7 News Belize

Father Bill, Big Bridge and the Bill
posted (November 13, 2019)
We also asked Deputy Mayor Arnold about the Swing Bridge repairs contract awarded to Bill Lindo - father of City Administrator Stephanie Lindo. At first it was a contract award for twenty thousand dollars to do minor repair work - but when they got under the bridge, they found a whole lot more that needed to be fixed.

Now, works have been underway since August and are slated to continue for two more weeks.

Today, we asked the Deputy Mayor if hiring the city administrator's father for a contract of indeterminate cost and duration is an arm's length transaction:

Reporter
"Since Mr. Bill Lindo has come out now as the contractor, he told us he wasn't the contractor on the bridge. Is that an arm's length contract? I know you speak about fiscal propriety, but he is the father of the city administrator."

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"Agreed, he is the father of the city administrator and we live in a very small city where sometimes we have relationships across party lines and we have relationships within family structures. Nobody can deny the type of work that Mr. Lindo has been doing. There has been a delay because of the amount of work that you find when you start to rehabilitate and when you try to repair a structure that has gone unmaintained for almost 14 years. Rest assured that the mayor Bernard Wagner and his councilors understands that especially a contract of that nature has to be at arm's length and has to be above board."

Reporter
"But it wasn't put out to tender."

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"Because of the immediacy of it. It was a smaller contract that did not necessitate to go out under contract, but when we started to peel back the onion, back the rust and the years of decay under that bridge, at that point a contract in your estimation would take how long?"

Reporter
"3 months minimum."

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"3 months before any repairs would start to be and we could not have crippled the city that way."

Reporter
"Are you all prepared to circulate the contract if such a thing exists or the payments that have been made for the repair of this bridge?"

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"Everything that happens at City Hall should be public knowledge."

Reporter
"It should be, but it isnt."

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"I believe that in our manifesto going into the March 7th, 2018 City Council elections we said that we would and I don't have any reason to go back on that or for mayor Wagner to go back on his word."

Reporter
"So I can expect that I will see that in my lifetime?"

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor
"In your lifetime and m lifetime, yes."

A lifetime? Ok, then....

We note that while we heard the mayor boasting on another newscast that Bill Lindo is a quote, "certified engineer" - he is not listed among the 60+ engineers on the website of the Association of Professional Engineers - and in our experience we do not know him to be that.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize