DG sorry for garbage collection failings
(CNS): Deputy Governor Franz Manderson has apologised for the failures of the government’s garbage collection team to reliably and effectively manage waste collection and has outlined what government is doing now and in the future to get things back on track. However, in a statement from his office about the ongoing problems impacting garbage pick-up, he made no mention of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the missing director of the Department of Environmental Health.
In a short statement about the saga of the rubbish collection failures over the last year, Manderson said the civil service was committed to making the lives of the public better.
“While there are vivid examples of how the civil service routinely delivers against this commitment, I am sorry that our waste collection team has failed to reliably and effectively manage waste collection,” he said. “As the deputy governor and head of the civil service I offer no excuses, only a firm commitment that the civil service is focused on correcting the failure and restoring the public’s confidence.”
The deputy governor said that over the weekend the DEH had brought the weekly waste collection for residential routes up to date. He said he had met with the Ministry of Health and DEH teams to devise a way forward and move toward a more stable footing.
He said that the steps taken include restoring “accountability by disciplining persons who are letting themselves, their colleagues and our community down by non-attendance and other poor performance”, and that mission-critical vacancies had been filled through emergency appointments. However, he said nothing about the vacancy at the top.
Around six months ago DEH Director Roydell Carter went on some kind of leave, which has never been defined, and the ministry denied allegations from sources inside the department that he had been suspended. Carter has, however, been absent from the job since before Christmas but it is understood that he remains on the payroll.
Although he remained mum about the DEH boss, Manderson said that the ministry had redeployed management support to improve the department’s pace and agility.
He said that private sector firms were being contracted to plug gaps when equipment failures trigger unscheduled maintenance. He added that the Department of Vehicle and Equipment Services would provide daily troubleshooting on the aging fleet and effect the recommended vehicle replacement strategy for equipment where service costs exceed the vehicle’s lifetime value.
The deputy governor, who is responsible for the entire civil service, also said that efforts had been made to restore financial management with scheduling to avoid unsustainable and exorbitant overtime claims.
The mounting garbage, particularly in the eastern districts, has been a significant cause of public concerns. A petition recently started by Deputy Opposition Leader Alva Suckoo in an effort to call attention to the problem and force government’s hand has now been signed by 495 people.
A news story on CNS about the launch of that petition drew almost 80 comments from readers, many of whom pointed to management issues at the ministry and department as being the source of the problems rather than the garbage workers.
Category: Local News
Who got fired for the over-running garbage at the lanndfill public drop-off that the leader of opposition made the public know about that were in the medias twice.
didn’t someone sue them over the glass house and the mold exposure? good luck with that….you cant win in the court of law against government….never and never and never…unless you got contacts!?
If the DG is apologizing for the Chief Officer, I guess the Premier will soon apologize for Minister Seymour??
The .marl road talk is that after the deputy governor met with the garbage collectors and promised them better pay and treatment the garbage collectors is receiveing some form of warning disciplinary letters one by one from the ministry ordered by the deputy governor and the deh managers as usually0 is being protected by the deputy governor, ministry and the minister for health from all of the garbage fiasco.
5:38pm you understood what were said that’s the reason you made a comment but the truth hurt you because you must be the biggest part of the problem for the reason the mess with the garbage can not be resolved for so many years. Are you a deh manager or a deh dead weight worker that continue to just wait for a a good salary every pay day.
2,100,000 tourists visited The Cayman Islands last year. How much trash did they generate? The island’s garbage threat comes not only from within, however. It also suffers waves of trash from the sea.
When does that day come when you won’t able to deal with the amount of garbage due to limited space and mass tourism?
I hear some says “incinerators”….but it would be the residents, again, who would suffer the consequences, unless it is build on the most remote point of Grand Cayman with the winds away from the island and managed by the experienced operators.
Meantime, other popular tourism destinations had no choice, but to restrict the number of visitors.
Santorini-the island is limiting the number of cruise ship visitors to 8,000 a day.
Galápagos Islands-97 percent of the land area is designated as part of the national park, and tourism is carefully monitored.
Philippine resort Island of Boracay Is closed to tourists.
It is easy to blame the garbage collectors for the problem, but I think there is managerial problem that is causing all of this.
