Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (VROMI) Department of Infrastructure established rapport with the South Reward Community Council Tuesday night during the first of a string of community council meetings intended to strengthen collaboration between the Ministry, Police and District Councils.
Matters concerning garbage collection and disposal, district clean up, maintenance and upgrade as well as Community Police presence was discussed by the members of the South Reward Community Council with VROMI Operations Manager Edelmiro Jansen, VROMI Contract Manager Eustaquio Richardson and Community Police Officer Major Felix Richards.
The council expressed their challenges in areas that sought police and government assistance including overflowing trenches, abandoned cars, paving of roads, installing guard rails and obtaining a district welcome sign and disquieting loitering among other concerns which were discussed in detail.
Ministry VROMI advised that meeting all needs were ambitious and a compromise was necessary on the most pressing concerns that would be addressed with cost affective alternatives to encourage progress.
The meeting quickly took a fruitful turn, identifying effective cooperation strategies, which would strengthen communication between the community council, VROMI and the police. Community council members were briefed on a reporting system that encourages information gathering and sharing regarding safety measures such as reporting abandoned cars, running water on public roads, broken or lack of street lights as well as upcoming labor opportunities that would mobilize the community in taking ownership of maintaining a safe and environmentally friendly quality of life in their area.
VROMI members further elaborated on the details defining the boundaries between property owner’s maintenance responsibilities vs that of the government, processes of proper reporting and supporting laws of all discussed subject matters.
This meeting served as a follow up initiative to the previous CPO meeting, which was hosted by VROMI to improve collaboration with the police, whereby the involvement of all community councils was acknowledged as an important contributing factor.
SRCC President, Mayra Provence and Secretary, Travis Mc Quilkin expressed their gratitude for the prompt response they received from the ministry in joining their meeting and paying attention to the needs of their district.
The agenda concluded with positive feedback and input from all parties, while setting the tone for future scheduled community council meetings, indicating an elevated and strengthened work relationship that will collaboratively enhance the quality of life in the district.
