agencies from RCC meetings.


39

3.20 We were encouraged to learn of the Corporation’s plans to construct a new

Administrative Complex at Katwaroo Trace in Penal. However, an overview of the layout

of the proposed new Complex was not included in the Corporation’s submissions to the

Committee.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We strongly recommend that the Corporation develop a project proposal and

execute same for the purpose of retrofitting all public buildings under its remit to

provide easier access to the differently-abled. The RCC as the forum for various

stakeholders should be involved in the planning and monitoring of this project. Private

property/business owners should also be encouraged to engage in the Corporation’s

Retrofitting Project.

II. If completed, we recommend that in the Ministerial Response to this Report,

the Corporation provide the Parliament with information regarding the design details

and structural layout (floor plans) of the Corporations new administrative complex

inclusive of details on the space assigned to each department.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

3.21 The Committee was pleased to learn that the Disaster Management Unit (DMU) had

adopted the Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Model which is focused on

identifying mitigation as the priority rather than relief and recovery efforts. In this regard,

the initiatives identified by the Corporation appeared to be quite extensive and offer a sound

foundation for a potent Disaster Management system.

3.22 We found it somewhat counterproductive that the Corporation lacked a

Communications Unit. We believe that a properly staffed Communications Unit would

provide very useful support to the Disaster Management Unit as it concerns the

dissemination of vital information to the public.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that the DMU consider placing greater emphasis on flood

prevention and mitigation strategies, given that regions under its purview are prone to


40

flooding. For instance, the DMU may wish to examine the feasibility of implementing a

flood alert system through the installation of water level meters along watercourses,

outfitted with an alarm system and connected to communities.

II. We recommend that the Corporation engage the MoLG for the purpose of

establishing a Communications Unit. The benefits of such a Unit to the Corporation’s

capacity to collate and disseminate information are axiomatic.

MUNICIPAL POLICE

3.23 The Committee was gravely concerned with the recurring issues regarding

Municipal Police Departments across Municipal Corporations. The short fall of Municipal

Police Officers in the PDRC is as shocking and untenable as its counterparts. In our view,

what is even more discouraging is that the small complement of officers who have remained

in the MPS, still suffer from a tremendous shortage of the resources required to execute

their responsibilities. We are concerned that such circumstances would result in further

human resource flight from the MPS.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that the Corporation continue to collaborate with the Trinidad

and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) to utilize the services of Special Reserve Police to

augment the manpower of its Municipal Police Unit. Consideration should also be

given to coordinating collaborative patrols and exercises with the TTPS.

II. As has been recommended in previous reports of this Committee, we suggest

that Multi-stakeholder consultations be pursued with the Heads of all Municipal

Corporations, the Commissioner of Police, Minister of Local Government, and the

Minister of National Security among others, to determine the most appropriate and

feasible strategies for addressing the issues that hinder the effective administration of

municipal police.

III. Based on our review of the operations of several other regional corporations, it

appears that there is a strong case for the incorporation of all municipal police officers

into the TTPS. This may address the ambiguities which may arise regarding “who has


41

jurisdiction over Municipal Police Officers”; the disparity in compensation between

Municipal Police Officers and Regular Police Officers, the high turnover rates within

Municipal Police Units, among others.

IV. Taking into account the availability of financial resources, we recommend that

the Corporation utilise the services of private security firms when and where

appropriate.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM

3.24 With respect to the tourism prospects of the region, the Committee is of the opinion

that the Corporation has not capitalized on the heritage value of the Penal-Debe region. The

region is well known for its festivals and delicacies derived from East Indian culture. It was

noted that some Tourism Development initiative had been undertaken. However, we also

noted that others such as the Heritage sites are yet to get off the ground.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that the Corporation, perhaps with the aid of an expert,

develop a strategy for harnessing the region’s tourism potential, particularly as it

concerns heritage sites and cultural festivities within the region. The municipality is

well poised to become a centre for heritage activity while creating additional revenue

generation streams. The Corporation should also engage other Regional Corporations

with a view to benefitting from some of their experiences and ideas.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

3.25 We commend the Corporation for applying the necessary time and resources to

develop a comprehensive Strategic Plan (2012-2015). Based on the contents of the Status

Report on this plan, it appears that the Corporation was able to achieve some success in the

implementation of some of the planned objectives. This was evidenced by the:

recruitment of staff to fill certain positions;

introduction of new work processes and systems;

execution of training interventions;


42

execution of certain infrastructural projects (including road restoration works

and the refurbishment of the Penal Market); and

building of the capacity of the Corporation’s Disaster Management Unit.

However, we were dissatisfied with the lack of timeframes and deadlines for the execution

of the numerous plans contained in the Strategic Plan. How will the Corporation, the

Parliament and by extension, its burgesses effectively measure what initiatives has been

delivered on time and those that are lagging in the absence of timeframes?

3.26 The Committee notes positively the Corporation’s enterprise in developing a website

to encourage communication with stakeholders. However, given the overwhelming trend

towards internet and social media platforms we believe that a website of this nature ought to

have been developed at least 3 years ago in order to improve the manner in which the

Corporation provides status updates on matters.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I. We recommend that the Corporation develop an Implementation Schedule/Road

Map by June, 2015 that would accompany its Strategic Plan. The implementation road

map must identify (in detail):

the various objectives/initiatives that comprise the Strategic Plan;

the person/entity and resources required to achieve it; and

the proposed timeframe for the completion of the objectives/initiatives.

This implementation schedule, must be included in the Ministerial Response to this

Report.

II. The Committee further recommends that the Corporation develop and launch its

website. This will not only allow the Corporation to enhance stakeholder interaction,

but also increase awareness among residents of the Corporation. The PDRC will be

positioned to effectively disseminate various forms of information and receive

feedback on performance.


43

Conclusion

The Penal/Debe Regional Corporation plays an important and strategic role in developing,

managing and maintaining a municipality stretching across nine (9) electoral districts. The

areas comprising this region are largely rural in character but make up an agricultural axis

in Trinidad and Tobago with a large potential for diversification with solid economic

activity and growth. It is therefore imperative that the municipality is nurtured and managed

by an effective and efficient Corporation.

However, it appears that the Corporation in trying to meet its mandate is hampered by a

number of administrative and external constraints inclusive of insufficient quality and

quantity of human resources, inadequate building accommodation and a lack of ICT and

equipment within its operations. As evidenced above, these constraints have impacted

negatively on the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations of the Corporation.

Nevertheless, the Corporation must be commended for its implementation of innovative and

strategic approaches in the face of its limitations. These approaches were able to provide

some measure of success for the Corporation as evidenced in its Status Update on the

implementation of its current Strategic Plan.

It is imperative that the Corporation forge strong partnerships, and enhance avenues for

dialogue with other key stakeholders; namely, the Ministry of Local Government, the

Statutory Authorities’ Service Commission, the Commissioner of Police, the Ministry of

Health and the PMCD in the Ministry of Public Administration in order to enhance its

efficiency and effectiveness.

The Committee therefore submits its 18th Report for the consideration of the Houses.


44

Mr. Anthony Vieira Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach

Chairman Vice Chairman

Ms. Shamfa Cudjoe Mr. James Lambert

Member Member

Mrs. Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, MP Mr. Rodger Samuel, MP

Member Member

Ms. Marlene Coudray Mr. Devant Maharaj

Member Member

Mr. Chandresh Sharma, MP Ms. Marlene McDonald, MP

Member Member

Mrs. Joanne Thomas, MP Mr. Prakash Ramadhar, MP

Member Member

Dated April 24, 2015


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APPENDICES


46

Appendix I

Entities falling under

the purview of the

Committee


47

Entities falling under the purview of the Committee are as follows:

Service Commissions

1. Police Service Commission

2. Public Service Commission

3. Statutory Authorities’ Service Commission

4. Teaching Service Commission

Municipal and City Corporations

5. Arima Borough Corporation

6. Chaguanas Borough Corporation

7. Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation

8. Diego Martin Regional Corporation

9. Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation

10. Penal/Debe Regional Corporation

11. Point Fortin Borough Corporation

12. Port of Spain City Corporation

13. Princes Town Regional Corporation

14. San Fernando City Corporation

15. Sangre Grande Regional Corporation

16. San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation

17. Siparia Regional Corporation

18. Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation


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Appendix II

Minutes


49

S

PRESENT

Members of the Committee

Mr. Anthony Vieira - Chairman

Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach - Vice-Chairman

Ms. Shamfa Cudjoe - Member

Mr. Chandresh Sharma - Member

Mr. Rodger Samuel - Member

Secretariat

Mr. Julien Ogilvie - Secretary

Ms. Kimberly Mitchell - Graduate Research Assistant

ABSENT Mr. Devant Maharaj - Member (Excused)

Mr. Prakash Ramadhar - Member (Excused)

Mrs. Joanne Thomas - Member (Excused)

Mr. James Lambert - Member (Excused)

Ms. Marlene Coudray - Member

Mrs. Vernella Alleyne-Toppin - Member

Ms. Marlene McDonald - Member

OFFICIALS OF THE PENAL/DEBE REGIONAL CORPORATION

Mr. Premchand Sookoo Chairman

Mr. Raymond Seepaul Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Ballyram Lalla Municipal Police Inspector (Ag.)

Mr. Chaythnath Maharaj Building Inspector I

Ms. Pearl Gallai Financial Officer

Mr. Steve Heru County Superintendent

Mr. Adrian Komal Engineering and Surveying Officer

Mrs. Savistra Badall Disaster Management Coordinator

Mr. Victor Pustam Public Health Officer

Mrs. Aura Martin-Sealy Corporate Secretary

Mr. Vishnu Seunarine Personnel and Industrial Officer I (Ag.)

OFFICIALS OF THE SIPARIA REGIONAL CORPORATION

Mr. Leo Doodnath Chairman

Mr. Daniel Abraham County Superintendent

Mr. Dave Brijmohan Police Inspector

MINUTES OF THE THIRTY-SECOND MEETING OF THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO AND

REPORT TO PARLIAMENT ON MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS AND SERVICE COMMISSIONS (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF

THE JUDICIAL AND LEGAL SERVICE COMMISSION) HELD IN THE ARNOLD THOMASOS ROOM (EAST), AND IN THE J.

HAMILTON MAURICE ROOM, OFFICE OF THE PARLIAMENT, TOWER D, #1A WRIGHTSON ROAD, PORT OF SPAIN ON

FRIDAY JULY 25, 2014

ON FRIDAY JULY 25, 2014 AT 9:38 A.M.


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Dr. Balkaran Shivnauth Principal Medical Officer of Health

Ms. Patrice Cain Administrative Officer II

Ms. Julian Chacon Building Inspector I

Mrs. Lynette Bailey-Clarke Planning Officer

Ms. Alana Noel Engineering and Surveying Officer

Ms. Donna Woods Disaster Management Coordinator

Ms. Asha Nathaniel Personnel and Industrial Relations Officer

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:38 am and indicated that Mr. Devant

Maharaj, Mr. Prakash Ramadhar, Mrs. Joanne Thomas and Mr. James Lambert had asked to

be excused from the meeting.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

31st Meeting held on May 13th, 2014

2.1 The Committee considered the Minutes of the 31st Meeting held on May 13, 2014.

The Chairman enquired whether there were any amendments and/or omissions.

2.2 There were no proposed amendments to the Minutes. The motion for the confirmation

of the Minutes was moved by Mr. Roach and seconded by Mr. Samuel.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

3.1 As per item 8.5, the Committee was advised that additional information requested

from the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation was outstanding and the Secretary was

awaiting a status update from the Corporation on the submission of the information.

3.2 As per item 12.1, the Chairman advised that additional information requested from the

Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation was received via letter dated July 17, 2014 and that

this document would be circulated subsequent to the meeting.

