MAY PEN, Clarendon — Bitterly complaining of potentially life-threatening situations caused by the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) failure to fix problems they have been reported to it, councillors in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation last Thursday raked the utility provider over the coals.

A representative of the JPS, who was at the meeting of the municipal corporation, struggled to placate the frustrated elected representatives who blamed the company for making them appear ineffective.

“It’s a disgrace on JPS. I report some poles over four years now and sent in pictures to show where citizens use wood to nail up a post so it wouldn’t fall and nothing has been done about it all this time and it look like councillors not doing anything as we are getting the blame. We cannot come to meeting every month reporting on the same thing. We are suffering in the Aenon Town Division,” said Councillor Delroy Dawson (People’s National Party, Aenon Town Division).

“I think JPS has failed. They have this slogan that says JPS cares but if that’s how they care then I don’t know what care is all about. There are 166 lights in the Aenon Town Division and more than 90 of that 166 [are] not working. Every month I come to meeting I report those street lights and nothing is being done. It’s coming up to the festive season and if we cannot get the lights fixed, we will have serious problems, especially with crime increasing. John’s Hall has no light around there working,” he bemoaned during the corporation’s monthly meeting.

JPS Regional Operations Manager Fiona Johnson noted that a team has visited the location but said she was unsure why the problem is yet to be fixed. She promised to follow-up on the matter to have it resolved.

Councillor Uphel Purcell (PNP, York Town Division) also lambasted the company as he explained the creative ways he and residents in the area have employed to keep out of harm’s way.

“This morning I could have come here and reported that persons have lost their lives or otherwise because a pole has finally pulled down across the road after several months of reporting it. It’s a lucky thing the taxi man who was passing at the time wasn’t racing because it would have been disaster. JPS come and look at it and do nothing. I had to park my vehicle there in night with four-way flasher and put up green bush to warn unsuspecting motorists and other citizens of the danger up ahead. I reported another pole in Ebony Park where citizens tie up a pole to keep it from falling and that can’t hold it. JPS, we are begging for these things to be done. We can’t continue like this!” he appealed.

Councillor Anthony O’Connor (PNP, Crofts Hill Division), meanwhile, blasted the JPS for closing the May Pen office, saying it has severely inconvenienced the people he represents.

“When a resident living in Guava Ground or Morant from my division is to travel to Mandeville, they have to start travelling from 4 o’clock in the morning to reach up there to get a number. That is callousness from JPS. I don’t know where they get this system from with this degree of callousness to the citizens. Three parishes now use the Mandeville office — St Elizabeth, Manchester and Clarendon. That is unacceptable,” he argued, adding that closing the May Pen office had been a bad idea.

For Councillor Carlton Bailey (PNP, Milk River Division), constant outages in the Pridees Housing Scheme have become a nuisance. That is compounded by challenges using the JPS app and the need to travel to Manchester to speak with someone face to face, Bailey argued.

“With the closure of the May Pen office, established communication channels have been replaced with new persons in the system that none of us know,” complained Bailey.

“I realise that whenever you make reports, whether via the app or if you call someone directly, it takes a time for anybody to respond…Not a lot of persons know how to use the app and a lot of times the app don’t work. I have never used it and get through, so I have to resort to individual calls,” he said, adding that residents are fed up with the service provided by the utility company.

In an effort to ease the tension in the meeting room, Johnson sympathised with the councillors, adding that she understood the challenges. She encouraged them to use the call centre to report their issues.

“But call centre is not effective!” Bailey hit back.

He pointed out that one major issue is that customer service representatives request meter numbers when calls are made to report outages. Johnson explained that the information is being requested so that JPS can better track problems reported, an effort to provide better service.

“We have been trying to address the reports coming from the council as quickly as possible so I will escalate the matter and have it looked at,” promised Johnson.