Says it’s willing to go to court over roads NWC dug up
The St James Parish Council on Thursday, June 12, is to give the NWC an ultimatum to fix roads it has dug up and not repaired. The Council took a decision to instruct their legal representative to serve a seven-day notice on the National Water Commission (NWC). This is for the NWC to effect repairs to sections of roadways it has damaged but failed to repair through excavation work to lay pipe lines and carry out maintenance work. In their monthly meeting last Thursday, councillors continued their vociferous complaints stating that the habit of the NWC to leave the roadways unrepaired after they have dug up for pipe laying and repair has led to degradation of the roadways and has sparked complaints from residents. The matter has been one on the books for a long time as a number of councillors chided the NWC’s for their lack of response to the Council’s call for them to repair the sections of road they have dug up. The Council by a letter dated May 1, 2104, had given the NWC a thirty-day ultimatum to begin repairs on the areas of concern. This ultimatum ended on June 1. In Council Thursday, secretary manager, Gerald Lee indicated that he had got a response from the Water Commission which stated that they were aware of the problem and were taking steps to begin the repairs. The NWC stated that they had a memorandum with the National Works Agency to effect repairs on their behalf when excavations were done, and that implementation was to be done by the agency. With this report, councillor Sylvan Reid told the Council that he was happy that movement was happening but at present it was just paper movement. “ I feel proud knowing that we are standing up locally and indicating to these agencies that the work they are presently doing cannot and will not continue the way they are doing it with us watching them…I am happy that the movement is happening, but it is just paper movement. And so I believe what we are going to act as if we have teeth,” Reid said. Mayor Glendon Harris then instructed the secretary manger to write to the lawyers to serve the seven days notice as it was evident that no steps had been taken by the NWC to carry out the repairs. In the minutes of the last meeting, this action was taken to allow the NWC to know that the Council would not allow for the wanton destruction of its roadways to continue. “We have laid down our rules clearly and we are not going to wait until the road goes back to where it was. We are saying to them that it must be repaired within the next seven days or we can argue it out in court…that is where we are going,” Mr Harris said. Harris, who was also heavily critical of what he considered the NWC’s slow response to effect the repairs, stated that legal actions would be taken against the company if they had not started to reinstate the roadways. Councillor Reid indicated to the Council that he had already started a petition, for court action against the NWC, which has over 1000 signatures. One such roadway that has yet to be reinstated by the NWC is the King Street to Cornwall Courts main road. Representatives of the NWC and NWA were not at the meeting held on Thursday and their absence was viewed by councillors as a ploy to avoid the issues at hand that involved them.
