March 22, 2021

I will start off by asking
that congratulations be sent to a young Bermudian in Ghana, Mr. Quinton Sherlock, Jr., who was well
known in the field of education at the college to his
advocacy. But he has been doing great work homeschooling and teaching golf, very much emboldening
the STEM programme. And I am totally impressed. He
is acting manager and golf pro at a club in Achimota,
a country club. And he does outstandi ng work. And I
am certainly looking forward, Mr. Speaker, to the day
when he returns home as well, or even does a par tnership with us in Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like at this particular
time to send congratulations to the daughter of the Ministe r of Sport, the Honourable Dr. Ernest Peets’s
daughter , Aliyah Peets, who is graduating from
George Jenkins High School in Lakeland, Florida, with a 3.8 GPA. And she has been accepted at Sweetbriar
College in Virginia, the pre- veterinarian programme.
She h as certainly done many things academically and
in the sporting realm, Mr. Speaker. And she has won several outstanding competitions representing George Jenkins High School and her team, the Girls Junior
Varsity 2018 Championships, through cross country,
Mr. Speaker. And she is an alumnus of the 2020 Congress
of Future Medical Leaders. I am sure her parents and
family are very proud, as we are, Mr. Speaker. This
student athlete is doing outstanding work down there
in Lakeland, Florida, Mr. Speaker. May she continue to do well as she moves forward, and congratulations
to her proud parents and family, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.
I would j ust like to send congratulations to
Craig MacIntyre for becoming a Fellow of the ACTEC
[American College of Trust and Estate Counsel]. He is a well -known and established lawyer here in Berm uda. He is known mostly for his trust . . . well known in
trust and tax law. And he is very well established. And
he is only one of three Bermudians who has been called to be a Fellow for the ACTEC. I would just like
to recognise him for that.
And then I would also like to send condolences to the Clee family, Eric James Clee, of Southam pton Parish, which is my home parish. He and his —

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I would like to be associa ted with that, please.

Yes, good morning, Mr.
Speaker.
I would like to start off by associating myself
with the remarks of the Honourable Kim Swan for the
daughter of the Minister Peets. I know his daughter
well, and I have seen her grow into a young lady. And she is going to make her parents proud. So I want to
associate myself with those remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning with a heavy
heart as I ask this House to acknowledge and send
condolences to the family of my father -in-law, Mr.
Howard Leroy James Outerbridge, Sr. Mr. Speak er,
depending on the circle that he was in, some people
knew him as “Sockin.” To the radio audience, Mr.
Speaker, he was known as the “Pork Chop” man. He
was always on the radio calling in and voicing his opinion because he was very much a Labour man, Mr.
Speaker.

Okay. Mr. Speaker, this man,
my father -in-law was a man small in stature. But he
was a man of great strength and reward. The ultimate
Labour man, Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, he was a
member and a strong supporter of the BIU. He was a loyal [supporter], Mr. Speaker. For those who had
known him in the PLP, they know that he was a loyal
and a staunch supporter of the Progressive Labour
Party. In fact, Mr. Speaker, those who may come
through Green Acres would know that his house is
actually painted white with green trim.
He also, Mr. Speaker, had some statues
erected in his yard to signify different areas of his life.
But these statues, Mr. Speaker, were even adorned
with PLP paraphernalia, especially around the election
time. And he always made it clear that those who
were not of his ilk, those who were not for PLP, Mr.
Speaker, were welcome to walk right along by and not even waste their t ime coming onto his property.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Outerbridge, my father -inlaw, was also a May 24 runner, one of the oldest. He ran the marathon right up until his 80s. So, you know,
he was also well known, Mr. Speaker, throughout the
Island.

