Archive for June, 2009

Miller won’t take HSA chair

(CNS): At his first open public  meeting of constituents as a sworn Member of the Legislative Assembly, Ezzard Miller said that he has decided he will not take up the role as HSA chair if he is formally asked as it would detract away from his ambitions to serve the people of North Side.  He told CNS that he would work with the ministry to address the issues surrounding health care and insurance but the chair role was not necessarily a positive move for him.  “I am still prepared to work with the Ministry of Health in any capacity to assist the country with the health care and health insurance issues we face,” Miller said.

An impressive number of North Siders came out to Miller’s first ‘participatory democracy’ meeting, where he established a committee to set up a district council, updated everyone on what had happened so far, asked them what he should be trying to get funding for in the next budget, and told them some of the ideas he had and wanted to put forward to the new government. Fulfilling his election promise, Miller engaged his constituents in open discussion and asked for their input. He told them that during his previous times in office he found it very difficult to access genuine public opinion but this time he was going to do everything possible to find out what people wanted and what they thought about his plans.

One of the major issues that Miller discussed was to reverse the decision of the previous administration to acquire a piece of land in North Side to build both a retirement home and affordable homes for the district. He said that during the campaign most of the elderly residents in North Side had made it clear that they wanted assistance to stay in their own homes rather than be put in a retirement home, and he said he would rather devote resources that way. He also said that the affordable homes should be built in several places in smaller numbers rather than all in one place. “The two won’t sit well together either, so I propose to ask the new government to stop that purchase and look at other options,” he said.

Asking if anyone objected, a debate ensued among the North Siders about the need for at least a smaller  old folks home, but everyone agreed that it should not be built with the affordable homes and that he should go ahead and stop the purchase of the piece of land in question. It was suggested that he look at existing Crown land in North Side for affordable housing and not rule out a small retirement home in the future.

Miller also managed to get people to volunteer for various initiatives including getting five people to commit to serve as special constables in the district so they could open up the long unused North Side Police station.

The North Side MLA told his constituents that while people thought he was going to be the HSA chair, it seemed to have helped him pull a few strings and he had already sorted out some of the fundamental problems at the clinic. He said the water heater had been fixed and the mouldy ceiling replaced. He also said he was starting work on getting the civic centre, in which the meeting was held, up to standard for the Hurricane Season, but he also wanted to take over the management of the centre so that it could be more readily used by the community. Miller said that at present the bureaucracy regarding the centre was ridiculous and he wanted to cut through the red tape, fix the building up, landscape the surrounding area and have the community start using it.

The need to clean up and develop North Sides beaches, public access, the erection of right of way and no dive signs and water sport zones, historical markers, the completion of the seamen’s memorial, erection of bus stops, repair and construction of roads were just some of the issues that were raised, and Miller said he would do what he could to get things started.

The meeting was well received by the local residents and a number of people noted that it was something that should happen in every district. Miller himself said he was delighted with the turnout. “This was an excellent meeting,” he said. “In the past I was lucky if ten people showed up but this was a great showing and very encouraging.”

Continue Reading

Bill for new schools grows

(CNS): In a statement regarding the government’s financial situation by the leader of government business last week, McKeeva Bush said claims for overruns of around $17 million were being made on the two new schools being construction in Frank Sound and on the John Gray Campus. Speaking to CNS today, Hunter Jones of Tom Jones International (TJI), the general contractor on both schools, said that the overruns were down to changes made to plans by government and not as a result of running costs.

In Friday’s statement Bush said that the new government had not yet carried out a detailed analysis of the financing relating to the new schools being built, but that the public should be aware that there are claims for cost overruns of $17 million, which he said the new Minister of Education, Rolston Anglin, was addressing.

“Any such potential overruns would exacerbate the challenges created by the fact of building the schools at such a high cost in the first place,” Bush said. “The government will do the best it can to work with the contractors and find solutions to complete these projects in a fiscally prudent manner.”

However, Jones told CNS that $17 million was the worst case scenario but that the costs were down to requests made by the ministry for fundamental changes to the plans. “As with any major development project like this there are often changes made which have to be accommodated,” Jones said, adding that once the changes stopped he would be able to put a cap on the costs giving a final estimated total.

Currently, the contracts total around CI$110 million for both schools, with Clifton Hunter at around $51 million and John Gray around $59 million. CNS has contacted the Ministry of Education for details of the changes, which seem to have increased the cost and we await their response.

Despite the fact that former Education Minister Alden McLaughlin was criticized for the cost of the new schools, a number of local contractors said from the start that the bids were in fact underpriced and expected problems to arise as a result of that.

Steven Hawley, President of the Cayman Contractors Association told CNS last year that low bids should always raise eyebrows. “Profit margins in the construction industry are quite small,” he said. “If a contractor offers a bid that is as little as 10% below the other bidders, that suggests that he plans to complete the project at a loss to himself, which, of course, he would be very unlikely to want to do.”

TJI’s winning bid for the construction of the new John Grey High School was said, by theprevious administration, to be some 35% lower than the next bidder .

Ian Pairaudeau, General Manager of McAlpine Limited, said he believed it would be hard for TJI to complete the two schools for the price offered but if it did the government was getting a good deal.

While there have been problems with labour sub-contractors on the site, Jones made it clear that the current claims for increased costs are as a direct result of changes to the plan and have nothing to do with any problems with the estimated costs in the bid which won the firm the contract.

Continue Reading