'Lights out' in Hanover - Mayor alleges street lights being stolen

Christopher Bodden, Gleaner Writer

LUCEA, Hanover:

Mayor of Lucea and Chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Shernet Haughton, says contractors affiliated with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) have been illegally removing street lights from sections of the Green Island Division.

Haughton alleged that the unscrupulous contractors have been selling the street lights and are removing them from some communities and erecting them in other areas. She said the most recent removals had been conducted in the Haughton and Santoy districts in the division.

"Some JPS contractors are hustling the street lights that were intended to benefit Hanover residents, and they should stop it," she said.

"The street lights are there to serve the residents. Once they are put in place, they should not be removed. The Hanover Parish Council has to pay for these lights and they (lights) are not there to financially benefit third parties," the mayor added. "Residents should try their best to find some way of identifying these unscrupulous individuals and call the police."

When contacted, JPS Parish Manager for Hanover, Antoinette Burton-Steer, said the company had "not received a formal complaint on the matter". She said JPS acts on the direction of parish councillors regarding placement of street lights and that maintenance of these street lights can be carried out by contractors or in-house maintenance crews.

This is not the first time parish councillors in Hanover have complained about public street lights being stolen or removed. In 2008, then Mayor of Lucea and Chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Lloyd Hill, complained that the council had been losing thousands of dollars over a two-year period due to the illegal removal of street lamps across the parish by dishonest persons.

At the time, Hill said the lamps were being connected to the posts by one or two bolts and so could be easily removed in a few minutes. He said payment to the JPS could not be withheld as the company was being paid directly by the Local Government Department from property taxes paid by residents in the parish.