And due to COVID -19 restrictions, the family of his wife, Joshna, they lived in
Fiji and were not able to travel at that time. So after
much planning, quarantining included, the family r ecently arrived in Bermuda and were able to attend the celebration of life at the church service yesterday.
Mr. Pringle was such a good friend of Sheila
and me such that he made us godparents of his
daughter Tes -Tephi. Since his passing, Karl has been
a great miss to us and I am sure to his family as w ell.
He had a very large secular family. So I ask that a
letter of condolences be sent, as I stated, to his wife
Joshna and daughter Tes -Tephi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like
to associate myself with the condolences for Mr.
Howard Outerbridge, who was, as MP Weeks said,
my loyal constituent [ INAUDIBLE] constituent. He t ook
away all of my words, and I cannot say much. But
what I will add is that he was also the uncle to the Honourable Premier David Burt through the Ming
family and also uncle to the Clerk of the House, Ms.
Shernette Wolffe. He was a strong Devonshire man,
and we will miss him.
Mr. Speaker, I want to give condolences to
someone whom everyone knows, but may not know
the proper name. The proper name is Neville O’Riley
Livingston, a Jamaican commonly known as Bunny Wailer. He passed away earlier this month. Ma ny
would know Bob Marley, but without Bunny Wailer there would be no Bob Marley and the Wailers. Mr. Livingston wrote many songs. Two songs that come to
mind are “Dreamland” and a song that is almost like a
national anthem at every wedding, big happy famil y
gatherings —that is the “Electric Slide.” So on behalf of
the people of Bermuda, we wish to give condolences to the people of Jamaica for the passing of Mr. Neville O’Riley Livingston, commonly known as Bunny Wai ler.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House and ask that condolences, if they have not been done already, be sent to [the family of] a cousin of mine, Mr. Quinton Eldon Llewellyn Binns. Uncle Quinton was well known in the Seventh Day
Adventist Community. He was known as a taxi driver,
and also known, Mr. Speaker, as a bus driver in the—

Mr. Speaker, Uncle Quinton, as
I called him . . . I would like to send out condolences
to Aunt Marie, my cousin and also to my other cous-ins, his children. He will be sorely missed. He had a great personality. And in the community he was well known. When you spoke to him, whenever I saw my
uncle, he was joyful and he was pleasant and he was
accommodat ing. And, Mr. Speaker, when individuals
in our community like this pass, it says a lot about us. And a real tear comes in the fabric of our community when individuals like this pass. Mr. Speaker, I send
condolences to Aunt Marie.
Also, Mr. Speaker, I want to give condolences
to Mr. Kenneth Richardson. (Was that done last
week?)

I think we all knew the former
Cabinet Secretary. Whenever I spoke to him, it was a broad smile. He greeted everybody in the community with this kind of . . . and he will be sorely missed. To his family and to all of those within the civil service
who worked with him, I know that they have fond, fond
reflections of him and the way that he conducted him-self in the community. And he as well will be sorely missed.
Also, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to mention from
the Somerset community Mr. Kent Dill, who passed in
our community. And I know you will want to be ass ociated if it has not been done already.

Yes.
1162 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Scott Simmons: Yes, the entire House, I am
sure, on the passing of these three in the community.
And Kent, as we know, he was a tradesman.
He was well known in the Somerset community, well
liked. And whenever you had the opportunity to meet Kent as a taxi driver or just throughout the community,
he served well and he really was someone who will be
sorely, sorely missed throughout our community.
I send condolences to all of these families.
And thank you for your time, Mr. Speaker.

Good morning.
I would also like to send congratulations to
Christ Church, actually, for their feeding programme.
Too often, I think, we forget to give ongoing congrat ulations to the churches and the many organisations
that are feeding vulnerable and needy people in our
community. Yesterday, [or] I believe on Saturday, they
did over 400 meals. And they are ongoing, as well as
many other churc hes and many other organisations,
helping to support our people within the community. So my congratulations to them. Thank you.

