– On Thursday evening (December 8th) , Prime Minister William Marlin attended the St. Maarten Community Collective, South Reward Public Meeting which took place at the Milton Peters College.
The community meeting was held with intentions of gathering members of the South Reward Community as a mean to inform on current works that’s in progress by the association as well as to have an open floor allowing attendees to voice their concerns on various community issues, contribute their ideas and / or opinions of possible solutions and an all togetherness in building a much stronger and better South Reward.
Concerns made by residents were noted by Prime Minister’s team with intentions to further investigate to gain deeper understanding of the matters in order better resolve. Prime Minister Marlin played a very instrumental role in the upgrading of the community basketball court which is located beside the Milton Peters College.
Before conclusion, Prime Minister Marlin took to the floor to give voice of clarification and further explanation of the various concerns made by residents during the open discussion portion of the meeting. Top areas of concerns were GEBE, the current state of garbage collection, creation of community parks and recreational spaces for residents and traffic congestion. In addressing the garbage situation, Prime Minister Marlin used the opportunity to encourage attendees to recycle. “Our garbage situation inclusive of the dump is very much a concern however, we all can do our part in assisting to alleviating the situation by starting to do our share of recycling at home”, said PM Marlin. “Several months ago I started separating garbage used within my household; separation of plastic and glass bottles, flattening of cardboard boxes are all new practices I’ve personally developed and I must say, what a tremendous difference this has made and continues to make in the collection of my garbage. Rather than throwing all waste in the garbage bin alongside the street I would take all bottles and card boxes to the recycling bin on the Pondfill, directly opposite Blue Point. Adopting a habit of daily recycling will greatly assist in the mounting of garbage on our dump which by extension will lessen the ignition of fires.
Prime Minister Marlin, also a resident of South Reward was very pleased by not only the amount of residents who were in attendance but also their interest of wanting to work together with the St. Maarten Community Collective, South Reward Association to collectively improve the community of South Reward.
To foster even more transparency and accountability, the Cabinet of The Prime Minister is focusing even more on establishing as well as strengthening community ties and engagement. It is therefore encouraged for all community groups like the St. Maarten Community Collective, South Reward to inform the Cabinet of The Prime Minister of their existence and focus.