FOUR engineers of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) have been suspended for their poor performance on the job and non-cooperation with their head, City Engineer Colvern Venture effective June 15.
Deputy City Engineer Ron Eastman, along with Engineer Technician, Kabila Hollingsworth were suspended for two weeks without pay; while Engineers Marlon Harris and Vaughn Canterbury were each suspended for one week. Assistant City Engineer Rasheed Kellman was handed a warning letter.
A number of City Councillors, including Mayor Patricia Chase-Green had raised concerns about the conduct of Hollingsworth, in particular, when the Legal Affairs Committee met with them recently.

Councillor Malcolm Ferreira and Noelle Chow-Chee said had they been the chairperson of that Committee, they would have recommended immediate dismissal for Hollingsworth owing to the total disrespect and insubordination he showed to the officers.
The City Engineer had recently complained to the council that he was not receiving cooperation from the said engineers, and that follow-up memos did not bear much fruit from them.
The Mayor noted yesterday that the attitude of these engineers could have resulted in millions of dollars in losses to the council.
She had referred to the situation recently when some kokers remained out of operation for lengthy periods of time although officers were assigned to look over them.
Chase-Green had sternly cautioned Venture to rein in the people in his department, lest the Council take action.
“The attitude of those in the Engineer’s Department stinks; their attitude towards citizens is unacceptable,” she had expressed. She said it was high time that some officers from that department go home, because they are at work doing absolutely nothing.
“You have officers in the yard liming whole day,” she charged. Chase-Green pointed out that when these officers are picked up and taken into the fields, they produce the reports months after and worse yet, give the excuse that they have to revisit the location before submitting the reports.

“These officers are not doing what they’re expected to do,” she said. “I’m tired of hearing the same names over and over again. You have senior officers sitting down doing nothing.”
The Mayor also lamented the fact that despite their behaviour, the municipality has to find money to pay their hefty salaries every month. “It is time the nonsense stops,” she said.
“If the Engineer cannot take control of the department, we will have to take control of him; he needs to stop sorrying for people.” Addressing the Engineer in person, Mayor Chase-Green said, “You need to take control of your department, and the Council will stand by you.”
With respect to allegations in the past of rampant corruption in the City Engineer’s Department, Chase-Green once famously said: “The only time you hear about the City Engineer’s Department, is when they are taking bribes all over the place.”