You have your three minutes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I would like to be associated
with the condolences for Mr. Quinton Binns. He was a
resident of the Glebe Road, and I knew him well. And
I wish to extend my condolences to the Whip, Mr.
Simmons, and the rest of the family. I would also like to be associated with the
condolences to the family of our own MP Weeks on
the passing of his father -in-law. And thank you very
much on both of those, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to be associated with the condolences of Quinton Binns, to his family, his wife Aunt
Marie, and his daughter Quinelle who we know
worked [with] the Ombudsman for a while, Kimandi his
son and other kids, Josh, Beverly and Melody [and
Laquita]. He was a big North Village fan. I grew up as
a kid under his guidance in the church and especially amongst him and h is wife, Marie, from Pathfinders.
And I can recall he would always set the stage as to
what a man should be and should act like. And so I
want to thank his family for allowing him to make the
sacrifice for many of us who were young coming along
who were looking for guidance and assistance.
Also, he was a big Pathfinder. Similar t o [INAUDIBLE] and you would know about Pathfinders.
And so I can remember that handshake. Even when I was, you know, young- young and he would grab my
hand, he did not spare any means of making sure that
I felt that he was a strong man. And so I just want to
thank the family and him, himself, although he has
passed, for the life that he led in helping to steer many
of us as young men to know what it means to be a man in a really, really, really crazy world.
I would also like to send out condolences to
MP Weeks, as well, in hearing that news. It is never an easy time. (Cole [Simons] is saying he wants to be
associated.) The funeral for Binns was yesterday, Mr.
Speaker. And with the ne w COVID -19 restrictions, it
really, really put a spin on things. So many of us were looking to attend, and it really put a spin on things for them. And I know that they are grateful to those who
were able to come out. And so our condolences go
out. Thank y ou.

Good morning.
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, my first item is that
I would like to be associated with the remarks given
by MP Weeks sent to my family for the passing of U ncle Howa rd Outerbridge. Certainly to my cousin and
the former Acting Principal of the Heritage Sound Pr imary School, Ms. Cindy Weeks, of course, the wife of
MP Weeks, and to Howard Outerbridge, Jr., and to
the entire Outerbridge family, condolences. I would
certai nly like to be associated with those remarks.
I would also like to be associated with the
condolences, Mr. Speaker, that were sent to the fam ily of the late Kenneth Richardson, CBE, former Cabinet Secretary, and ask that my name be associated
with those c ondolences when they are sent, please.

It was done last week, but you can associate yourself.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am uncertain, as I said, I was
not aware that that was done. But I think that for those
of us wh o worked in media, for those of us especially
at the old House of Assembly where we would go out
and lunchtime and Mr. Landy would be there when he
was working for Bermuda Broadcasting [Company]
news, we did to know him a lot . Mr. Landy was an avid fan of BurtBliss swizzle. And at Cup Match time it
was always a point in time when he would be asking whether or not some swizzle could be done for him at Cup Match. But it is certainly going to be a miss. It is
certainly tragic. The last conversation that I had with
Mr. Landy was a few months ago when I was consoling him on the death of his son. So it is without question very tragic. And I just wanted to make sure that I
would be associated with condolences when the letter
is sent to his family.
Thank you, Mr. S peaker.

It sounds like Madam Attorney Ge neral.

Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Yes. It is me.

The S peaker: You have your three minutes.

Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you.
I would like to associate myself with the co ndolences extended to MP Weeks and his family at this
time of bereavement. And also with regard to the co ndolences extended to the families of Quinton [Binns]
and Kent Dill. We all can appreciate the contributions
that these fine men made to our community, and we share their families’ grief at this time.
Also I would like to acknowledge the death of
Donald Hassell, who was one of my consti tuents. He
would be known in relation to Country Squire. He was
the neighbour of one of my executive members and a
fine gentleman by all accounts. And so on behalf of
my constituency and the PLP, I would like to extend
condolences to the family of Mr. Don Hassell.
On a good note and a final note, Mr. Speaker,
I would like to congratulate my near and dear niece
Kenni Thompson on her continued success in Spain.
Kenni is now playing for Civitas Santa Teresa Badajoz
in the South of France. And she played Atlét ico Madrid; she played against them on Saturday. And she was named player of the match, although her team
was not successful. However, it was so impressive
with regard to these young ladies to hear her press
conference, her press statement after the match,
where she spoke the most captivating and fluent
Spanish. And it just brought back memories of her as
a little person and the excellence and resilience she
has pursued.
She is now 20 years old. She lives in Spain.
And she is —oh my gracious —such a fine example of
dedication and commitment to excellence. So on be-half of all of us and the sporting community, I would
like to extend congratulations to my niece, Kenni
Thompson, on her continued success and wish her
well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. Okay.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this t ime?
No other Member.
Before I move on, I would just like to add my
name to be associated with some of the remarks gi ven already. Of course being a Somerset boy, I would
1164 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly definitely like to be associated with the remarks expressed to the family of Kent Di ll. All of those who live
in the West End will know that Kent was one of the
people we will definitely miss moving around our
community.
I would like to be associated with the remarks
to the Binns family. We both worship in the same faith,
so I know Mr. B inns. And I know his presence will be
missed in the church, as well as with his family. So we
sympathise with them.
And with Mr. Karl Pringle. Those of you how
know that strong St. Kitts connection would know that Mr. Pringle was proud of his connection w ith St. Kitts.
And he never let us forget that we were St. Kittitians
together in that whenever we had a chat, it would a lways . . . somehow in the conversation St. Kitts would
come up and we would chuckle about the relationship
and the early beginnings of our families coming out of
St. Kitts.
And I would like to add one. And that is the
condolences expressed to the family on the loss of the former Chief Justice, the late Austin Ward, who
passed away last month. And those of you who knew
the Chief Justice would know he was a very quiet,
soft-spoken individual, but a man of no nonsense. A
man who stood for principle, a man who clearly u nderstood and had a good, formidable appreciation for the law and respect of the law. And he upheld it. He
was a gentleman of all respect and one who was a lways encouraging and uplifting at any time you had
an exchange with him.
I know his family is deeply saddened by his
loss, and we send our thoughts and concerns to them
at this time, and our sincere condolences to his wife
and his daughters and let them know that the comm unity feels their loss and shares in their loss.
With those remarks, we now bring the Congratulatory and/or Obituary Speeches to a close.