3.3 As per item 17.3, the Chairman indicated that the Committee’s Report on the San

Fernando City Corporation was presented in the House of Representatives on May 23, 2014

and in the Senate on May 20, 2014.

OTHER BUSINESS

Next Meeting

4.1 The Chairman indicated that the current session was expected to end on July 31, 2014

and the meeting in progress may be the final one for this Session. He further indicated that

the Parliament was also expected to be on recess from August 4, 2014 and thereafter the

debate on Budget 2014/2015 was expected to commence. Thus he alerted members that the


51

tentative date for the Committee’s next meeting was September 26, 2014 and that this

meeting date was conditioned on the conclusion of the budget debate.

Procedure for the election of a Chairman

4.2 The Committee discussed whether an election of a Chairman was required when the

post of Chairman becomes vacant given that there is also a Vice-Chairman. Whether the

Vice-Chairman automatically assuming the position of Chairman was raised. It was agreed

that this matter would be researched further by the secretary.

Quorum

4.3 The Committee also agreed that the issue of change of quorum be placed on the

agenda of the next meeting.

Ministers declaring their interest

4.4 Discussions ensued on whether a Minister serving on the Committee was required to

make a declaration of interest in respect of matters falling under his/her purview that were

being considered by the Committee. It was agreed that the necessary research would be

conducted to ensure that the Committee’s practice was aligned with the Standing Orders

and the practices of the United Kingdom.

Work programme for the 5th Session

4.5 The Committee agreed to consider its work agenda for the next session after the public

hearing.

PRE-HEARING DISCUSSIONS

5.1 The Chairman indicated that pre-hearing submissions were received from both the

Penal/Debe and the Siparia Regional Corporations. He further advised members that the

Secretariat had prepared an Issues Paper on the submissions of each Corporation. Members

were also informed that both the substantive and the acting Chief Executive Officers of the

Siparia Regional Corporation were unable to attend the meeting.

SUSPENSION/RESUMPTION

6.1 The meeting was suspended at 9:55 a.m.

6.2 The meeting was resumed at 10:00am (in public) in the J. Hamilton Maurice Room at

10:00 a.m.

DISCUSSIONS WITH OFFICIALS OF THE PENAL/DEBE REGIONAL

CORPORATION

7.1 The Chairman welcomed officials of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC)

and outlined the main areas of focus of the inquiry.

7.2 Detailed below are the issues raised and the responses which were proffered during

the hearing with representatives of the PDRC:


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i. Opening Statements by the Chairman of the Council

a. The Chairman indicated that he has been a local government Councillor for

thirty-one years. He advised that the Corporation’s vision was to make

Penal/Debe a safe place to live. To this end, the Corporation has committed a

lot of time and energy to integrate sports into the delivery of goods and

services.

b. The Corporation works closely with various state agencies and seeks to resolve

existing relationship challenges. He indicated that some of the agencies with

whom the Corporation has a strong working relationship included; the Palo

Seco Agricultural Enterprises Limited (PSAEL), the Sports Company of

Trinidad and Tobago, the Community-Based Environmental Protection and

Enhancement Programme (CEPEP), the Estate Management and Business

Development Company Limited (EMBD) and the National Drug Council.

c. He advised that the Corporation’s Council consists of nine (9) Councillors and

four (4) Aldermen. He also indicated that the Corporation has parliamentary

representation from the Member for Siparia, the Member for Oropouche East,

the Member for Oropouche West, the Member for Naparima and the Member

for San Fernando West.

d. It was conveyed that out of the thirty-nine (39) recreation grounds, twenty-nine

(29) have been electrified with perimeter lighting, twenty (20) were outfitted

with cricket turfs and thirty (30) with pavilions and jogging tracks.

e. PDRC was formed in 1991 and was allocated part of the Victoria County and

the St. Patrick County. Although the Corporation works with the

Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), CEPEP and utilizes short-term

employment, it was still a challenge to maintain roads, traces and drains.

f. The Committee was also informed that the landscape of the Corporation

includes seventy-five percent of the Oropouche Lagoon, the Dignity Mud

Volcano and the Bunsee Trace Mud Volcano. The population of the

Corporation is 90,000 and its main economic activities are fishing, agriculture

and business activities.

ii. Opening Statements by the Chief Executive Officer

a. The CEO contended that the Corporation had been successful in achieving its

mandate under the period of review. He expressed that the Corporation seeks

to improve the quality of life of its burgesses and suggested that this was

represented in its pre-hearing submissions that demonstrated that it has

successfully managed and accounted for its resources.

b. The Corporation’s activities are closely aligned to the sustainable development

framework of the government and burgesses expect the Corporation to adapt to


53

the increasing demands. Therefore, the Corporation intends to focus on the

provision of excellent service to its stakeholders.

iii. Mechanisms to encourage citizen involvement in the activities of the

Corporation

a. The Corporation stated that consultations were held with communities as part

of the Local Government Transformation and Modernization Initiative. These

consultations provided the opportunity for citizens to ventilate existing

problems and challenges.

b. In order to improve the manner in which the Corporation provides status

updates on matters, a website was being developed to encourage

communication with stakeholders.

iv. Internal Weaknesses and employee development

The Corporation expressed that strategic analyses identified internal weaknesses

such as, “Commitment to the work of the corporation not generally shared among

all employees” and “Need for training in business ethics and for development of

Corporate Values to guide employee behaviour.” These internal weaknesses were

the reason PDRC was unable to attain the goal of being an excellent organization

and training and development was seen as the key to achieving this goal.

v. Relationship with State Agencies

a. The Corporation has a very close relationship with the PURE Unit of the

Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, National Gas Company and PSAEL.

As a result of these relationships, the Corporation’s problems that are

identified receive assistance. For instance, the Corporation has worked closely

with the Insect Vector Control Division and the County Medical Officer of the

Ministry of Health to address public concerns with the Chikungunya Virus.

b. There has been challenges with the duplication of projects between the

Corporation and state agencies such as CEPEP, Ministry of Works and

Infrastructure and URP. However, the Corporation has been able to effectively

plan projects through the Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC).

c. The RCC was established to ensure there would be a network between the

Corporation and state agencies, non-governmental organizations and

community-based organizations. Traditionally, many organizations either do

not attend meetings or would be represented by junior-level staff who would

be unable to make salient contributions to the meetings. However, in recent

times, there have been improvements in the attendance of organisations at

RCC meetings. The Corporation suggested that this improvement in

attendance maybe attributed to discussions at the Ministerial level.


54

vi. Training

a. The provision of training is spread throughout the Corporation. During fiscal

year 2013/2014, training was provided in the areas of customer service

excellence, use of force, conflict resolution, legal management, executive

development, technical report writing skills, project costing and estimating,

international public sector accounting standards and information and

communications technology.

b. It was indicated that the execution of training programmes contributed to the

improvements in the Corporation’s performance in 2013/2014. Another factor

was a highly motivated and committed workforce and the introduction of

scientific project management techniques. The Corporation also benefited

from encouragement at the Ministerial level to engage in proactive planning

particularly with regard to its development programme. This approach has

placed the corporation in a better position to benefit from budgetary

allocations. Thus, as at the end of July 2014, the Corporation had realised a

ninety-eight percent project completion rate.

vii. Procurement Policy

In the absence of a procurement policy, the Corporation is working with the

Central Tenders Board to ensure a greater degree of transparency. For example,

Tenders for projects which are being undertaken by the Corporation are

advertised in print media.

viii. Incidents of crime and Municipal Police

a. The strength of the Corporation’s Municipal Police Unit is ten (10) Municipal

Officers. These officers attend to a relatively low level of Praedial Larceny

and petty crimes. It was submitted that in general, the Corporation had a

relatively low level of crime.

b. It was admitted that although certain issues have not been addressed, the

Corporation is in a state of readiness to execute its responsibilities pursuant to

the partial proclamation of the Dog Control Act, 2013. In this regard, the

Corporation indicated that it currently has the capacity to register dog owners.

A direct telephone line telephone has been instituted for this purpose, a

complaints desk and the necessary infrastructure to facilitate dogs capture are

in place. Further, the Municipal Police and the Building Inspector conduct

inspections of the areas in which dogs are held.

ix. Legal Services

The Corporation indicated that in the absence of in-house counsel, a panel of

lawyers is utilized to attend to litigation matters which may arise from time to

time.


55

x. Dumping

a. In order to deal with indiscriminate dumping of garbage, there have been joint

patrols between the Municipal Police, Litter Prevention Wardens and Central

Police. The required signage has also been erected. The Committee was

informed that there have been a number of cases before the Magistrate Court

as a result of charges laid by Litter Prevention Wardens.

b. It was admitted that there has been a significant reduction in the number of

Litter Warden employed at the corporation.

xi. Disaster Management

a. The Committee was informed that disaster mitigation was one of the four

phases of disaster preparedness. During the dry season, the Disaster

Management Unit team would undertake a number of disaster prevention

initiatives. These initiatives include; vulnerability assessments, identifying

areas that are prone to flooding, liaising with the Roads Section regarding

incomplete drainage, negotiating with owners of land with garbage to get the

lands cleared to ensure a free flow of water, identifying squatters along the

river bank and communicating with the Land Settlement Agency on the

relocation of squatters.

b. The Corporation advised that monthly reports are prepared and a full inventory

for relief purposes was maintained. In addition, watercourses have been

dredged and cleared and 135 persons from different communities have been

formed into Community Emergency Response Teams as a result of training.

xii. Improved Quality of Life

The Corporation submitted that it contributes to improving the lives of its

burgesses through the execution of infrastructural projects such as paving roads,

drainage and an efficient scavenging system as well as the development of

recreational facilities. In addition, it is the Council’s policy to provide employment

opportunities for residents.

xiii. Mud Volcanoes

The Corporation expects that due to the nature of volcanic activity in the region

and the existence of the Dignity and Devil’s Woodyard Mud Volcanoes, that

scientists would be interested in conducting research in this area. Further, the

Corporation has begun to invest in the development of these sites with a view to

provoking more public interest.

xiv. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

a. The Committee was informed that there is a Sub-Committee of the Council on

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Reports of this Sub-

Committee are referred to the Personnel Committee for the Council’s

information. During the 2013/2014 fiscal year, staff have been trained in the


56

Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act, Chap. 88:08 and were

provided with personal protective gear and equipment.

b. A visit by the OSHA Inspectorate prompted the Corporation to establish an

OSHA Committee and the mandate of this Committee includes visiting the

Corporation’s facilities, inclusive of parks and pavilions. It was admitted that

the existing building that accommodates the Municipal Police Unit was

inadequate and the Corporation was in the process of sourcing another facility

for this purpose.

xv. Bus Services

The Committee was informed that the Public Transportation Service Corporation

(PTSC) provides bus services from the SS Erin Road to Erin, Penal Rock Road

and Clarke Road. Discussions are expected to be held with PTSC to ascertain

whether routes can be established to Moutlon Trace, Bunsee Trace, Goodman

Trace and Seemungal Trace since the only form of night transportation to these

areas was “PH” taxis.

xvi. Traffic Routes

It was admitted that both the travelling public and motorists need to be educated

on alternative routes in order to ease traffic problems. The Corporation in

collaboration with Ministers and parliamentary representatives envision that over a

period of time, motorists could leave Digity and travel to Port of Spain without

traversing Debe. It is also envisioned that motorists would be able to leave San

Fernando without traversing Penal Junction and Penal Rocke Road.

xvii. Financial Management

In the absence on an Audit Unit, the Corporation is supported by the Audit Unit of

the Ministry of Local Government and the Budgets Division of the Ministry of

Finance and the Economy. The Corporation submitted that there has been some

improvement in the management of its finances since the appointment of a

Financial Officer.

xviii. Parliamentary Representation

The Corporation’s boundaries straddles the constituency boundaries of the

Member for Siparia, the Member for Oropouche West, the Member for Naparima

and the Member for Oropouche East. As a result, the Corporation would engage

there Parliamentary representatives from time to time in order to get relief from

the various challenges confronting the regional corporation.

xix. Achievements and Challenges

The Corporation indicated that its most significant achievement has been the

harmony attained between the administrative and political arm of the corporation.

