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Why Did The Belmopan Mayor Sell Out PSU HQ?
posted (November 13, 2018)
Khalid Belislie has been the mayor of Belmopan for three and half years. And in that time - the laid back mayor of our laid back capital has been able to steer clear of national controversy. But, tonight he's in the thick tangle of a dispute that definitely has legs.

Mayor Belisle is the one who signed off on the deal to sell the Public Service Union's Hilltop Headquarters to a Chinese-owned company for $400,000 dollars.

Why did he do it and what was he thinking? That's what we asked him today in Belmopan at a press briefing. He explained that the problems started in 2017 when the council reviewed its municipal landholdings and found that the PSU's hilltop was one that had long defaulted on its lease payments:

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"Looking at the agreement, we said okay well we have what would seem like a valid lease here, but where is the payment? So we started digging. We could find absolutely no record on any payment from the Public Service Union to the Belmopan City Council for the rent that had been agreed to that they had signed on to. So I personally reached out to the PSU so that we could have some sort of dialogue about this."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Reached out when?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"That's was in August 2017. So instead of being hasty and say oh invalid lease, no payment, lets cancel and move on. We decided to invite the union in for talks. Those talks went on over a brief period of time couple months I would say, at which point we decided to sanctioned a valuation of the property which came back at roughly $503,000. Their offer was $187,000 best and final offer. This is after we told them we have had a valuation done in house at $503,000. The thing about that in house valuation is that it represented a severe haircut from the get-go. Our technical director who was skilled in these matters, former employee of the Ministry of Natural Resources herself had told us that if she was valuing for private enterprise this property would actually been valued at $700,000 plus thousand dollars."

"$187,000 best and final offer. I am told that our city administrator intervene and said well that is unacceptable to the council and he stated to them we will give you a month to please go back and come back to us with something more reasonable. That month lapse. We had absolutely no indication from the PSU in terms of coming back to us and so the council decided to move on."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Was it so cold and unemotional a calculation? Didn't any in council have some political to say. You are not as venial as the other big room in Belmopan where they make the decisions, but you all must have some sense - this is the PSU, we need to find something that works, because this is a social partner, a part of the social compact in our society."

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"Yes, and we had tried Jules to work with them over the course of 15 months."

Reporter
"Was there any other option on the table, aside from the fact that you guys wanted X amount of money, they wanted $187,000 to pay for the property. Was there any other option on the table?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"I don't recall discussing any other option. We were working towards a final sale."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Half a million is a lot to ask a union for."

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"Clearly there was flexibility, because we didn't end up selling for half a million dollars, Jules. But we left the door open for them to come back to us and they never did."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"There are aspersions being cast about the transaction itself. That its $400,000 you sold it to a company own by a Chinese business interest from the North. The assertion is that the company was formed the day before the transaction and when you have a company, which is not a growing concern, which is created it seems simply for the purpose of finalizing a transaction would suggest that something will be dubious about the transaction or untoward. How would you explain that part of it?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"Your suggestion doesn't make it facts, Jules and you seem to have done a bit of your homework. This business group from up North decided that as opposed to continuing this new project that they plan to propose to embark on under their previous umbrella that they wanted something fresh and new, so that it could be separate from their other interests and that's my understanding of why it was that the new company was created."

Reporter
"The sale has been made. There is a lot of opposition. The PSU is receiving a lot of support demanding that this be returned to the PSU. On the council's behalf, is the sale final?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"In terms of the finality of the sale, at this point the sale is final."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"And irreversible..."

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City "I'm not going to commit to irreversible quite as yet, Jules."

So not irreversible, not just yet. But there's a whole lot of patching up to do. And a large part of that is because the PSU was so delinquent in making lease payments. The council found no payments on its record going back to when the lease was signed in 2001. The PSU found four receipts dating back to 2008 and totaling two thousand dollars. The council calculates that that is about one hundred thousand dollars short of what they should have paid in lease rental.

And, on top of that, the mayor explained that its council land which the PSU was renting:

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"This property has never been the property of any other entity other than the Belmopan City Council. In the 2003 lease agreement, in the area that speaks about the conveyance, what the union commits to. I'll just refer it to as 2(F) as a part of this lease agreement. 2(F) states, it says the union conveyance and then (F) states "it shall not sublet the facilities without the express written consent of the council." Yet we know, we live in Belmopan. This facility has been rented to a church for the past minimum of 12 years at the monthly rent of $350.00 a month. But what's coming to the council? Absolutely nothing. I would be inhuman if I told you that at least I couldn't comprehend how it could be possible for you to not only not pay into the council what you are to pay. But then to further go and rent out the facility, make money off of it, because that's what it ended up being and then turned around and be the aggrieved party."

And while the mayor feels the PSU has no standing to act as the aggrieved party - he also concedes that the council made the deal because it was desperate for revenues. Like all other municipal bodies, the Belmopan Council is in its revenue low season at the end of the year. He admits that an influx of cash was an incentive to seal the deal:..

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What are the revenue exigencies, the revenue shortfalls that you all have to respond to and how much of a factor in the constant cash crunch which the council faces - how much of a factor in that was the consummation of this deal?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"It was a significant factor, Jules."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Is 40% discount for a cash sale - is that standard or consistent under what the council would do? It seems rather generous."

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"I would have to say to you that I believe $400,000 was a fair price."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"So then if you would entertained a 40% discount for a private developer who is not you could say a son of the soil in Belmopan. The business owner is from Corozal as I understand it. So then why couldn't you give or offer a 40% discount from the $503,000 evaluation for the PSU, which would put you in the vicinity of maybe $300,000?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"But we waited for them to come back to us, Jules."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"I would imagine that on some level, you're saying but wait, this is outrageous. You don't pay me any lease, only $2,000 - $100,00o short me, over 18 years. You don't respond to my call for negotiation and now its my fault? Is there any feeling on your part that this is a bit outrageous, considering the council's restraint?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"Jules, I'll be lying to you if I told you otherwise and I'm not going to do that here this afternoon. Like I said, with some other mayor - open and shut case. Cancel lease - moving on. Not what this mayor and this council decided to do."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"The PSU says "we shall not be moved" and you know that unions and their brother and sister unions are joined and we know that unions can engage in civil disobedience and resistance. This is a real problem. Is this something that you have anxiety about that you want to try and solve before it gets to that point?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"Solved how?"

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"You could offer them another piece of land in Belmopan."

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"I believe we are certainly prepared to do that."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Has there been any discussions with the developer or the new land owner about them perhaps taking an alternate piece of land?"

Khalid Belisle, Mayor - Belmopan City
"We've started that discussion. That's as far as I am willing to go."

The mayor is scheduled to meet with the President of the PSU, Dareth Obermayer tomorrow at 10:00, so we'll see what comes out of that meeting.

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