MATTERS OF PRIVILEGE

With t hat said, it now leads us to the
Orders of the Day. And as has been customary this
last couple of weeks, and particularly for our listening
audience, we are here each day as part of the annual
Budget Debate. Today is day seven, which is actually
the final day of the Budget Debate. As has been indicated, we put aside some 56 hours each year for the Budget Debate, with eight hours being done during each sitting. Today’s sitting of eight hours will be split
between the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry
of Home Affairs, Public Works being the first Ministry
this morning.
When the debate starts the House goes into
Committee. And again for the public and listening a udience, the Speaker cannot be in the House when we
are in committee. So the proceedings th at are held in
Committee are under the guidance of the Deputy
Speaker, who chairs the Panel of Chairs. And I be-lieve it is actually the Deputy Speaker who will chair
this first session this morning.
So with that said, we will ask the Minister of
Finance t o take us into Committee. And the Deputy
Speaker will then take control of the House for the
next eight hours.
Minister of Finance.

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker.

Honourable Members, we are now in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year

Ber muda House of Assembly 2021/22. And under the Public Works Ministry, we will
be debating Heads 56, 53, 68, 81 and 82. This will last
until 5:06 pm. That is the maximum it will go.
And now I call on the Minister of Public
Works, the Honourable Col. David Burch.

Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Public Works is
responsible for maintaining Bermuda’s critical assets and infrastructure. In fact, Public Works is the lead agent in delivering the infrastructure requirements upon which so many of the services provided to this I sland depend. Some of the assets and infrastructure
that the Ministry is responsible for building and maintaining include the following :
•617 roads amounting to 225 k ilometr es of
road surface;
•751 buildings maintained by Public Lands and
Buildings with an insured value of over $1.5
billion;
•85 public docks and purpose- built berths servicing cruise ships , cargo ships and hundreds
of private vessels and yachts each year;
•five reservoirs with a capacity of 2.5 million
gallons of Bermuda’s precious and very limited freshwater resource;
•75 amenity parks , beaches and school
grounds protected under the Bermuda N ational Parks Act 1986; and
•Ocean View and Port Royal Golf Courses .
Mr. Chairman, it cannot be overstated how
critical this vast and diverse Ministry is to Bermuda and why it is so important that every possible opportunity must be grasped to maximi se the economic
benefits that the capital expenditures of this Ministry
provide. This includes establishing private sector par tnerships to ensure that the government’s assets and
infrastructure are maintained while simultaneously generating economic opportunities within the con-struction sector of our Island community.
Therefore, the maintenance and enhanc ement of our infrastructure and facilities must remain a priority because infrastructure development is a vital
component in encouraging a country’s economic
growth. For example, infrastructure development will
help provide the adequate capacity for future growth Bermuda so desperately needs ; help enhance visitors ’
experienc e when they come to Bermuda; and , more
importantly, it will help provide a key source of job
creation and economic empowerment going forward.
Mr. Chairman, the budget allocation to the
Ministry for 2021/22 is found on page B -216, and the
allocated amount is $67,010,000. This represents a
decrease of $3,752,000, or 5.3 per cent, from the ori ginal 2020/21 budget, revised for the departure of Land
Valuation and Land Title Registration to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Mr. Chairman, the anticipated revenue for the
Ministry is $15,346,000, a decrease of $1,681,000, or
9.87 per cent, when compared to the 2020/21 original
revenue budget (taking into account the effect of the departure of Land Title Registration and Land Valu ation).
The Ministry’s total capital budget for 2021/22
is $44,912,000. This is an increase of $659,000 over
the current year budget. This includes the capital de-velopment budget of $40,536,000 and the capital ac-quisitions budget of $4,376,000.
The Ministry’s established number of emplo yees, which is referred to as fulltime equivalents
(FTE’s ), for the fiscal year 2021/22 is 697, an increase
of 3 when compared to the established number for the
current fiscal year as seen on page B- 216. Again this
comparison takes into account the revised structure of the Ministry after the departure of the departments
noted earlier. It should be noted that in an effort to
meet the mandated operational budget ceiling, the Ministry has defunded 62.5 of these posts for the 2021/22 year. These posts are vacant and will not be
filled th is year. This results in a savings of $3.97 million. It should be further noted that the forecast for the
current year has a headcount of only 592 posts. This
puts a spotlight on the level of work that is being per-formed by the current workforce.
HEAD 36 —MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS
HEADQUARTERS

Mr. Chairman, the
overarching objective of Ministry Headquarters
(Finance and Administration), is to prov ide
centralise d support to the departments within the
Ministry, which include Public Lands and Buildings,
Works and Engineering, and Parks, to ensure
delivery of their varied services and operating
programmes. The servic es provided by the Ministry
of Public Works Headquarters are organise d into the
following six programmes, which are found on page
B-218:
1)
Programme 3601—Head Office Administr ation;
2) Programme 3610— Accounts;
3) Programme 3611— Purchasing;
4) Programme 3612—Telecommunications;
5) Programme 3613—Human Resources; and
6) Programme 3614— Architect ural Design.
1166 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Head Office Administration —
Programme 3601

Mr. Chairman, the
Head Office Administ ration—Program me 3601 comprise s Headquarters Administration (including Safety
and Health) and Central Filing. Headquarters Admi nistration, under the direction of the Permanent Secr etary, provides oversight and management support to
the entire Ministry of Public Works. It also ensures
that the Minister’s policy objectives are met and sp ecifically is responsible for the implementation of the Ministry’s Throne Speech i nitiative s, yearly business
plan, management of safety and health matters, compliance and numerous special administrative projects.
Mr. Chairman, during 2020/21 the Safety and
Health Office provided safety and health training to staff by offering a total of 89 hours of safety training
which was attended by 126 employees. The Ministry
also conducted documented risk assessments to ascertain the risk s that Ministry employees and the public are exposed to as a result of our activities. The
training and assessments will continue into 2021/22
so as to be in compliance with the requirements of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1982 and the O ccupational Safety and Health Regulations 2009.
Mr. Chairman, the second area of support
under the Head Office Administration is Central Filing,
which provides records management for all human
resource records , cabinet documents, capital projects
and contracts, and maintains records for the Ministry’s
legislated functions.
Mr. Chairman, the operational budget for the
Head Office A dministration Program me 3601 is
$2,135 ,000 for fiscal year 2021/22, a decrease of
$83,000 over the current year.

Public Works Accounts —Programme 3610

Mr. Chairman, the A ccounts Program me 3610 provides accounts payable,
accounts receivable, capital asset recording, and nonfinancial and financial reporting functions for the operating departments within the Ministry. This section
also prepares and distributes weekly payroll, vendor checks and invoices for services provided by t he Mi nistry’s operational areas ; as well as collection and r ecording of online bank payments ; and credit card,
cash and cheque receipts.
Through the use of the centrali sed accounting
system, this section manages the yearly budget pre paration and provides monthly management reports, a process that enables the effective and efficient monitoring and control of the Ministry’s current account
budget along with the M inistry’s capital development
and capital acquisition budget.
Mr. Chairman, the Accounts S ection ’s focus
for the fiscal year 2021/22 will continue to be working
with the Accountant General on resolving issues and improving processes involving the E1 accounting system. This includes inventory, job costing and fixed assets. Particular effort will be pl aced on the fixed asset listings.
The operational budget for the Accounts Pr ogram me 3610 is an amount of $1,026,000 for fiscal
year 2021/22, a decrease of $120,000 from the orig inal fiscal year 2020/21 budget.