However, its most significant challenge was changing the mentality of its

employees towards work.


57

7.3 The Chairman thanked the representatives of the PDRC for attending.

REQUESTED INFORMATION

7.4 During the discussions, the PDRC was asked to provide written responses to the

following issues/concerns:

a. Whether the Corporation has exposed its employees to training in the areas of

business ethics and corporate values?

b. How has the Corporation functioned in the absence of a Human Resource

Management Unit?

c. With specific reference to the number of persons charged, tickets issued and

persons before the courts, how effective have the Litter Wardens been?

SUSPENSION

8.1 The Meeting was suspended at 11:23 a.m.

[Officials of the PDRC exited the J. Hamilton Maurice Room]

RESUMPTION

9.1 The Chairman reconvened the meeting at 11:28 a.m. (at the same venue)

DISCUSSIONS WITH OFFICIALS OF THE SIPARIA REGIONAL

CORPORATION

10.1 The Chairman welcomed officials of the Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC) and

outlined the main areas of focus of the inquiry.

10.2 Detailed below are the issues raised and the responses which were proffered during

the hearing with representatives of the SRC:

i. Opening Statements by the Chairman of the Council

a. The Chairman expressed his appreciation for the invitation to publicly discuss

the work of the Corporation. The SRC has a geographical area of 510 sq. km

and is bounded in the north and east by the PDRC, in the west by the Gulf of

Paria and in the south by the Columbus Channel.

b. The Corporation has landmarks such as the Godineau River and communities

which include Rousillac, La Brea, Vessigny, Granville, Cedros, Icacos, Syne

Village, Siparia, Fyzabad, Palo Seco, Erin and Fyzabad and has a population of


58

85,000 burgesses. There are also various housing settlements, forests, swamps,

agricultural holdings, ports and onshore industrial areas.

c. The 2013/2016 Council was sworn into office in October 2013 and comprises

of nine (9) Councillors and four (4) Aldermen. He also noted that five (5) out

of the thirteen (13) members served on the previous Council.

d. The Corporation has its full complement of chief officers, that is; a Chief

Executive Officer, a Principal Medical Officer of Health, an Engineer, a

Corporate Secretary and a Financial Officer. He also indicated that there is a

cordial and harmonious relationship between the Council and administration.

e. During the last term (2010/2013) of the Council, approximately 98% of the

budgetary allocations under recurrent expenditure and the public sector

investment programme were spent. In the 2013/2014 fiscal year 38 roads and

25 drain projects have been completed and another 38 projects were expected to

commence in the first week of August, 2014.

ii. Change Management and Training

a. In response to a query regarding challenges that are being experienced with

Change Management, the Corporation indicated that it has provided training in

a number of areas to its staff. This training included; emotional intelligence

customer service, management principles, change management, customer

service team work and personality quality change management.

b. With regards to the Corporation’s systems for measuring the impact of these

training interventions, the Committee was informed that at the end of the

training cycle an assessment was conducted and the findings of this assessment

informed the training plan for the upcoming year. In instances where a training

intervention was not successful, the Corporation has looked at using a different

trainer and or adopting a different training method.

iii. Staffing

Due to the inadequate amount of administrative and technical staff across

departments, twenty (20) short term contract officers were hired in the areas of

health and safety, communications and information technology.

iv. Provision of Pipe-Bourne Water

The Committee was informed that truck-bourne water is supplied to areas without a

pipe-bourne supply. In addition, a Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA)

representative attends RCC meetings and the Corporation liaises and receives

updates from WASA regarding plans for areas without pipe-bourne water. The

Corporation indicated that it was not aware of the timeframes within which these

areas would receive pipe-bourne water.


59

v. Regional Coordinating Committee

The RCC meets on the last Thursday of each month. In order to counteract the lack

of representation from some agencies at RCC meetings, the Corporation would visit

state agencies to encourage attendance. There is high attendance from T&TEC,

WASA and the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure representatives.

vi. Disaster Preparedness and Management

a. The Corporation has been cleaning drains as a routine exercise. In preparation

for the rainy season, the Corporation has partnered with the Ministry of Works

and Infrastructure to clean the main watercourses. The Corporation has also

collaborated with the Forestry Division and T&TEC to remove overgrown trees

along the main road. Shelter management training and public awareness

programmes have also been executed.

b. The Committee was informed that it was difficult to completely eliminate

flooding in some areas because they are below sea level. For example, Icacos.

Notwithstanding, the watercourses in these areas are cleared regularly.

vii. Petrotrin Oil Spill

Although Petrotrin played the lead role in the aftermath of the oil spill of

December, 2013, the Corporation was also involved in the relief efforts. The

Corporation’s input included; opening a shelter and the provision of cots,

mattresses and blankets to affected residents. At present the beaches are totally

clean, residents are back in their homes and the Environment Management

Authority has given its clearance. However, persons are still seeking compensation

from Petrotrin.

viii. Litter Prevention Wardens

a. In January 2013, the Corporation was assigned eight (8) Litter Prevention

Wardens by MoLG and presently there are six (6). There is an organized

programme that entails community visits, checks for indiscriminate dumping,

speaking to communities, walk-abouts in the main shopping areas and joint

patrols with Public Health Officers. In addition, Wardens have spoken to

businessmen with respect to managing their waste and although notices have

been served in the past, there was compliance within seven to fourteen days.

b. The Corporation is also developing a programme whereby there will be joint

patrols with Forest Officers. Also, there is a pilot project where plastic, glass and

paper waste is separated and sent to other sources.

ix. Whether Industrial Decline was still a feature of the region

a. The Corporation indicated that there was a minor improvement in the economic

conditions of the region. It was suggested that the construction of the highway to

Point Fortin would significantly improve these conditions.


60

b. The Committee was informed that in June 2014, the Land Settlement Agency

set-up an office in Siparia to deal with housing needs.

c. With respect to agriculture, the Committee was advised that there has been a

decline in farming as more young persons have moved into clerical work.

Although the coconut industry has also declined, the Corporation through its

RCC meetings has held discussions with the Ministry of Food Production on the

revival of its coconut industry.

x. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The Corporation has recruited a Health and Safety Officer on contract.

xi. Municipal Police

a. The present strength of the municipal police is seven (7) Officers comprising one

(1) inspector, one (1) sergeant, two (2) corporals and three (3) constables.

However, the Police Inspector submitted that a strength of sixty (60) officers

would allow the Corporation to effectively attend to the regions policing needs.

b. Breaches of law are investigated by the central police while watchmen and

private security provide 24-hour security for the Corporation’s institutions.

Municipal Police provide general policing for the needs of the Corporation.

c. The Committee was once again informed that the migration from the Municipal

Police Service was attributed to the income disparity between Municipal Police

and central police officers. Both the Human Resource Department of the MoLG

and the Chief Personnel Officer seemed to be unaware of the status of the $1,000

allowance that was promised to Municipal Police Officers and or the legal notice

required to give effect to this promise. The Corporation has also written to the

Permanent Secretary of the MoLG on this matter.

d. The Corporation’s police has to secure an area of 510 sq. km with two (2)

marked police vehicles. There is a need for one (1) unmarked police vehicle.

Although the Municipal Police Officers are comfortable in their existing rental

accommodation, efforts are being made to acquire land for the construction of a

Municipal Police Headquarters.

e. The Corporation admitted that its Municipal Police Officers required further

training on what would be the definite role and functions of the municipal police

in the enforcement of the provisions of the Dog Control Act, 2013.

xii. Canine Unit

a. The Canine Unit has one (1) vehicle, two (2) dog catchers and one (1) member

of staff in the registration unit. The Corporation has a registration unit that has a

phone line and this unit has published notices in the press inviting dog owners


61

within the region to register ‘Class A’ dogs. Additionally, the Corporation is

seeking to acquire land to build a small holding dog pound.

b. The Corporation has also participated in meetings with the MoLG and was

advised that four (4) new pounds will be established throughout the country and

each pound will be shared by three (3) corporations. Further, the Ministry of

Food Production also has pounds with incinerators and if a dog is not claimed

within seven (7) days they are euthanized by a veterinarian.

xiii. Coastal Erosion

The Corporation indicated that coastal erosion is an issue and the Ministry of

Works and Infrastructure and the Parliamentary representative were working

together to develop projects to alleviate this problem.

xiv. Staff Shortages

The Corporation was allocated 592 daily-rated workers by collective agreement,

to serve its 85,000 burgesses. The Corporation considered this as inadequate.

There is a staff shortages in the works department and the Corporation only has

one Building Inspector. To alleviate these man power shortages, the corporation

has recruited approximately one (100) persons on short-term contract under its

recurrent budget.

xv. Public Health

a. The Corporation’s scavenging services are provided by private contractors

who were recruited by the Solid Waste Management Company Limited

(SWMCOL) on three-year contracts. These contractors are supervised by the

Corporation and burgesses are invited to report any complaints regarding

their service. Additionally, the Corporation holds quarterly meetings with

these contractors and reports of these meetings are sent to SWMCOL and the

Chairman of the Corporation.

b. Waste collected is disposed at the Guapo dump and the Corporation pays

$65,000 monthly for the use of this dump. Further, the Corporation is

engaged in discussions with Petrotrin to acquire 100 acres of land for a

landfill development.

xvi. Chikungunya Virus

The St. Patrick County Unit of the Insect Vector Control Division of the

Ministry of Health has conducted Community-based health education campaigns

and perifocal spraying in an effort to combat the Chikungunya Virus. The SRC

has also set-up an educational programme, performed house-to-house visits and

a limited spraying programme. The Corporation only has two (2) Public Health

Officers with a hectic work schedule. However, these officers cooperate with the

Public Health Inspectors and the County Medical Officer of the Ministry of

Health.


62

xvii. Achievements

a. The Corporation through its “Thinking out of the Box drain approach” cited

the following as its accomplishments: the formation of the Siparia Chamber

of Commerce; hosting of a series of town meetings to discuss public health

and infrastructural issues; the twinning of the Communities of Cedros and

Toco which will include a fishing boat race; the establishment of the Siparia

Inter-Religious Group and the establishment of the Daisy Voisin Hub.

b. It was also highlighted that the Corporation was in the process of formulating

a strategic development plan for domestic tourism in the region.

11.4 The Chairman thanked the representatives of the SRC for attending.

REQUESTED INFORMATION

12.1 During the discussions, the Corporation was asked to provide a written response on

the Status of the implementation of the Corporation’s change management strategy.

SUSPENSION

13.1 The Meeting was suspended at 12:35 p.m.

[Officials of the SRC exited the J. Hamilton Maurice Room]

RESUMPTION

14.1 The Chairman reconvened the meeting at 12:40 p.m. (in camera and at the same

venue)

WORK PROGRAMME- FIFTH SESSION, TENTH PARLIAMENT

15.1 The Committee agreed that in the upcoming session, it would meet with the

Couva/Talparo and Princes Town Regional Corporations during a single meeting, then with

the Diego Martin Regional Corporation. Thereafter the Committee would return to

examining the Service Commissions as follows;

i. Teaching Service Commission;

ii. Police Service Commission;

iii. Public Service Commission; and

iv. Statutory Authorities’ Service Commission.


63

ADJOURNMENT

16.1 There being no other business, the Chairman adjourned the meeting to a date to be

fixed.

16.2 The adjournment was taken at 12:41 p.m.

I certify that the Minutes are true and correct.

