And while the Holy Bible is what he accounts to - there's also a sort of unofficial political bible - which dictates that space must be found to employ party supporters. It the reality of politics - and for the PUP - which has not held elected office in City Hall for 12 years - it's been a famine. And now they're knocking on the door of a council which already has a hard time meeting its payroll and recurrent expenses.
We asked the mayor how he is managing it all:..
Jules Vasquez
"You have jumped into a moving vehicle that is racing downhill. What has it been like just trying to work administratively to regularize operations and at the same time working at the higher level dealing with your people, your supporters - that's real, but also trying to create some of the opportunities - some of the platform you were elected on. Has it been hectic, crazy and completely out of control?"
Bernard Wagner - Belize City Mayor
"Out of control. I come in the office approximately 9am in the mornings and most of the time I am leaving between 8pm-9pm every day. I have no time to even have my lunch some days. At the same time we have all these challenges with our party Faithfull. The barbarians are at the gate and they are hungry. Our party has not won for 12-15 years right and so some of my people are impatient, but we have to be real and I want to reach out to them and tell them listen, give us an opportunity, give us the first 100 days. We have some wonderful programs. The business community has been behind us. They will continue to be behind us. They have reach out to us. We have a council that is mired financially, struggling every day to meet every day expenses, to meet payroll, to meet the sanitation contracts, to meet the other contracts on the books. So I always want to make this plea to our people and our supporters that give us an opportunity, Rome wasn't built in one day. I know you all are anxious, but give us the opportunity and give us some time to get settled in and we will make this thing work for the city."
We had a wide ranging discussion with the mayor today - and next week you'll hear what's the first major initiative he hopes to embark upon for the city.
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