Purchasing Programme 3611

Mr. Chairman, the
Purchasing P rogramme provides centrali sed purchasing support, inventory management, warehousing and
disposal functions to the other departments and programme s within the Ministry and to other external departments from time to time. Mr. Chairman, the Purchasing Section’s focus for the fiscal year 2021/22 will
be on relocating to a centrali sed facility ; creating supply-chain- related policies, procedures and end- user
instructions for the Ministry ; establishing supply contracts th rough competitive bidding; and working with
the Accountant General to maximi se use of s ectionspecific functions and capabilities of the E1 system ,
with a specific focus on inventory control, contract
pricing and key performance indicators (KPI) repor ting.
Mr. Chairman, the Purchasing P rogramme
3611 operational budget is $1,369,000 for 2021/22, a
decrease of $48,000 over the current year.

Telecommunications —Programme 3612

Mr. Chairman, the
Telecommunications P rogramme 3612 provides a
suite of services such as replacement of telephones
and related equipment , and management of mobile
service contracts for the Ministry. The programme also
provides advice to department heads regarding call
flows , resulting in greater efficiencies , and managing
the implementation of new technologies to maximi se
cost savings.
Mr. Chairman, the Government owns and operates a portfolio of seven telecommunication tower sites across the I slands . And the towers are located at
Somerset Police Station, Al ton Hill in Southampton,
Warwick Camp, Com -ops, Prospect, the Quarry and
at Fort George in St. George’s. Mr. Chairman, the
structural surveys highlighted a lack of regular
maintenance of the telecom towers , which has resul ted in every tower displaying vari ous stages of corr osion.
As these sites and infrastructure are critical to
operations and are of national importance, we have
implemented a maintenance programme and continue
to carry out remediation works during this budget year for the issues identified. We will continue with proper planned maintenance schedules and make necessary
adjustments to minimi se the risk of failure in the f uBermuda House of Assembly ture. The Prospect Tower has been replaced and will
be commissioned by the end of this budget year. The
replacement of the F ort George Communications
Building will be completed in 2021/22 as well.
Mr. Chairman, the Telecommunications P rogramme 3612 has been allocated an operational
budget of $747,000 for fiscal year 2021/22, a d ecrease of $2,000.