Chairman

Secretary

August 29, 2014


64

Appendix III

Excerpt of Verbatim

Notes of the Public

hearing held on

July 25, 2014

EXCERPT OF VERBATIM NOTES OF THIRTY-SECOND MEETING

OF THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ENQUIRE


65

INTO AND REPORT TO PARLIAMENT ON MUNICIPAL

CORPORATIONS AND SERVICE COMMISSIONS, WITH THE

EXCEPTION OF THE JUDICIAL AND LEGAL SERVICE

COMMISSION HELD IN THE ARNOLD THOMASOS ROOM (EAST),

LEVEL 6, (IN CAMERA) AND J HAMILTON MAURICE ROOM

(MEZZANINE FLOOR) (IN PUBLIC), OFFICE OF THE

PARLIAMENT, TOWER D, THE PORT OF SPAIN INTERNATIONAL

WATERFRONT CENTER, #1A WRIGHTSON ROAD, PORT OF SPAIN,

ON TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2014 AT 9.38 A.M.

PRESENT

Mr. Anthony Vieira Chairman

Mr. HRI Roach Vice-Chairman

Mr. Chandresh Sharma Member

Miss Shamfa Cudjoe Member

Mr. Rodger Samuel Member

Mr. Julien Ogilvie Secretary

Miss Kimberly Mitchell Graduate Research Assistant

ABSENT

Mr. James Lambert Member [Excused]

Mrs. Vernella Alleyne-Toppin Member

Ms. Marlene Coudray Member

Mr. Devant Maharaj Member [Excused]

Mr. Prakash Ramadhar Member [Excused]

Mrs. Joanne Thomas Member [Excused]

Ms. Marlene Mc Donald Member

OFFICIALS OF PENAL/DEBE REGIONAL CORPORATION


66

Mr. Raymond Seepaul Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Premchand Sookoo Chairman of Council

Mr. Ballyram Lalla Municipal Police Inspector (Ag.)

Mr. Chaythnath Maharaj Building Inspector I

Ms. Pearl Gallai Financial Officer

Mr. Steve Heru County Superintendent

Mr. Adrian Komal Engineering and Surveying Officer

Mrs. Savistra Badall Disaster Management Coordinator

Mr. Victor Pustam Public Health Officer

Mrs. Aura Martin-Sealy Corporate Secretary

Mr. Vishnu Seunarine Personnel and Industrial Officer I (Ag.)

Mr. Chairman: Thank you all. I would just like to remind everyone that this

is being recorded so if you could remember to turn off your cell phones, and

when you are speaking, as you have just done, you turn on the microphone and

after speaking, you turn it off. Thanks.

It is now 10.03 a.m. and I would like to end at around 11.00, 11.03 a.m. so

time is limited, and I know there is a lot we would like to cover. So, I would

like to ask participants to keep questions and answers as brief as possible and

thus focus, so we could maximize the number of persons who will have a

chance to contribute.

Now, as you know, this hearing is convened in furtherance of our enquiring

into the administration and operations of the Penal/Debe Corporation, and for

this purpose, the committee had requested submissions from the corporation in

respect of the following:

A summary report on the administration of the corporation for the period

2011-2013 inclusive of information on activities undertaken during the years

in areas of operation such as human resource management development,


67

financial management, public health, infrastructural development, policing and

security and disaster management.

We also asked for a status report on the implementation of the corporation’s

plans and objectives outlined in the corporation’s strategic plan for the period

2012-2015. I am happy to record that the committee has received this

information and we thank you for it.

You would know that these sessions are a means towards making the

corporation accountable for its actions. But, in addition to our oversight

function, the session also affords the corporation an opportunity to sensitize

the public about your own challenges and concerns, and to serve as a bridge

between the corporation and your constituents and the public. So these

hearings really do provide an opportunity for you to voice your concerns and

suggestions. May I, therefore, invite the Chairman and then the CEO to make

some brief opening remarks?

Mr. Sookoo: Thank you very much, Chairman, Members of the Joint Select

Committee, administrative staff of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation. This

morning, as I did indicate, my name is Premchand Sookoo. Having been a

local government councillor for the last 31 years, and we of the Penal/Debe

Regional Corporation work together as a family unit. We will continue to

have dialogue and discussion to ensure we deliver the goods and services that

is daily required in Penal/Debe.

However, I must mention, the vision of the Penal/Debe Corporation is to make

Penal/Debe a safe place where one would appreciate to live and to do business.

We are working with several NGOs in order to accomplish that goal. We want

to make Penal/Debe a safe, safe place to live. However, we have been

spending, when I say spending, long hours to see how best we can be able to

promote sports in delivering the goods and services in our community.


68

However, this morning, as I have said, we have worked very closely with

various state agencies, and there are challenges but, however, we are dealing

with the various agencies to see how best we can able to resolve some of the

issues. Some of the agencies that we have the fullest, fullest cooperation:

PSAEL, Sports Company, PURE, CEPEP, EMBDC and NDC. I must indicate

here, this morning that we have been working very, very closely, and I must

commend the hon. Ministers of Local Government. We continue to have

dialogue. Well, of course, one of the Ministers is here, Hon. Chandresh

Sharma who was Minister of Local Government, and I must also commend the

hon. Dr. Surujrattan Rambachan and also the hon. Marlene Coudray.

Whatever the difficulties that we have, we always liaise, work in this

partnership, in order to deliver the goods and services. However, there are

several challenges.

And I must mention here that in Penal/Debe, you have nine electoral districts:

nine councillors, four aldermen. We also have five parliamentary

representatives and Ministers of Government, namely: hon. Prime Minister,

hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, hon. Dr. Roodal Moonilal, hon. Stacy

Roopnarine, hon. Nizam Baksh and hon. Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. So we

have five parliamentary representatives and Ministers of Government and we

continue to have dialogue in all spheres in order to deliver the goods and

services.

Now, we are saying that at the various recreation grounds, out of 39 recreation

ground, 29 have been electrified. We have 29 perimeter lightings, we have at

least 20 recreation grounds with cricket turfs and about 30 with pavilions and

also with jogging tracks. So the vision and mission of Penal/Debe Regional

Corporation in order to provide the services, once you get the youths together

to get involved in sports, is likely they would not get themselves involved in


69

illegal activities. However, we of Penal/Debe Regional Corporation came into

being in 1991.

10.10 a.m.

Mr. Sookoo: When Victoria County Council, we got part from Victoria. We

also got part from the St. Patrick County Council and 272 permanent

employees of the corporation. In some instances it is difficult to maintain the

many roads and traces. It is difficult to do the many drains. But a massive

development has taken place over the last few years pertaining to the housing

development, and I can name it but it would take some time. But, however,

we work very closely, as I said, with the various state agencies, with the URP,

CEPEP and even the contractual short-term employment in Penal/Debe and we

trying, with the corporation and all the stakeholders, together with the

technical officers of the Penal/Debe Corporation, to deliver the goods and

services.

So, Mr. Chairman, I can go and on with my length of experience in local

government. I can go on and on to name the many roads and traces, the many

bridges, 52 bridges. But I hope and trust that our presentation here this

morning and we will work together to ensure how best we can deliver the

goods and services in Penal/Debe. Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you so much. Before I ask the CEO to speak,

Penal/Debe is an area of hills and plains standing—

Mr. Sookoo: Basically, Pena/Debe is in the heart of the Oropouche Lagoon.

You have some undulation, but basically, I would say about 75 per cent of

Penal/Debe is based on the Oropouche Lagoon.

Mr. Chairman: And you are the home of the mud volcanoes?

Mr. Sookoo: Oh, yes. We have the Digity Mud Volcano, the Bunsee Trace

Mud Volcano; two beautiful sites.


70

Mr. Chairman: The population about how many, 100,000?

Mr. Sookoo: About 90,000.

Mr. Chairman: And your main activities are agriculture, fishing?

Mr. Sookoo: Well we have fishing, agriculture, business. It is a mixture.

Mr. Seepaul: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Corporation is pleased and also

very relieved to be sitting before this honourable committee this morning.

When we consider our performance for the period under review, we believe

that we have been very successful in carrying out our mandate.

The Penal/Debe Corporation does not only see itself as responsible for

providing quality goods and services to its burgesses, our role is one that we

see more important than that. We see our role as improving the quality of

lives of the people of our region. As you can see in our reports, we have been

quite successful in managing the resources that have been placed under our

stewardship. We are an organization that believes in effectively accounting for

those resources. And in so doing, we have a very close—as the Chairman

indicated earlier—working relationship with the Council and this is one of the

major factors that can attribute towards us being successful.

I must say that this corporation is one that is closely aligned to the sustainable

development framework of this Government and within recent times there has

been an upsurge in development within the region, as evidenced by major

national infrastructural projects like the Highway to Point Fortin and the UWI

South Campus and other significant projects. This corporation sees itself as

being very important. So, keeping abreast and keeping on par with the

expectations of its citizenry, because with this type of development taking

place, it is now the expectation of our burgesses that we need to step up. So,

our main focus at the corporation is to improve our ability to provide excellent

service to our stakeholders. And, in the interest of time, I will limit my


71

contribution to this.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you very much, Mr. Seepaul. The floor is now open.

Well, to get things rolling, when I read through your reports some of the things

that struck me was that the workforce you have is an aging one and that you

reported that there were some health problems among some of the workers.

The fleet also is an aging fleet, problems with maintenance. That was one

thing then

Then other thing is it seemed to me in the reports that there were observations

that your citizens, the residents in the area, were not often cooperative with

your vision, things like them deliberately blocking drains, putting out large

columns of refuse after garbage trucks having passed, putting out non-

household refuse, inconsiderate parking, illegal dumping, residents unwilling

to clean and maintain their surroundings.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, the comments that you have just made are so,

however, we considered that this is a daily experience in the life of the

regional corporation, or any regional corporation for that matter. However, we

see it as our responsibility to address these things and we have been doing that.

In fact, when you consider our strategic plan and the strides that have been

made, when you consider what has been taking place at present at the

corporation. We believe that we are having some measure of success in

addressing these problems.

Mr. Chairman: So, you have an initiative to get more citizen cooperation and

involvement?

Mr. Seepaul: Certainly, Mr. Chairman. We had—as part of the local

government transformation and modernization initiative there were

consultations held with members of the communities and this was a forum

where citizens were able to ventilate whatever problems and challenges they


72

were faced with. And we at the Penal/Debe Corporation have recognized that

our citizenry, on the surface they may appear to be ignorant and uncaring.

However, we have also recognized that they are understanding, in the sense

that they realize that the corporation do not have the adequate resources to

address their problems. But what we also realize is that we need to be

communicating with them, to let them know how far their matters have

reached when it can be done, how it can be done. And this is why we have

been placing a lot of focus on our customer relations initiative. We are also in

the process of developing our website and encouraging communication

between our stakeholders and the corporation.

Mr. Samuel: Chair, through you, I recognize that in your Strategic Plan

2012—2015, you talked about the need for training in business ethics and for

development of corporate values to guide employee behaviour. What you are

actually saying is that the lack of training and development has impacted

tremendously upon the performance of the corporation. I would like you to

talk about, to what extent has this impacted, and if, in the whole quest to train,

how have you pursued the training, or have you done that as yet? What

aspects of training development have you pursued thus far, seeing that what

you are saying as a weakness is that people need to be trained in ethics and

development for corporate values to guide?

Not only that, but you also spoke here about commitment to the work of the

corporation not generally shared among employees. And it means that you are

saying that this corporation is lacking severely with its internal relations as to

how it sensitizes and incorporates the employees to be part of the move and

the direction of the corporation. I am quite concerned about that, because if

you have employees that are not generally committed and generally share the

work of the corporation then you find yourself unable to be effective in your


73

performance. Can you speak about that?

