LUCEA, Hanover — Mayor of Lucea Sheridan Samuels has blasted the roads and works department of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) for its failure to maintain a park in the parish even though workers are being paid to do the job.

He unleashed his wrath during the HMC’s regular monthly general meeting on Thursday, following a presentation by an organisation called Friends of Watson Taylor Park, which has expressed an interest in maintaining and updating the facility.

“It is a disgrace, the state of the park right now, knowing that we have been paying workers to take care of the park. Workers even live in the building down by the park and don’t do any work and let the park reach the stage where it is right now,” said Samuels, who is also councillor for the Cauldwell Division and a member of the Opposition People’s National Party.

“I am upset about it, and I am happy that Friends of Watson Taylor Park is coming now to give us some assistance because we have been wasting money down there,” he added.

Councillor Easton Edwards of the Lucea Division (Jamaica Labour Party) in which the park is located, agreed that the HMC was to be blamed for conditions at the park. The facility is overrun by shrubs, and access to the similarly unkempt beach area is only possible by navigating a dirt track.

“I feel that it is an indictment on the HMC as we should have been dealing with the care of the park, which we have not been doing,” he said. “But, if we have individuals who want to come on board… we welcome it. The parish, by extension, belongs to all of us and [we welcome] anything that can make it better… What we pledge as an agency is to raise the bar [so] that we can have the park return to its original state in short order,” added Edwards.

Member of the Friends of Watson Taylor Park John Campbell told the meeting that their goal is to be registered as a charitable organisation to create alliances with key stakeholders within the parish and overseas to return the park and beach to their former glory. Campbell is from Hanover and currently lives in Kingston.

He said the three-year-old organisation wants to put in place lawn cutting equipment to maintain the grassy areas of the park, put in place a washroom and children’s play area as well as plant trees on the property. The group also wants to erect a monument in memory of Watson Taylor who donated the land to the people of Hanover.

They first outlined these plans in July of last year; however they have been waiting for the go ahead from the HMC which has custodial responsibility for the park.

Mayor Samuels, who welcomed the group’s proposal, explained that the novel coronavirus pandemic had played a role in the delay.

“We asked for a memorandum of understanding and I think some information came to us. We asked for some adjustment to take some points out of it and I know that it was done. It is up to us now to accept…” he said.

He later told the Jamaica Observer that the corporation is to meet, hopefully before the next monthly meeting in December, to decide on the group’s proposal to play a part in the maintenance and upgrade of the park.