Human Resource —Programme 3613

Mr. Chairman, the
Human Resource—P rogramme 3613 provides r ecruitment, employee relations , and training and deve lopment services to the various departments and staff
within the Ministry. The role of the Human Resources
team is to liaise and partner with the Department of
Human Resources to provide human resources advice and guidance, as well as provide administrative
support throughout the Ministry.
Mr. Chairman, in 2021/22 the Human R esources Section continued to focus on t he Ministry’s
Basic Employee, Foreman and Superintendent Trai ning Program me (known as BeFAST) , recruiting for
difficult -to-fill jobs and retirements , and the management of the Trainee and Apprentice P rogrammes. Mr.
Chairman, the BeFAST P rogramme is now in its
eighth year and has proven to be successful. The
programme objectives are to advance training, create
career opportunities and build new working relationships with peers and staff, ultimately creating a team
that speaks the same language, resulting in providing
better service to our internal and external customers.
Currently there are 16 participants who are in the final
stage of their programme.
Mr. Chairman, in 2020/21 we focused on i nternal training including Human Resources Quick
Guide, orientation for new employees, lunch & learns
and informational sessions with the Employee Assi stance Programme (EAP) and Bermuda Public Service
Union (BPSU) , and a workshop on mental health for
our employees. Mr. Chairman, it is a fact that our
workforce is aging; therefore, our Ministry will continue
to ensure we have sufficient employees trained and
prepared to fill core and difficult -to-fill critical positions
in the future.
The Ministry of Public Works also has in place
a Trainee P rogramme in which four trainees are currently enrolled. This programme focuses on training
Bermudians for professional positions that are difficult to fill, including the following:
• Mr. Ricardo Graham -Ward, a former bursary
student, is a Designate Structural Engineer assigned to the Str uctures Section;
• Mr. Jamar Dill is a Trainee Electrical Engineer
assigned to the Electrical Section;
• Mr. Zeeko Johnstone is a Trainee Mechanical
Engineer assigned to the Electrical Section;
and • Mr. Kobe Richardson is a Trainee Building
Surveyor assigned to the Estates section.
Mr. C hairman, the Ministry currently has three
apprentices : (1) Mr. Justin Simons, an Apprentice Mechanic, currently working in the Heavy Equipment
Shop at the Quarry; (2) Mr. Malik Lynch, an Apprentice Mechanic currently employed in the Light Equi pment Shop; and Ms. Derrica Saunders, also an A pprentice Mechanic currently employed in the Light
Shop.
Mr. Chairman, the Human Resource Team
continued its successful partnership with C.A.R.E.
Learning Centre that prepares a number of the P ublic
Works staff for the General Education Diploma (GED). To date 15 Ministry of Public Works employees have
gained their GED diplomas and three are pursuing the
qualification.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Public Works
recogni ses that opportunities with in the trades are
typically promoted and introduced to summer students
during summer and seasonal employment. Mr.
Chairman, in 2020/21 the Career Outreach Pr ogramme was set up to introduce students to difficult -
to-fill positions such as surveying, and technical and
engineering careers. The Ministry also had day -
release students from Bermuda College’s Mechanical
Programme.
Mr. Chairman, the role of the summer student
is to provide assistance in various departments
throughout the Ministry of Public Works wit h a view to
offer the student population exposure to work -related
tasks in their specific field of study. Under the direction of the section and department heads, and in accordance with departmental policies and procedures,
summer students perform a variet y of functions.
Mr. Chairman, failure to fill these posts will
result in major employment gaps during the summer, as well as ongoing difficulty to fill these posts in the future. The Ministry is currently experiencing the effects of an aged workforce with a large majority of the
tradesmen being over the age of 40 years in the areas
of mechanics, plumbing, electrical, painting, carpentry
and HVAC. It should also be noted that no advertis ements are required next year due to the depth of ap-plications and succ essful candidates this year.
Mr. Chairman, the current account budget for
the Human Resources Section 3613 is $144,000 for the fiscal year 2021/22, a decrease of $358,000 over the current fiscal year. This is largely due to the transfer of some staff and their duties to the new Depar tment Employment to function as governmentwide r esources.

Architectural Design —Programme 3614

Mr. Chairman, the objective of the Architect ural Design P rogramme 3614 is
to deliver architectural design support for gover nment’s capital development projects in a professional,
1168 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly fiscally prudent and timely manner. Further, it provides
opportunities for Bermudian graduates in architecture
and related disciplines to obtain the necessary exper ience and trai ning to acquire professional designations
in their chosen field.
The total budget for the Architectural Design
Programme 3614 for 2021/22 is $192,000, which represents an increase of $18,000 which includes capital
project recharges.

Full Time Equivalents (FTE)

Mr. Chairman, the
budgeted number of employees for the Ministry of
Public Works Headquarters is 48; this can be seen on page B -220.
The headcount has reduced by three for the
2021/22 fiscal year , as some of the HR staff will be
moving to the new Department of Employee and O rganisational Development under the Cabinet Office.

Performance Measures

Mr. Chairman, the
Public Works Headquarters will aim to conduct four
safety and health assessm ents with corrective actions
in the year, conduct 20 safety and health training for
Ministry employees, improve the procurement cycle
time from requisition to creation of purchase orders in
two days 95 per cent of the time, produce detailed
reports on all operational and capital actual -versusbudgeted expenditures each month by the 10
th day of
the following month 100 per cent of the time and i mprove on the finali sation of capital project files. The
department’s Architect ural Design Section also continues to aim to improve on the efficiencies reali sed by
using an in- house team compared to the private sector.

