BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth – If all goes according to plan councillors at the St Elizabeth Parish Council should have new accommodations for their regular meetings by Independence celebrations this August.

Mayor of Black River and chairman of the St Elizabeth Parish Council Everton Fisher (PNP) said work on the building, which has been on hold since 2011 because of lack of funds, should resume “very soon”.

The immediate aim will be to complete phase one, including the council meeting room, an office and bathroom facilities on the bottom floor of the planned two-storey building.

It’s expected that phase one will cost an additional $22 million, on top of about $4.9 million spent in 2011 when the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) controlled the council, Fisher told Observer Central. The mayor said the bulk of the money will come from “own-sourcing” with help from the Ministry of Local Government.

Councillors have long complained about the small and cramped existing facility which is well in excess of 100 years old and like many other buildings in historic Black River is a heritage site.

The mayor said that as the situation now stands, a second phase with no time frame or cost yet determined will involve construction of the second floor of the building. It will accommodate facilities for councillors to work and meet constituents, a mayor’s parlour and bathroom facilities.

Plans back in 2011 were for the existing meeting room to be converted to a museum, once the new building is completed. However, Fisher is now suggesting that the vacated space be used as a “kind of civic centre and meeting place” for the public “since there is no such facility in Black River”.

— Garfield Myers