LUCEA mayor Councillor Lester Crooks yesterday resigned as chairman of the Hanover Parish Council amid a hotel construction contract controversy that was shaping up to embarrass the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

However Crooks, who obviously quit at the behest of the JLP, said he would leave his political future to Labour Party supporters in his Riverside division when he meets with them this Sunday.

“Yes, I have resigned immediately, and I have no further comment,” Crooks told the Observer in a telephone interview. “On Sunday, I will speak with my people in the division and then I will decide if I will continue as councillor.”

Crooks’ resignation came less than 24 hours after allegations of impropriety involving his trucking company, L-3 Brothers, surfaced in relation to the construction of the Fiesta Hotel at Point in Hanover.

His resignation was announced by the JLP, which controls 12 of the island’s 13 parish councils, after it swept Local Government elections three years ago.

The JLP release, signed by the party’s spokesman on information, Senator Dwight Nelson, said Crooks resigned after a meeting with party leader Bruce Golding and deputy leader Horace Chang.

In that meeting, Crooks confirmed that he was associated with the trucking and equipment company which is contracted to the Fiesta project.

Local Government Minister Dean Peart told the Observer yesterday that the council approved a 20 per cent reduction in building fees to Fiesta with no explanation, resulting in the Spanish developers paying $42 million.

“It is my understanding that the explanation given for the reduction of the building fees was that similar reductions were given to the builders of the other Spanish hotel in St Ann,” said Peart. “However, the St Ann Parish Council said no waivers were given.”

The Spanish hotel being constructed in St Ann is the Bahia Principe at Peartree Bottom.

On Sunday, news broke that the mayor’s company was involved in questionable contract arrangements with the Fiesta hotel construction.

Crooks himself has no contract with Fiesta.

According to the JLP, Crooks resigned to “.avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

The party’s release made no mention of the allegations that the council reduced the building fees.

The hotel, like all new construction projects in all of Jamaica’s 14 parishes, needs permission from the local authorities before any building can take place.

The JLP’s release added that Crooks denied that there was any conflict of interest and pointed out that his company had the largest fleet of trucks in the parish and had been involved in other major private sector projects, including the haulage of bauxite from Kaiser Bauxite Company in St Ann.

Last week, Peart had scheduled a meeting for tomorrow in Kingston to discuss the Fiesta issue.

Peart, in his letter which was copied to Hanover Parish Council secretary/manager Alfred Graham, said he was concerned that the mayor’s involvement with the Fiesta hotel posed a conflict of interest.

Yesterday, People’s National Party (PNP) caretaker for Western Hanover, Ian Hayles, welcomed Crooks’ resignation.

“It is a great day for Hanover. The mayor should have resigned a long time ago because his company’s contract with the Fiesta hotel is obviously a conflict of interest,” Hayles, a former JLP member, said.

Deputy Mayor Councillor Vasca Brown (JLP – Hopewell division) is expected to be installed as chairman of the local body later this week, while Councillor Audley Gilpin (JLP – Lucea division) will become the new deputy mayor.

– Additional reporting by Mark Cummings