Friday night the newly elected Village Council held an open-attendance Public Meeting at the Community Center. They had a fair turn out and it seems like this fresh and energetic crew has a lot of support from Placencia residents. The Council was only sworn in about 2 weeks ago but they hit the ground running the day the polls closed; they’ve been hard at work with a number of big projects for the past month and they filled us all in on those at the meeting. Here’s a quick recap of what we learned.
Who’s who and what do they do?
Introductions were made, which hardly seemed necessary because all the council members are either life-long Placencians or darn near close to it and successful business owners to boot. We did learn the different duties and special interest of each councilor, they are as follows:
Warren Garbutt, Chairman- Finance and Budget
Tiffanie Westby, Vice Chair- Health, Parks, Beautification
Bryce Dial, Secretary- Special Events, PR Coordinator
Sheldon Lopez, Treasurer- Sports & Works
Henry Hamilton, Vice Secretary- Emergency Planning (Disaster and Risk Management), Youths
Leomar Leslie, Councilor- Traffic Management, Assistant Sports Management
Conrad Villanueva, Councilor- Sanitation, Lots
The Financial Report
After two + years of pandemic lean times, it should come as no surprise that VC is sorta broke, but the situation isn’t as dire as I honestly expected it to be and with Lobsterfest (VC’s biggest fundraising event) right around the corner this gung-ho group should be able to fill the coffers a bit and right the ship without too much struggle. They have a little over $17000 in their general. accounts and another $23000 in Sanitation. Of course it costs about $17,300 a month to operate public works and the Sargassum Task Force (not counting operational cost of Sanitation Dept) so we really need the Belize Tourism Board to step up and kick in for the continuation of this Sargassum clean up. The new council has submitted a proposal to BTB with what the budget would need to be to continue what they’ve started; a never-ending battle that sometimes seems insurmountable. We’ll see what comes of it!
Lobsterfest, Health, and Sanitation updates
We heard an update on Lobsterfest plans- the entertainment line-up is nearly finalized and there are still booths available for vendors to reserve. VC and BTIA are still seeking volunteers for the bar as well as clean-up of the festival grounds. Stop in to either office to sign up to help or to buy a booth at the festival.
News on the Polyclinic project, to be built next to the airstrip broke ground in January but then was abandoned for the past several months, is that the foundation was laid improperly but work will resume shortly and pilings will be added to address any structural inadequacy. I’m sure we won’t get our new clinic by the originally promised year’s end but the project isn’t dead- there’s still hope that this new facility will happen and help address our concerning lack of medical services available on the peninsula.
Our Sanitation Department has been struggling with equipment issues and hasn’t been able to collect yard waste for some time but we learned at the meeting that their second truck is in operation again and they’ll resume this service so if you have a need you can stop in to the office and get yourself on the waiting list. They also urge residents to pay their back-due fees so they can continue to provide the stellar service we’re used to.
Those are the highlights, as I see them, and if you love Placencia and want to see it be the best it can be then support your Village Council. Donate, volunteer, join any sub-committees they form that you could lend your particular talents to, or simply buy some drinks at the Lobsterfest Bar. And please DO remember to go easy on this crew, they have a hard job that they don’t get paid for and that takes loads of time and energy away from their own families and businesses and they aren’t super heroes- they can’t make everyone happy or snap their fingers and have everything perfect. Let’s not break their spirits!