Mr. Chairman: And to echo Mr. Samuel's observation, in your summary

report you had stated that you are functioning without a Human Resource

Management Unit. So, how are you operating in the absence of that unit?

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, the observations are clearly understood and real.

However, in putting together this report, we wanted to be entirely objective.

We did not want to come before this committee and present a rosy picture of

the Penal/Debe Corporation. I must say that, while I can indicate, as others

have, a complain of inadequate resources, we at the Penal/Debe Corporation

attempt to maximize our resources.

What we have recognized is that for several reasons we are unable to attain our

goal of being an excellent organization based on the constituents of the

organization, based on the employees. So that, this pestle analysis that I

indicated in my report reflects the reality of the organization. And this reality

exists in certain degrees.

We have situations where we expect people to deliver goods and services and

they did have the necessary skills and competency to do so, and we see

training and development as being the key towards reaching that place.

Mr. Roach: Chair, through you, could I just enquire, why it is so difficult to

get the services of a corporate secretary, which is a very important office in the

functioning of a municipal corporation.

Mr. Chairman: There is one now.

Mr. Roach: there is one now? Oh, sorry. Okay.

Mr. Seepaul: We got one.

Mr. Sharma: Can I obtain from the Chairman and others who may wish to

advise this committee, you seem over the last, maybe from 2011 in particular,

to this current period, to have superseded your deliveries, when we look and


74

read and watch the reports on roads and drains and infrastructure. So while the

committee is hearing some limitations to staffing and other considerations, but

in terms of delivery you seem to have been able to really peak. What has

contributed to that?

Mr. Sookoo: As I said earlier on, Mr. Chairman, members of the Joint Select

Committee that we have been having very close working relationship with the

various state agencies—let us take the Ministry of Works PURE Division—

and we have actually identified several areas that we need the assistance. So

too the National Gas Company pertaining to the recreation grounds, PSAEL,

URP. And as a result of having a very close working relationship, identify

problems and assistance that we require, we do in fact receive assistance. For

example, let us take, apart from the roads and drains and so forth, massive

development, HDC development, even tourism. We are embarking on

tourism. You might see an arch at the entrance of Debe—“Welcome to Debe”

and we are also looking at developing the volcano sites that will attract

tourism, although some people may tend to say that Debe is to the back of

God's back, et cetera. We believe Debe itself is a place where you can relax,

communicate, a lot of religious activities take part in these areas and so forth.

10.25. a.m.

So we have been working with these agencies very closely. If Penal/Debe

cannot do it, we ask other—we ask the right hand, if the left hand cannot do it.

But, however, we are able to manage whatever little resources that we have, in

order to do massive development that is taking place.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you. I am going to come back to some of those

points, but I know Mr. Samuel has a question.

Mr. Samuel: Chair, again I ask, what training mechanisms have been pursued

by the corporation, for the development of the employees, so that their work


75

ethics and that the work of the corporation can be generally shared? I would

like to see and hear from you what training mechanisms have been pursued.

How many persons would have benefited from it? And how have you

evaluated the mechanism to see if the mechanism is working, if the training is

working on a reality basis, see the development, if there are any with regard to

your staff?

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, those details as they were requested by the hon.

Member, has been included in our report. And, in fact, if we look at page 44,

appendix (iii), we will realise that this is clearly outlined. Training in a

nutshell is spread throughout the organization at all levels. In fact, in this

current fiscal year that training—there is even greater emphasis on training.

For example, we have training in customer service, conflict resolution, legal

management, executive development training, technical report writing skills,

costing and estimating, public sector accounting and, of course, ICT training,

which we see as very critical towards the development of the organization.

The number of persons trained is also highlighted in the appendix.

Mr. Chairman: Yes, thanks. What struck me was that it seems that there has

been exponential growth in the past few years, take away from what was

previously behind God’s back, to a fully participatory municipality now.

Now, and even some of the earlier reports where you were complaining about

a lack of coordination between the various agencies, authority issues, for

example, between the Ministry of Health, public health inspector and your

own health inspectors and the lines of authority. I get the impression, hearing

you today, that a lot of those things have been regularized.

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, Mr. Chairman, maybe not in its entirety, but we are on the

road to getting there. I will use one example for you. This much publicised

public health concern, the chikungunya virus, we have been working very


76

closely with the Ministry of Health, the County Medical Officer of Health, the

Insect Vector Control Division in addressing this, and we believe that with this

close collaboration, we would be able to effectively address this practical

issue.

I also must say that one of the challenges that we have been facing pertaining

to the execution of our projects is one of duplication, where there has not been

the sort of coordination between the corporation and other organizations like,

CEPEP, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, URP, et cetera. We are on the

road to getting there, because through our coordinating committee, regional

coordinating committee, we are now able to have the support from these

organizations, which will enable us to plan more effectively.

Mr. Roach: Could you tell me if you all have satisfied the procurement

aspect, lack of a procurement policy, have you all addressed that?

Mr. Seepaul: Well, our procurement policy is—[Interruption]

Mr. Roach: You said there is a lack of it first, in your report. You said there

is a lack of procurement policy.

Mr. Seepaul: Okay. The reference to the lack of procurement policy has to

do with what existed before. However, at this point in time, we are working

closely with the Central Tenders Board, and we are also ensuring that there is a

greater degree of transparency when it comes to procurement. For example,

because of certain constraints at the corporation in identifying its in-house

staff, to undertake projects, this corporation has to carry out its projects

through contract labour. We ensure that whenever these projects are being

tendered, that they are publicly advertised in the print media. So we work

closely, as I said before, with the Central Tenders Board and we observe the

legislations, the regulations that we are supposed to be working within.

Mr. Chairman: Now, coming back to Mr. Samuel’s point, because again,


77

what struck me was that the earlier reports kind of suggested Penal/Debe, very

laid back, “kinda simple”, but what I am seeing now, in your more recent

reports, a more sophisticated approach. We were wondering whether your

training programmes were having an impact, and if you could say a little bit

about that.

Mr. Seepaul: Certainly, Mr. Chairman. That is, in fact so and you will

realise that is even more real now, as we consider our performance for this

present fiscal year. There are many factors that can attribute to this change

and this improvement; training is one. We have a workforce that is, I will

consider to be relatively highly motivated and committed. We have been able

to institute scientific techniques in the way in which we carry out our projects:

we employ project management techniques; we ensure that there is monitoring

and controlling; we ensure that we do a significant amount of planning, you

know. I want to commend, as the Chairman of Council indicated earlier, our

previous Ministers of Local Government, who gave us the assurance that we

can go ahead and plan, and not follow tradition. I will give you an example.

Whenever we would have to prepare our estimates for the development

programme, the PSIP, in the past, we would wait until the budget is approved

and then understand what our allocation was, and then go ahead and prepare

estimates. By the time that was done and everything was approved, and we

got funding, we were way down into the financial year.

Through the encouragement and the inspiration given by previous Ministers,

we are now able to backup, maybe about two or three months. For example,

we are now in the process of identifying projects for our development

programme. So by the time the budget is read, we can only anticipate how

much money we will be getting. So by the time that is made public, we are

already strides ahead.


78

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to announce that at this point, at the end of July

2014, we have completed approximately 98 per cent of our projects.

Mr. Chairman: And it struck me to that you are also one of the corporations

that is very prompt and up-to-date with the reports being submitted to

Parliament. So I compliment you on that. In fact, what struck me when I read

your earlier report, it seemed that the bulk of your activities used to be clearing

of septic tanks and bulk waste removal. But now, you are moving into tourism

and recreational activities, sporting facilities, beautification programmes and

the administration complex. So you seem to have shifted your priorities

somewhat.

Mr. Samuel: Chair, I want to talk about security. I recognize that security is

part of a subcommittee, and not foremost in the corporation’s mandate. Other

corporations have a security committee as part of their—you have four

committees out of council—

Mr. Seepaul: Standing committees.

Mr. Samuel: Yes, standing committees. What is the security issue like in

Penal/Debe, the fact that you may have a bit or farming, and stuff like that. Is

there a high incidence of praedial larceny? To the Acting Inspector, what is

supposed to be the strength of your force? What is the present status of it?

Mr. Lalla: I want to say thank you for responding, Sir. The present strength

of my department is approximately 10 officers, right. As you indicated, you

asked just now, relative to praedial larceny and petty crimes, and those kinds

of things. It is relatively low in my district, in my area. So that is one area we

do not have to worry too much about.

However, in the Penal/Debe district there may be occurrences of petty crimes

now and then, but that has been taken care of. So generally, we have a pretty

safe area.


79

Miss Cudjoe: I wanted to find out about the corporation’s readiness for the

implementation of the Dangerous Dogs Act. Your municipal corporation

police will be responsible for this area, and the legislation was just proclaimed

in June. So I am concerned about the readiness of the corporation to execute

its function, as it relates to this dangerous dogs legislation.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, the corporation is in a state of readiness despite

certain issues not being addressed. We know that there has only been partial

approval of that legislation, but let me just go into detail. We are now able to

register people who are in possession of these animals. We have a direct line

through which they can call. We have a complaints desk, through which they

can, you know, deal with that particular issue.

As far as infrastructure is concerned, the corporation has, in fact, a canine unit,

with the vehicles and the cages, et cetera. We recently modified that

infrastructure to facilitate the capturing of these dogs.

I want to say also that we have the aspect of inspection of areas where these

dogs are being kept, being addressed by our building inspector and our

municipal police. So we believe that we have done, at this point, all that we

can do to facilitate this particular piece of legislation. However, there are still

quite a lot to be done, but it is dependent on other agencies.

Mr. Chairman: Now, I saw in one of your earlier reports that there was need

for legal council’s services. Has that been met?

Mr. Seepaul: From time to time, Mr. Chairman, there would be matters that

would come before the corporation that would require such services. There

would be matters where the corp sec is unable to address, but that is more an

exception than a norm, okay. Issues like encroachment and lawsuits against

the corporation for negligence, but as I said before, these are negligible.

10.40 a.m.


80

Mr. Chairman: Well, and I saw that you had boundary disputes as one of

your problems; illegal structures. So, if you do not have an in-house counsel,

do you have a panel of lawyers that you can use?

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, Mr. Chairman, we do.

Mr. Roach: In terms of your Regional Coordinating Committee, which you

said is to be resuscitated, has that been resuscitated and what level of staffing

is that?

Mr. Seepaul: The Regional Coordinating Committee comprises state

organizations, NGOs and CBOs and one of the problems we have experienced

is that these organizations would not attend our meetings. This committee was

established so that there would be coordination, there would be interfacing,

there would be networking to ensure that the region is properly looked after;

that there will be no duplication of resources, duplication of projects, and even

when organizations would be represented, they would be represented by very

junior members of staff, who are unable to make a salient contribution to the

meeting. They would not be in a position to make decisions but, as I indicated

earlier, we are now seeing changes; we are now seeing organizations attending

our meetings; maybe it has to do with the Ministers in the respective Ministries

now being informed about the problem that we have been having.

Mr. Roach: Have you all made any direct contact with the local government

Minister to assist in this?

Mr. Seepaul: I think that a better response, a more informed response can be

presented by my chairman.

Mr. Sookoo: Normally, at these Regional Coordinating Committee meetings,

as in Act 21 of 1990, it is specific to the agencies; but, however, the council

from time to time would invite other agencies, other groupings and, yes, the

Minister of Local Government is fully aware. Sometimes we would say,


81

“Minister, XY or Z agency is not coming”. He would say, “Okay, I will deal

with that”. And lo and behold, at the next meeting, you will find the agency is

there. So I think the coordination and the discussion is well on hand to deal

with these delinquent agencies.