All of the Managers in the civil service should get training on how to manage, because most of them don’t know how to!
Being a garbage collector is not a nice job to do, but someone has to do it. They should be motivated by praising them and giving them a nice salary. Then things might change. Also, hire managers that know how to manage.
Well it’s the garbage collectors who are calling in sick. So blame then first then deal with management.
Kudos to the DG for standing up and taking responsibility. Now DEH stop making the DG have to apologize.
It is a hazardous job to be a trash collector, may be they are legitimately ill having no proper protection? The job must come with the best life time guaranteed health insurance because they would need it and generous compensation. Occupational safety standards Myst be also enforced. The same goes with the open air dump workers.
It is amazing how a company has already purchased a brand new garbage truck and is already picking up the garbage for the government. This whole thing looks like a setup to help a certain minister who owns the company to make a very healthy profit off of the people’s money.
12:37am the marl road talk is that what you said more staff for what too look at the hard workers finish working their life to death and not getting equal pay the marl road talk is thst deh have more than enough staff is that some of the staff that the managers like the most are allowed by the managers to work when and how they feel like. More what trucks for what and the last fleet of brand new second hand trucks DVES spoke highly about in the medias. 12:37 am by the information from the medias and the marl road talk is that the deh managers have to go because they can not manage the waste and they do not treat the deh garbage workers with care and respect unlivable wages, very poor working conditions and a kept down workplace it is all about the managers and the marl road talk is that the ministry, deputy governor, minister for health and the premier know all of what is happening in deh and fail to make the right decisions instead they blame it on the garbage eater’s for now. What a mess cayman is in UK really needs to step in and deal with the untouchable senior civil servants.
OMGosh, please learn to write in English and review your comments before posting. I couldn’t even read whatever it was you were trying to say.
The civil service is bloated and incompetent. A profession where under-performance and a lackadaisical approach is the norm. And if your conduct is gross, weeks or even months off work with full pay.
but not sorry about placing your civil servants in old glass house, knowing it posed health threats to your workers??
10:55. Which civil servants are in the old glass house. I think we would all like to know that.
Let us get one thing clear: overall the fleet is not ‘aged’. A lot of new vehicles have been bought over the last two or three years. The problem is that some of the DEH drivers are deliberately trying- and succeeding- to break the equipment via willful misuse. They then get time off or overtime……
I am told the New trucks were sent to the sister islands.
It will always be the civil servants who is blamed no Minister is going to take responsibility. Thankfully we have a leader in the DG who will step up and do the right thing.
Franz, you’re well liked… you wouldn’t want anything to change that. Hold these people responsible or just give it to dart so they can cap the dump and turn it into something useful; then move the dump to a part of the island a bunch of tourists don’t see everyday. It’s not rocket science.
I guess we will have to wait until DG5K 2019 to buy a new garbage truck
Mr DG “Sorry ” isn’t going to fix the problems . Fix the leadership and management and what is causing the problem with leadership and management .
Good leadership don’t let issues like this garbage problem go this far , unless they are setting up your failure .
I believe that Boden Town is still the choice place for the new dump , but there’s a few obstructions . Some people know what they’re doing .
West Bay premier. Did you read the release? he did much more than say he was sorry. I know you don’t like Caymanians but come on.
If you know the DG the way I do. Staff will get fired and the matter will be resolved.
3:51 pm , so why aren’t he firing people in this garbage mess then , which the people including yourself is suffering from . Do you know that I love Caymanians , most of all my brothers and sisters that aren’t speaking up about these issues , what make you think I don’t like Caymanians ?
Why not have two landfills? One for eastern districts and one for georgetown and west bay. Keep the trucks next to the DVDL facility in Breakers and station an officer there to oversea the work.
Why is no-one fired for absenteeism in the Civil Service? In the private sector it represents clear grounds for immediate termination and would not be tolerated.
If the current Minister cannot run his ministry they need to relieve him of that responsibility. Health workers can only roll their eyes behind his back and carry on without any clear directions. Luckily they can remember how it used to be long long ago. Who is going to fix this mess? Deputy Gov how long are you going to apologise for him and the missing director? Fairy wand anyone?
The question is, why would anyone work in the private sector?
