Mayor Says After Thorough Review of Report, Necessary Action Will be Taken
ST ANN’S BAY, St Ann; Oct. 8, 2026
The St Ann Municipal Corporation (SAMC) says it will not comment on or take any action regarding the conflict of interest matter and breaches of the standard operating procedures relating to the lease of a shop space at the Ocho Rios Transport Centre until it formally receives the Investigation Report from the Integrity Commission (IC).
The IC carried out a three-year investigation into allegations of a conflict of interest and irregularities in the application by the wife of Councillor Ian Bell for the space and its subsequent approval by the Council.
(Chairman of the SAMC, Michael Belnavis, centre, with CEO Jennifer Brown Cunningham and chief engineering officer, Kayon Hall; at Thursday’s General Council meeting. Ian Bell is on the right)
The IC’s report was laid in Parliament at the end of September and has been on its website since September 29. It has been widely reported in the media, including by the North Coast Times, and has been commented on among many residents of St Ann and further afield.
RAFT OF RECOMMENDATIONS
The report made a raft of recommendations, including that the Chairman of the Council, Michael Belnavis, should see to the reprimand of Mr Bell, and that consideration be given for further “disciplinary review”. It also recommended several measures to be taken by the SAMC to improve the knowledge and practice of the civilian and political membership of the Council. It also recommended the Council take steps to collect all the fees due from Ms Sheril Campbell-Bell, operator of the Gaming Lounge at the Transport Centre. No fees have been collected or paid since the lounge began operating in 2023.
But in its first meeting since the report’s publication Thursday, the Council said it had not formally received the report, though it acknowledged the report was in the public domain.
In a prepared statement, read by Mayor Belnavis at the General Monthly meeting of the SAMC, October 8, 2026, it said it will refrain r from comments and actions until it carefully reviews and addresses the report’s content. Mr Belnavis said that, following a thorough review of the report, the Council would take “all necessary and appropriate actions arising from its findings and recommendations.”