Mr. Chairman: One of things I saw as one of your challenges was the

complaint that people were using the area as a dumping ground, people

coming from outside and also residents accumulating garbage as well. Is this

being addressed?

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, Mr. Chairman. In fact, this is one of the frequent

challenges we face. Thankfully, it is not widespread throughout the region. It

is kind of localized in certain areas and we have been addressing that through

joint patrols between our municipal police, our litter prevention wardens and

even the central police. We have been erecting signage prohibiting

indiscriminate dumping. We are in the process now of devising another

initiative whereby we are subject to the approval of council. We may very

well be giving rewards to citizens who have information on these people

responsible for this dumping.

Mr. Chairman: Have any prosecutions been effected?

Mr. Seepaul: I know, Mr. Chairman, that there have been a number of cases

where the Litter Prevention Wardens have actually issued those charges and

the individuals involved are to go before the magistrate.

Mr. Samuel: Mr. Chairman, through you, the flatlands are prone to disaster

when it comes to the rainy season. How prepared is your disaster unit that is

under the administration for such. What pre-emptive actions have been taken

to prepare yourself—because this is an annual thing—to deal with the building

codes and to ensure that people are not encroaching on building structures that

would encroach on the rivers and the drainage? I do not know if your


82

engineering and survey teams are looking into things like that because

annually you find, around the country, not much attention is placed on that

until the disaster happens. I would like to know what the disaster team is

doing; what the engineering team is doing to ensure that the disaster situation

and the impact is really lessened annually as you go by.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chair, I believe that justice can be served in this particular

issue by our Disaster Management Coordinator.

Mrs. Badall: Mr. Chairman, there are four phases of disaster preparedness.

Mitigation is the number one factor. This is where, during the dry season, the

team, in the Disaster Management Unit, goes out to areas. One, we do

vulnerability assessments; we tag areas that have flooding from time to time;

we liaise with the roads section because we have some drainage that drains are

left and not continued, so we ask them to do that; then there is indiscriminate

landfill, which we try to talk to the landowners to have them open so that you

will have the free flow of water. The people on the river banks, we do take

note of them and try to ask them as far as possible to relocate. We work

closely with the Land Settlement Agency to see how best they will have them

relocated.

Mr. Samuel: But, really, are you prepared for the rainy season? Are you

prepared at this point in time for the rainy season and the possibility of floods

and disaster? Are you really prepared at this time? You have given me a

clinical idea as to, you know, what is the norm. You try to help people; you

try to tell them clean up; you try to tell the landowners open the drains. You

try to. Are you prepared for the rainy season? That is what I am asking.

Mrs. Badall: Yes, I would say we are prepared. We know where most of the

problems are. We have a full inventory for relief purposes. We have our fleet.

We have monthly reports, so that we could respond, so I think, at this time, we


83

are quite prepared. Up to last weekend we were there for the whole time

giving relief as soon as; we respond, we are able to respond immediately. I

would say at this time, yes.

Mr. Samuel: To follow up: when I ask if you are prepared, I am not talking

about prepared with regards to response. I am talking about the pre-emptive

actions that should have taken place over a period of time. That is preparation.

We never know the magnitude of disaster, but if there were pre-emptive

actions, we would then have zeroed down and narrowed down the possibilities

of great things. So I am asking, are you prepared, based upon pre-emptive

actions and not reaction; but pre-emptive action that you were able to instruct

those people with landfills that were clogging up drains and out of 20 persons,

15 persons have been given notices and stuff like that.

I want to find facts because it is one thing to say, I have tried to move people

from the banks and I have tried to do this and I have tried this; and we may try

and never succeed and, at the end of the day, the floods come and we find

ourselves having to react and respond all the time because we have not done

the legal work to get them to open up the drains take them to court and ensure

that they do what they are supposed to do by your building codes and by your

engineering team and your surveying teams and stuff like that. I am trying to

get some information from you because it is going to rain.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, I would want to echo the response of my

Disaster Management Coordinator by saying that we are prepared and we have

been proactive. I will go as far as saying that, five years ago, or even earlier,

because of the topography of the region, flooding was very commonplace.

Now, since that time a lot has been done. The majority of watercourses have

been dredged and cleared. The Disaster Management Coordinator alluded to

people who live on river banks. I must say that this is in the great minority. It


84

is really the exception and not the norm.

We have also been preparing ourselves by developing and training community

emergency response teams where we have already trained 135 persons from

different communities, so that they will be able to respond to these types of

problems, disasters, rather than waiting on organizations like Penal/Debe

Regional Corporation or the fire service. We have people trained in different

areas within the communities, so that they can deal with these issues.

Mr. Chairman: Mr. Seepaul, you had mentioned earlier that one of your

visions, one of your objectives is improving the quality of life. You said:

“enhancing the quality of life for the residents within the municipality”. That

sounds very nice, but I am interested in hearing what measurements do you

use to know whether you are being successful in this or not, and what exactly

are you doing towards this goal?

Mr. Seepaul: This is our goal, to improve the quality of life for our burgesses

and this takes place in several ways; through infrastructural projects, paving

roads and drains and ensuring that we have a very efficient scavenging system

in place.

I made mention of the involvement of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation in

addressing the Chikungunya virus, and we know that while there would be

empirical evidence that will reflect our input, for example, the reduction of

indices, the breeding of mosquitoes. Mr. Chairman, in the area of recreation,

the development of recreational facilities in this part of the country, we are

seeing the fruits of it.

Mr. Chairman: I was more thinking about whether these projects like the

UWI sub-campus, the administration building, the highway, the local

government building programme, whether these things were actually

impacting on the lives the residents in terms of employment income.


85

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I believe they have been impacting. We

are able, through the policy of council, to provide employment for several

people. It may not necessarily be to the extent of what we would like, but we

recognize the challenges of the economically depressed and we do our part.

10.55 a.m.

We must realize though the constraints that the corporation faces financially.

The corporation is on average, both its capital and recurrent budgets, is less

than $100 million, Mr. Chairman, and there is only so much we can do, but we

try to do the best we can.

Mr. Chairman: The mud volcanos have always fascinated me. Have you all

every look at it from a geothermal point of view of having scientists come and

see whether there is potential for building on this phenomenon and also the

heritage site? Could you expand on this?

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, I think it will interest you greatly to know that

the Digity Mud Volcano, the cone of that volcano is approximately 25 feet in

height, while the Devil’s Wood Yard Mud Volcano seems to be the most

popular, the Digity Mud Volcano is the best kept secret, I believe. I would

expect that because of the nature of these volcanoes, the existence of these

volcanic activity within the region, that we would have a scientist coming into

those areas and doing research and things like that.

Mr. Chairman: Mr. Roach wants to ask a question. I almost get the

impression that people abroad are doing their own research. I was thinking

about whether the municipal corporation would trigger its own research to see

what use it could put it to. Maybe this is food for thought, but this does not

fall within our scope as we see it and we do not see ourselves as having the

resources financial and otherwise, to embark on such an exercise, but maybe it

is good food for thought.


86

Mr. Chairman: Could that be part of your heritage site programme?

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, it is Mr. Chairman, because we have started to invest

money in developing these sites so that people can visit, and we hope that it

will be able to provoke greater interest among the national community.

Mr. Roach: I notice that you have eight buildings that comprises the regional

corporation operations spread over a fairly large area. It is not in a complex.

As well, you made mention that there is general ignorance of employees on the

occupational health and safety issues. You have established sub-committees—

you have five committees—and I have not notice a committee there dealing

with health and safety issues of OSHA. Is there one now in existence or is

there one to be operational?

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, Mr. Chairman, those sub-committees, standing

committees and are actually committees of council. We do have a OSHA

committee in place, that has been in existence for quite some time now and

reports from this OSHA committee goes to the personnel committee meeting

for the information of council.

I must also indicate that within recent times, in fact, during this fiscal year, we

have done significant training of our staffing, to supervise to educate them of

the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The corporation has also been doing

its part in providing personal protective gear and equipment to our employees.

However, what has happened and has been happening in the past is that we

believe that these employees were not very conscious of how serious a matter

of OSHA is and we are now disseminating information and knowledge to

them, and we are seeing good results.

Mr. Roach: In terms of this very matter we are on here, in terms of the

physical buildings themselves, are they in good stead given the atmosphere we

are in now where offices are being closed down by unions?


87

Mr. Seepaul: We are quite sensitive of these concerns and I must say that we

have had visits from the OSHA Inspectorate and this has prompted us to

establish a robust OSHA committee. One of the responsibilities of that

committee is to go around and look at our facilities inclusive of parks,

pavilions, et cetera, not only our buildings. I would be bold to state that yes,

we are compliant.

Mr. Roach: You are compliant. You police station, your abattoir, all of

those.

Mr. Seepaul: At this point in time, our abattoir is being renovated. We

recognize that our police station has a lot of limitations, and we are now

looking to establish another facility for our municipal police.

Mr. Samuel: I have just two questions. I know that in rural communities, out

of the towns, there is a serious transports problem. There is a lot of private PH

going on. What has the corporation done to work with the Ministry of

Transport to now provide bus services to those rural communities and how

often? The second question is that with the serious illegal dumping of

garbage, how effective has the litter wardens been. Can you give me an idea

of how many people were caught, taken to court, given tickets and stuff like

that? You reiterated that there is a serious issue of illegal dumping of garbage,

and it would mean that you would have had to sort of top up on the work of

the wardens to really be effective and to ensure that those people are caught

and then they are subsequently charged for illegal dumping.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, if I may address the second issue first, and I

would allow the Chairman of Council to address the first issue on the

transport.

Mr. Chairman: We are going until 11.15 a.m. so you have a little time.

Mr. Seepaul: As far as the indiscriminate dumping is concerned, I indicated


88

earlier that we are addressing that at present. As far as the details on charges

are laid and things of that nature, I am not prepared to give such details. I

would be happy to provide that information at some later date, but what I can

say is that it seems like taking one step forward and two steps backward, and I

say that because within recent times our Litter Wardens, there has been a

significant reduction in the staffing of our Litter Wardens. I cannot say why,

but whatever resources we have in that particular area it is maximized. I know

that they are very hardworking and they work closely in collaboration with our

municipal police and our public health officers and they are, in fact, addressing

the issues out there that is affecting the corporation.

Mr. Chairman: Yeah, especially if you are doing a beautification drive, you

would expect to have that support.

Mr. Sookoo: Mr. Chairman, in lieu of the question with transport, we do have

PTSC bus service along the SS Erin Road straight down to Erin. We also have

the PTSC bus service also the Penal Rock Road up 8 mile also the Clarke

Road area, we have PTSC bus services there.

However, today as one travels along the SS Erin Road in Debe, I think the

traveling public or the motorists have to be educated along some of the routes,

not to say you have to pass through Debe. There are several alternative routes

that would make it easy to lets us say the destination of Penal to go into San

Fernando or Barrackpore into Port of Spain, once you are aware of these

alternative routes they may ease transporting problem. You do not have a

transport problem, but you need to know the exact route how to travel.

However, it is a vision, not only of Penal Debe, but it is a vision in working in

collaboration with respective members of Parliament or the Ministers that here

it is you can now leave Digity and go to Port of Spain without traversing to

Debe. You can now leave San Fernando without coming to Penal Junction,


89

Penal Rocke Road, alternative routes.

However, there is a lot to be done and we hope and trust not too long from

now it would be easy access. So dealing with the question of transport, we do

have some traffic jams. Again, we recognize the hot doubles and the bara in

Debe causes some traffic jam because people from all over Trinidad, including

Arima. I have some relatives in Arima and I met them purchasing doubles in

Debe, it is so delicious, hence the reason somebody call it “Bara City”.

Mr. Chairman: I am disappointed you did not bring some for your

committee. [Laughter]

Mr. Sookoo: Normally, you have to eat it hot and I left home six o’clock this

morning to make sure I got it in time here.