This is a perfect example of a government not fit for purpose.
A once efficient DEH has been reduced to abject failure to the point where the Deputy Governor needs to step in to sort out the problems. How humiliating for government to not be able to sort out such a basic service function on such a small island.
Another example why the cruise ship white elephant needs a referendum.
I still see plenty of Earth Day collections left by the road. Nice idea, poor execution. Though I do realise these were probably never scheduled to be picked up, they still look terrible.
The mismanagement of the whole garbage issue is a very, very carefully coordinated disaster creating exercise by government to make it appear as if DART will be the only “Garbage Problem Solver”.
The DART Cayman Mind Control Program continues at work.
This all seems deliberate to allow certain companies to benefit after promises were made before the 2017 May elections.
The DG must address the incompetence of DEH and the ministry of health it all stinks!
Shame DART is not in the aluminum foil business, sales must be through the roof with all the hats being made around here.
How ironic that the word ” DART “comes up in the same sentence with the word “GARBAGE”when he is polluting the entire world with his mega sterofoam prooduction. Only in the Caymans!!
I just cleared the path in front of my keyboard to type: you took it right out of my mouth! When will the wider public see this?
This is so disappointing a royal ****up from the Minister and Chief officer down to the truck drivers and sidemen yet no one gets fired. How can this chief officer be made of such Teflon from 2million sign off in care pay to the above and all the ****ups in between
Ossie must be laughing in his sleep.
I bet the DG gets his garbage picked up on time while he is having his morning and afternoon jog., all should be fired and zero tolerance aloud for this on going foolishness.
Cayman is experiencieng an explosion of its rat population following the faulty garbage bin collections.
Maybe we should bring in the feral cat population from LC?
Great leadership DG. Thank you. Not often do we get a leader that is brave enough to stand up don’t make excuses and take responsibility. How refreshing!!
The Deputy Governor is being so childish by putting the blame for the garbage fiasco on the poor old garbage eaters that has being collecting the deputy governor’s garbage for years did the deputy governor ever took the time and thanked those garbage eater’s and made sure that they all are getting liviable wages and being treated like human beings and are working under good working conditions at deh for all the years he have being the deputy governor or this is the first time the deputy governor got up out of his hot seat when things are looking bad on him and the deh top guys or those garbage eater’s and are not worth anything how they are looked on now by the deputy governor those garbage eater’s have too face some serious unhealthy situations daily those people have to be treated with high care and respect especially by their managers but not what came out in the medias in the past months those garbage eater’s are treated very poorily by deh managers and are very unhappy in deh did the deputy governor any day thanked those garbage eater’s for keeping him healthy for all of these years or the deputy governor is just busy protecting and taking care of the top civil servants jobs like himself because i have not seen a garbage eater collected a deputy governor award yet i visit the landfill very often and there is a young lady who works at the landfill gate entrance that is very friendily, professional, and gives excellent customwr service what the deputy governor always talks about but i have not seen her in the medias receiveing any award or because she is not one of the top civil servants but her customer service is top class perfect attendance at work and not reporting to work daily for the time you are scheduled to report for work and not on the job site performing your duties daily or do not know how to perform your duties having other workers performing your duties for you dead weight and being paid great salaries is worst than not being at work there are many reasons workers attend work poorily and some of the greatest reasons are for example poor inhumane treatment from managers, poor working conditions and unliviable wages hand to mouth.
….And breath……
4:02. You should be working not posting responses Did you call in sick today.
You all started this and got greedy when the Overime was flowing.
Get to work, do you job and make Cayman proud. You are making Caymanians look bad.
What they need more staffing and garbage trucks. I blame the ministers for not ensuring the department is properly staffed and equipped.
Total rubbish
Love the double-entendre.
Anybody see Jon Jon ?
He orchestrating the failure to garbage collection can be privatised for profit
He should really be focusing on the 2019 5k. Perhaps the proceeds could be put towards a modern waste management system?