So, dealing with the question of transport, I think over a period of time that

would be able to address itself.

Mr. Samuel: Chair, while the Superintendent or the County Superintendent

try to get me hungry by talking about all the delicacies, I am quite concerned

with transportation to the rural communities, very, very, rural communities and

I want to know because I know the issue of PH is prevalent. How are you

dealing with that? What plans do you have in place to overcome the situation

where people in the very rural communities have to depend on that?

I know that a lot of the PH drivers face a lot with the law and they provide a

service. I want to know what plans you have for the very rural communities

that are travelling.

Mr. Sookoo: Well, dealing with the question of rural, I think negotiations or

representation has to be made as to whether a PTSC bus can go inside of

Moulton Trace or Bunsee Trace or Goodman Trace or Seemungal Trace

because these roads, again, if one has to travel in the night, the only form of

transportation he or she would get is a PH taxi, PH driver, because normally


90

the bus would not travel say in the night, midnight or let us say two o‘clock in

the morning or nine o’clock in the night. Taxis: you have some taxis but they

prefer to work outside than to work in these rural communities.

Mr. Chairman: Now, you talk about tourism and recreational sites, sporting

facilities, play parks, beautification programmes. As an outsider, what strikes

me is that Penal/Debe has some things that are unique. I believe there is a

school of thought that says doubles actually was born in Penal—no, Princes

Town—but you see, the Devil’s Woodyard and your mud volcanoes are

something that are special and unique and even within the national community,

I do not know if we appreciate it as much far less for the internationally. I

really see that as one of the things that you could use towards branding

Penal/Debe and also researching both in terms of thermal possibilities and

medicinal and beauty therapies, mud packs and that sort of thing. So, one of

the ways in going forward is to really articulate in your vision, how you see

yourselves, what makes you unique and special and then to build around that,

just a thought.

Now, what also struck me was that you are quite frugal and careful in your

accounting. Some of your earlier accounts, I saw the subventions would be

like $49 million plus, but expenditure way below. I was wondering this, when

you did not have an auditing unit of your own—is the auditing unit established

now? How does this work out?

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, the corporation is not fortunate to have an

auditing unit of its own. We depend on the Auditing Unit of the Ministry of

Local Government, but in terms of our annual expenditure, I would have

indicated before that we do a lot of planning and we ensure that we utilize all

or as much of the funds that are allocated to us. I must commend my

colleagues who are involved in the accounting system at the corporation and


91

we are also grateful for the support that we get from the Ministry of Local

Government and from the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance.

11.10 a.m.

Mr. Chairman: Can we have a comment from the Financial Officer.

Ms. Gallai: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, you might have seen the difference

from 2011, that is because before that there was not an in-house Financial

Officer. I am here now and, perhaps, part of it is attributable to my presence,

because I helped to do a lot of navigation and negotiation to ensure that our

monies are well spent, and to be on top of it all the time.

Mr. Roach: Mr. Chairman, in your Strategic Plan 2012—2015, I noticed on

page 16, paragraph 1.1, opportunities and threats, and under the opportunities

you have the benefits of five Cabinet level parliamentary representatives

having vested interest, I want to believe, in the region, I mean, what type of

vested interest? I mean, are they living in the area? How does it benefit the

region as an opportunity, as you have it listed? Page 16, under opportunities

and threats.

Mr. Chairman: Is that a threat?

Mr. Roach: He has it under opportunities, so, you know, it is interesting, does

it assist the region to be more effective, more resourceful? I mean, it is an

interesting item that you have itemized there.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, this, I believe, will speak to the fact that we

have a significant degree of top-level representatives at the parliamentary level

who one would expect would lobby for their various constituencies.

Mr. Roach: So is it that they are living in the region?

Mr. Seepaul: Yes, primarily so, but the Penal/Debe Regional—the region

straddles over five constituencies and I am not very privy to where their

residential addresses are, but I know that they have a vested interest in their


92

constituencies. I must also add that the hon. Prime Minister, whose

constituency is Siparia, part of that constituency falls under our jurisdiction,

and she also lives within the region of Penal/Debe.

Mr. Roach: So does it make it easier for you to access assistance in the

regional corporation’s work?

Mr. Seepaul: I believe that the Chairman is very capable of—[Laughter]

Mr. Chairman: But that would have a negative thing too.

Mr. Roach: But they are putting it as an opportunity as a positive, not as a

negative. Sorry. Chairman?

Mr. Sookoo: Apart from the Prime Minister living in Penal/Debe, we have

the hon. Stacy Roopnarine who lives in Penal/Debe, the hon. Nizam Baksh

who lives in Penal/Debe, Dr. Roodal Moonilal who actually, I would say,

spent, out of the 24 hours or 48 hours, he spent about 40 hours in Penal/Debe,

and the borderline is very, very close by. I must say that we continue to meet

at a level where Dr. Roodal Moonilal, or the hon. Stacy Roopnarine, would

meet with us from time to time, as often as, or if and when required, and we

would indicate to them that here it is that the following roads and traces need

to be paved, we are having some issues with the removal of solid waste, or we

are having some of the blockage of a watercourse or a broken-down bridge,

X,Y or Z road or traces. And as a result of identifying, immediately would

write letters, or apart from writing letters we would get in contact with the

appropriate Ministers to ensure that here it is, we need your assistance because

the agricultural access to those—as I have said, we have 52 bridges in the

Penal/Rock Road area, and I know of persons who have actually abandoned

their holdings. Abandon their holdings for the want of access to go to the

agricultural holdings, and here it is we will find ways and means in trying to,

at least, restore access to these agricultural holdings because, basically,


93

especially that Penal/Rock Road area, people depend solely on agriculture for

their livelihood.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sure what you were

signalling to Mr. Roach was that you have closer access and, perhaps a

sympathetic ear, as opposed to getting special treatment?

Mr. Sookoo: No, I do not think this is special treatment. I think it is as result

of negotiation and representation. It is not special treatment. I do not want

anybody go with the idea that because the Prime Minister lives in Penal/Debe,

or the hon. Stacy Roopnarine, or the hon. Dr. Roodal Moonilal, we have

special treatment.

Mr. Chairman: Well, I am glad you are setting the record straight on that.

Miss Cudjoe: I would like to make a comment, it is not even question. Being

a Member of this JSC for the past four years, this is quite an interesting

development, and I am sure other municipal corporations are looking on in

awe, because I will tell you something, all MPs cannot live within their areas.

So the fact that, based on some of the statements made this morning, it is quite

an interesting development, but I am sure that there is something that other

municipal corporations can learn from Penal/Debe because they have quite a

hook-up or a link-up, [Laughter] to be able to get this kind of—you do not

want it to be called “special treatment”, but this kind of attention and love and

affection from central government. So I hope other municipal corporations are

taking notes. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you. We are coming towards the close, of course, if

Members have other questions we will direct the questions to you for follow

up. Clearly, there has been a lot that has been happening in Penal/Debe. In

wrapping up, I am wondering if you could do two things for me, if you could

signal what you consider your best achievement, thus far, and perhaps where


94

you might see yourselves doing better.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, I believe that our best achievement, thus far, has

been the ability of both the administrative arm and the political arm to work

harmoniously. That, although it is not something tangible, that is the

foundation for everything else, for all our achievements and successes at the

corporation. We recognize also that we, in order to be a professional

organization, in order to attain First World standards, there is a lot of work to

be done and the major challenge, I see really, is getting into people’s heads to

change their mentality towards work, to enable them to recognize that—and I

know a former colleague of mine has most aptly defined work, and he

indicated that work is worship. Once we are able to approach our jobs, be it

the cleaner or the CEO, with that sort of mentality, then I believe that the sky

is the limit for Penal/Debe Regional Corporation.

Mr. Chairman: The Romans said, “Laborare est orare”, to work is to pray.

As we close, may I invite—you wanted to make a question?

Mr. Samuel: Just a statement. Chair, just to clear the air, I did not get the

impression from the Chairman that the relationships that they have with their

MPs give them special favour. I wanted to put that on the record. I did not get

that impression that it was some special favours that are granted to you as a

corporation because of your relationships with your MP. So, I just wanted to

let you know I did not get that impression from you, and I do not know where

it came from.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you. So, as we draw to a close, I would now invite

the Chairman and the CEO to make closing remarks.

Mr. Sookoo: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to tell you that it

was a pleasure being here this morning because, in meeting with the Joint

Select Committee, it tells us that here it is, not only the CEO or the Minister of


95

Local Government, but there are persons from a higher level looking upon the

operations of the Penal/Debe Corporation, and this morning I want to

commend you. We have, at Penal/Debe, we have discovered in some of the

areas, probably where we have erred or we have fallen short but, however,

everything takes some time but, however, I want to give the assurance that we

will continue to work together as a team. We will continue to work with all

those in authority to ensure that Penal/Debe strives for excellence. One of our

greatest, achievements in Penal/Debe is to have that human relationship among

the electorates and constituents of Penal/Debe, because Penal/Debe, we

continue to grow on a monthly basis, on a weekly basis, and have dialogues

with various stakeholders and sporting organizations, including the village

councils in these parts. Thank you very much.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you.

Mr. Seepaul: Mr. Chairman, again, as the Chairman indicated, we are very

pleased and, of course, very relieved to have attended this particular forum, not

only to account to the Committee but to the broader public, as to what takes

place at the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation. As our reports will show, we

have given an objective outline as to the administration of the corporation for

that particular period, but, as I would have indicated earlier, our philosophy is

not about complaining. If we look to complain there would be many things to

complain about, many inadequacies, many deficiencies; we choose to work

with what we have, we choose to maximize our resources, we choose to ensure

that there is synergy amongst us so that we are able to achieve, if not our full

mandate, a significantly high percentage of it. We continue to look very

optimistically towards the future. Many of what we would have reported in

our Strategic Plan, the status of our Strategic Plan, we are very fortunate now

to be addressing most of those issues. So we believe that we are on target. We


96

believe that by implementing scientific strategies and educating your people,

and by ensuring that there is this family type of relationship among us in our

organization, we are geared towards success. So, we really want to express

our gratitude to you this morning for having us here.

Mr. Chairman: Thank you very much. We are also very grateful. I know

that we had tried several times to have had this meeting, but I am glad we were

able to do it before the term ended, and I very much appreciate your travelling

so far and for all that you have shared with us today. So there being no further

business at this time, I would like to declare this meeting suspended. I thank

you and your team for attending this morning, and also thank the media and

the viewing public.

11.23 p.m.: Meeting suspended.


97

Appendix IV

PDRC Organizational

Chart


98


99

Appendix V

PDRC Composition of

Staffing 2012/2013


100


101

Appendix VI

PDRC Departmental

Responsibilities


102


103


104


105


106


107

Appendix VII

PDRC Budget

Formulation Process

2012/2013


108


109

Appendix VIII

PDRC Financial

Statement on the

Recurrent Programme

2010 - 2013


110


111

Appendix IX

PDRC Financial

Statement on the

Development

Programme

2010 – 2013


112


113

Appendix X

Training Programmes

Undertaken during the

period 2010 to 2013


114


115


116

Appendix XI

Additional

Departmental

Achievements during

the period 2010 to

2013


117


118


119


120

Appendix XII

PDRC Strategic Way

Forward


121

The following projects and initiatives represent a strategic way forward identified by the

Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, in relation to improving its delivery of service to

burgesses by enhancing its administration and operations:

Proposed Administrative Complex

Lands at Katwaroo Trace in Penal have been acquired from PETROTRIN for this

purpose and PSAEL is responsible for bringing the long-awaited facility to fruition.

The Corporation sees such a facility as key to fulfilling its mandate of serving its

citizenry and the attainment of Borough status.