The marl road talk is that the Deputy Governor visted deh but did not have a meeting with all of the deh staff and too see the poor working conditions they are working under the Deputy Governor just saw the workers that the deh managers wanted him too meet who they could put their blame on for the mismanagement of deh such as the poor garbage collectors which alot of them are unable to read and write and are afraid too stand up and speak up because they are afraid not to be heard or to get shut up or fired for telling it like how it like it is. The marl road talk is that the deh managers will never have a poor performance record nor a poor attendance record because they are the people that are keeping the records in the workplace and they will never give themselves scratched records. The marl road talk is that the deh workers that the deh managers did not let or were afraid for the Deputy Governor to meet are still waiting on the arrival of the Deputy Governor back to the deh again. The marl road talk is that the Deputy Governor, chief officer for health and the minister for health know all about the unfair treatment that is being given to workers in deh from the deh managers and the marl road talk they all are just going around the problems and that there is much more issues in deh than just the issue about the garbage such as poor pay for garbage workers that working in deh for years not equal pay for equal work the sudden disappearance of the foreign deh worker that came to cayman and worked in deh that suppose to have been the salvation for the now garbage problems and the sudden leave of the deh director that the public are not getting the full sensible story about. The marl road talk is that the Deputy Governor must not go into deh with a buyus bullish mentality but a open mind and listen too the workers not just what the managers told him the Deputy Governor in their closed door meetings that they may have or have had. The marl road talk is that the Deputy Governor must wake up and smell the roses and make sure he must personally go through deh with a fine teeth comb starting from the top such as the ministry, deh managers and then the garbage collectors the marl road talk is if the Deputy Governor do not do that he is covering-up and someone needs to clean out the Deputy Governor’s office.
………………… here are some periods for you.
9:21. Tell us about your sick leave record. The marl road is that the sick leave at DEH is so bad that it should be called a place for the sick.
Calling in sick is not the answer. Stand up and do your jobs. Listen to what the DG told you and the staff at DEH.
As a resident of Prospect who was not affected in any way by this issue as our complex’s garbage was and is being removed efficiently I would like to publicly thank the DEH staff for this, especially our collector Paul who has been most reliable, pleasant and helpful.
Are you implying that Austin has his own private garbage collector. I live in Bodden town east, think I could borrow Mr. Paulfor a few hours?
I also live in Prospect and can attest to this as well. However there is one home on Omega Rd which has trash piled up for the better part of the last two weeks. I was wondering whether they had a personal beef with the DOE as it is the only home with a pile up.
What does Austin have to do with this. I don’t even know who he is really. All I am saying is that where I am in Prospect in a small complex our dumpster is cleared and that the driver of the truck is very pleasant, helpful and efficient. Instead of all the negativity I was only complimenting the driver in my area. My goodness you people are sick
Thank you I agree
How convenient, send out the un-elected man to apologize when there is an elected minister and an (absent) Chief Officer at the top of the Department, just send out Franz to fall on his sword because of his wide-sweeping Civil Service portfolio
Meanwhile not a peep out of John John,real “leadership” we have in Cayman
The MLAs come out during elections and for the other 3 years and 6 months, cant see. hear or find them
Not all fall into that category
What is everyone at Northward doing? Get some vehicles; stick them in the back and pick this sh*t up. Our Govt should be given a Nobel Prize for Excuses.
#freelaboursittingontheirasses #legalizecommonsense
You crazy?? Then they will be missing for a month and we will be looking around every corner incase they jump out at us. I prefer if they don’t do that.
civil service is a rats nest of incompetence. read milller shaw or e&y reports.
if this was the private sector, heads would roll….
Well this is the public sector so paid leave for everyone!
No, they’d just declare bankruptcy and walk away.
Whether we are a fan of the DG or not. This is leadership! Now if only I would get an apology from Flow for their failure to provide reliable Wi-Fi, CUC for weekly power cuts and scotia bank for failing to meet the needs of its customers.
My garbage was picked up on schedule this morning.
Thank you DG. I was a past critic!
FLOWs cell phone service is absolutely disgraceful at the moment! My phone goes from LTE to 3G to NO SERVICE none stop. Is anyone else having this problem??
Ask OfReg what they are doing about this as they are the highly paid regulators for the telecommunications sector.
This is typical Franz lots of promises faux actions. It’s what he does best. Fire the persons responsible and start at the top with the chiefs.
9:30 this is exactly what Franz is doing.
NaTo. All show and no action typical