Improved Performance Geared Towards Excellent Customer Service

Systemic inefficiencies, the lack of appropriate performance metrics and ineffective

supervision will continue to be targeted in the new fiscal year. It is intended that such

efforts be deepened by a philosophy of thinking “outside the box” to solve perennial

problems, and in turn revolutionize the management of the organization. It was also

indicated that an initiative had been devised to improve process and measurement

strategies through timely and high quality reporting and the implementation of

scientific project management techniques.

The Corporation stated that priority would be given in this area to ultimately ensure

that the needs of the stakeholders are not only met, but surpassed. Emphasis would be

placed on the utilization of existing ICT initiatives and social media fora to ensure that

modes of feedback are effectively provided to entities doing business with the

Corporation.

Automating of the Accounting Unit

The PDRC envisages the introduction of automated accounting in the not too distant

future to further bolster its accounting function. This proposes to better enable the

classification of transactions, balancing of books, reconciliations and management

reporting.

Reinforcement of Municipal Policing

Notably, the PDRC boasted of deliberate efforts to augment the Corporation’s

inadequate Municipal Police Force with Special Reserve Police (SRP) Officers so that

community policing would be more effective in dealing with crime in the municipality.


122

It is the intention of the Corporation to invest in available technologies (e.g.

surveillance equipment) in order to, not only keep watch over its assets, but also as a

data gathering mechanism, especially in more prominent commercial areas within the

region. Also included in this plan is the procurement of necessary Breathalyzer

apparatus and training for the Municipal Police of the PDRC.

Capacity Building & Institutional Strengthening

The Corporation expressed at the public hearing that strategic analyses identified in

particular internal weaknesses such as; “Commitment to the work of the corporation

not generally shared among all employees” and “Need for training in business ethics

and for development of Corporate Values to guide employee behaviour.” These

internal weaknesses were given as the reasons why PDRC was unable to attain the goal

of being an excellent organization. The Committee also learned that the training of both

members of the Council and its administrative staff is of paramount importance to the

Corporation. This initiative would continue to be given priority in the future at all

levels.

At the public hearing it came to the Committee’s knowledge that the provision of

training is spread throughout the Corporation. During fiscal year 2013/2014, training

was provided in the areas of customer service excellence, use of force, conflict

resolution, legal management, executive development, technical report writing skills,

project costing and estimating, international public sector accounting standards and

information and communications technology. It was indicated that the execution of

training programmes contributed to the improvements in the Corporation’s

performance in 2013/2014. Another factor was a highly motivated and committed

workforce and the introduction of scientific project management techniques. The

Corporation also benefited from encouragement at the Ministerial level to engage in

proactive planning particularly with regard to its development programme. This

approach has placed the corporation in a better position to benefit from budgetary

allocations. Thus, as at the end of July 2014, the Corporation had realised a ninety-

eight percent project completion rate.

In additional information submitted to the Committee post-hearing, the PDRC

conveyed that in 2012, the senior staff of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation was


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exposed to training conducted by the Legal Services Division of the Ministry of Public

Administration on the subject “Ethics in Public Procurement”. The Corporation also

stated that the issues of business ethics and corporate values were also addressed to

some extent in various training programmes scheduled by the PDRC for members of

staff. The number of training workshops conducted by the Corporation increased

exponentially from 2010 to 2013. In the year 2010/2011 a total of six (6) workshops

were conducted, whereas in the period 2012/2013 training workshops totalled at

nineteen (19). Also, the focus of such training programmes shifted to incorporate new

professional skill sets, which are detailed at Appendix X – Training Programmes

Undertaken during the period 2010 to 2013.

Information & Communications Technology Thrust

The Corporation, in its effort to modernize its operations, has committed to continuing

the advancement of its Information and Communications Technology (I.C.T.) strategy.

It was stated that much has been done to achieve the objective of having all units of the

Corporation computerized along with assisting clerical, technical and administrative

staff in becoming I.T. proficient. Additionally, progress has been made in establishing

an effective computer network within the main offices. It is, therefore, the intention of

the Corporation to engage in close collaboration, in the near future, with the I.T. Unit

of the MoLG and iGovTT to capitalize on the wealth of resources available in the e-

environment.

Indiscriminate Dumping

The Penal/Debe Regional Corporation submitted that it has taken a position of zero

tolerance on these activities and has committed to continuing to implement forceful

measures, with the assistance of the Municipal Police and Litter Prevention Wardens,

to ensure that the environment is preserved. At the public hearing officials elaborated

that, in order to deal with indiscriminate dumping of garbage, there have been joint

patrols between the Municipal Police, Litter Prevention Wardens and Central Police.

The required signage has also been erected and the Committee was informed that there

have been a number of cases before the Magistrate Court as a result of charges laid by

Litter Prevention Wardens. It was admitted however that there has been a significant

reduction in the number of Litter Wardens employed at the Corporation. Additional


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information requested by the Committee indicated that seven (7) Litter Prevention

Wardens assumed duties at the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation on January 29, 2013.

At present, this numbered has dwindled to four (4) officers. Despite this numerical

challenge, the PDRC advocated that the Wardens have been an asset and have

partnered with the Corporation’s Municipal Police and Public Health Officers, as well

as the Insect Vector Control Division, in mitigating the spread of the Chikungunya

virus in the region. The following information was provided post-hearing and outlines

action taken by the Litter Prevention Wardens, in the year, as of September 16, 2014:

- Litter Removal Citations 29

- Clean-up Order Citations 34

- Fixed Penalty Notices Issued 02

- Tickets Issued (Paid) 01

- Persons Charged 02

- Matters in Court 01

Pre-hearing written evidence also highlighted that the PDRC would pursue dialogue

with SWMCOL to address, among other issues, the challenge posed by the disposal of

tyres.

Disaster Preparedness

The Corporation submitted in written evidence that its Disaster Management Unit

adopted the Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Model which is focused on

identifying mitigation as the priority rather than relief and recovery efforts. As a

consequence, Disaster Preparedness Sensitization Programmes continue to be

conducted in various parts of the Region with the objective being, the building of

resilient communities.

Further to that at the public hearing the Committee was informed that disaster

mitigation remains one of the Corporation’s four phases of disaster preparedness.

During the dry season, the Disaster Management Unit team would undertake a number

of disaster prevention initiatives. These initiatives include; vulnerability assessments,

identifying areas that are prone to flooding, liaising with the Roads Section regarding

incomplete drainage, negotiating with owners of land with garbage to get the lands

cleared to ensure a free flow of water, identifying squatters along the river bank and


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communicating with the Land Settlement Agency on the relocation of squatters. The

Corporation guided that monthly reports are prepared and a full inventory for relief

purposes was maintained. In addition, watercourses have been dredged and cleared and

135 persons from different communities have been formed into Community

Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) as a result of training. Such achievements are

highlighted in addition to those stated in item 12 “Disaster Management Unit” on Page

24 of this report.

Local Economic Development (LED)

The PDRC indicated that, through its linkages with the Planning Unit of the MoLG as

well as the Caribbean Local Economic Development (CARILED) in recent years, its

interest in LED has been heightened. Additionally, LED as it relates to the

sustainability of burgesses, should remain relevant and receive the attention of the

Corporation.

Mud Volcanoes

In oral evidence given at the hearing, the Corporation shared its expectations that due

to the nature of volcanic activity in the region and the existence of the Dignity and

Devil’s Woodyard Mud Volcanoes, that scientists would be interested in conducting

research in this area. Further, the Corporation has begun to invest in the development

of these sites with a view to provoking more public interest.

Bus Services

Furthermore, the Committee was informed at the hearing that discussions are expected

to be held between the Corporation and the PTSC. This is to ascertain whether routes

can be established to Moutlon Trace, Bunsee Trace, Goodman Trace and Seemungal

Trace since the only form of night transportation to these areas was “PH” (private-for-

hire) taxis. The PTSC currently provides bus services from the SS Erin Road to Erin,

Penal Rock Road and Clarke Road.

2.4.4 Accordingly, the Corporation identified implementation outcomes, relevant to each

of the aforementioned strategic themes, for the period 2012/2013 in its Strategic Plan (2012-


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2015) Some major outcomes identified in the Strategic Plan, which also highlight

achievements of the PDRC, include:

i. The introduction of additional Building Clerks for data entry has been increased,

signing off and approvals have been systemized to a weekly basis.

ii. Training has been issued to all relevant technical staff in the areas of: a) FIDIC

Suite of Contracts; b) Project Management; c) Effective Communication; d)

Customer Service; e) Estimate preparation f) Preparation of Scope of Works for

projects. This has been converted into an annual training cycle.

iii. Weekly random visits to contractors are administered during the preparation of

progress reports.

iv. In an initiative to develop a long-term programme for paving of drains,

pavement construction, and bridge repairs, a needs assessment on Roads,

Landslips and Bridges was completed in 2012. Large projects beyond the budget

of the Corporation are done via the MoLG or other executing state agencies.

v. A Complaints Department has been introduced equipped with standardized

complaint forms in accordance with the establishment of a programme

promoting aggressive monitoring of government road reserves and prompt

reporting of encroachments. This is collated by the Secretariat and distributed to

the relevant officers.

vi. The Corporation conducts quarterly discussions with Civil Engineers of the

MoLG and work has been implemented with the Workshop Foreman and staff.

Currently there is an average of 95% of vehicles roadworthy at any point in time.

vii. Specifications for all types of construction works – road patching/paving, etc.

have been detailed especially at: (a) SMTC and Ministerial award level; and (b)

CTB award level. This is used as a means of quality assurance and a basis of

releasing Performance Bonds.

viii. Collaboration with the SPORTT Company of Trinidad and Tobago has been

ongoing since 2013, some of the projects done by SPORTT were: a) Woodland


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Recreation Ground; b) Dil Mohammed Recreation Ground; c) Quinam / Morne

Diablo Recreation Ground; d) Penal Rock Road Recreation Ground; and e)

Clarke Rochard Recreation Ground.

ix. Reviews are performed in the form of training and simulation with all regional

Disaster Management Units (DMU), namely: a) WEB EOC (Emergency

Operation Centre); b) WEB ICS (Integrated Command Centre); c) Operation

DARKWAVE – training and simulation of the temporary enclosed tents

provided by MoLG; d) Earthquake simulation exercises and e) GPS training.

Physically the DMU possesses an EOC, ICS and a mobile ICS that was created

with the technical assistance of TEMA in 2012.

x. The Bhupsingh Park multiplex commenced in late 2013 and is expected to

facilitate total wheel-chair access. Also, other facilities are to be retrofitted as

part of a broader commitment by the PDRC to provide sport and leisure facilities

that cater to the differently-abled.

xi. Phase 1 of a venture to collaborate with appropriate specialist entities like the

T&CPD, TDC and MoCD to conceptualize, design, and transform Debe and

other local iconic places into tourist attractions was implemented in 2012 under

the Establishment of Spatial Development Plan. Works included: a) Installation

of a Dial at the S.S Erin Road and Rock Road intersection; and b) Establishment

of a foot-path theme along the S.S Erin Road.

TDC have also commenced work to install a structural steel arch on the S.S Erin

Road, which will read “Welcome to Debe”. This is as a result of collaboration

between the TDC and PDRC.

xii. To enhance institutional strength the Corporation has undertaken a holistic

reconstitution of procurement procedures in terms of: supplier management;

quality control; awarding of contracts; Request for Proposals; Project

Management; and training of technical personnel. Officials indicated publicly

that, in the absence of a procurement policy, the Corporation is working with the

Central Tenders Board to ensure a greater degree of transparency. For example,


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Tenders for projects which are being undertaken by the Corporation are

advertised in print media.

PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO · 2 Mr. Hugh Russell Ian Roach replaced Mr....

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