Capital Development

Mr. Chairman, with
regards to the major capital projects being managed
by the Ministry of Public Work s Headquarters , the
overall 2021/22 capital expenditure plan for the Public Works Headquarters is $11,012,000. Details are
found on pages C-5 and C -6 of the Capital Accounts
Estimates . The capital developments include the following cost centres :
• 75050— Mino r Works , nil;
• 75053— Miscellaneous Small Projects ,
$200,000;
• 75054— WEDCO Capital Grant , $1,973, 000;
• 75099—Office Relocations/Alterations ,
$250,000;
• 75306—Golf Courses Improvement ,
$1,200,000;
• 75334— WEDCO South Basin Reclamation,
$4,819,000; • 75003—Corporatio n of St. George’s G rant,
$1,000,000;
• 75358—Roadside Fencing, $795,000; and
• 75359—Landscape Works , $775,000.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Public Works
Headquarters will provide a c apital grant of
$6,300,000 to the Bermuda Housing Corporation. This
is $1 million less than the current year, representing
the contribution to the homeless shelter that will not be duplicated. This is found on page C -6 of the Capital Accounts Estimates.

Capital Acquisitions

Mr. Chairman, the
overal l 2021/22 capital acquisitions plan for the Public
Works Headquarters is $3,745,000. Details are found
on page C -14 under Schedule C of the Capital A ccounts Estimates . And the capital acquisitions include
the following cost centres :
• 76495— Vehicles and E quipment , $3,591,000
towards replacement of aged GP vehicles as
well as equipment ;
• 76648—Computers , $31,000 for purchase of
replacement computers and related peripherals and equipment ; and
• 76868—Communications Equipment ,
$123,000 towards F ort George Building enclosure and anti -climb barriers.
Mr. Chairman that concludes my presentation
for the Ministry of Public Works Headquarters —Head
36, and I will now turn to Head 53—the Bermuda
Housing Corporation.

HEAD 53 —BERMUDA HOUSING CORPORATION

Mr. Chairman, the
Mission Statement of the Bermuda Housing Corpor ation [BHC, or the Corporation] is to provide accessibi lity to adequate, affordable housing and promote independent living to enhance the quality of life in Berm uda. The vision statement of the Corporation is, Every
Bermudian will reside in an adequate and safe env ironment.
The Bermuda Housing Corporation’s grant
allocation of $6,050,000 represents no change from the previous year. The allocated grant will be used to
subsidise the annual cost of repairs, normal maint enance of properties, support services for families and
individuals, and rental assistance via Rent Geared to
Income to clients of the Corporation and for the continuation of the Hustle Truck Programme.
In addition to t he operating assistance grant
the BHC is budgeted to receive a capital grant of
$6,300,000 for 2021/2022, which represents no
change from the previous year. The capital grant will
be used to pay for the interest and principal amounts
due on the Corporation ’s outstanding bank loans.


Bermuda House of Assembly There are no other changes between the 2020/21 and
the 2021/22 grant allocation.
Mr. Chairman, the primary functions of the
Bermuda Housing Corporation are to provide housing
in Bermuda, to promote home ownership, to under-take and carry out housing schemes and to undertake
such other functions in connection with housing as the
Minister responsible for housing may require. The
Bermuda Housing Corporation continues to provide
methods for Bermudians to gain entry into the housing
market, whether it is by way of becoming first -time
homeowners or renting affordable units that are avai lable. The Corporation strives to provide adequate,
achievable and affordable housing which will benefit
the residents of the Islands of Bermuda.
The Cor poration entered into a public –private
partnership known as the HomeStart programme with Clarien Bank to assist hardworking Bermudians to
obtain their first home. To date, the HomeStart has
assisted 25 Bermudian families in their quest to become first -time homeowners. The initiative has been
very successful in providing properties available for
sale at affordable levels of purchase. The sale prices
of these properties have been significantly reduced in
return for sweat -equity to bring the properties back to
a healthy, habitable state.
The Corporation, in partnership with Age
Concern and the Government of Bermuda, continues
to assist our valued seniors and the disabled with a
programme designed to assist their families to help
the vulnerable to remain in their own homes with di gnity, by providing interest -free loans of up to $15,000
for the purchase of furniture, fixtures and fittings
and/or to make modifications or renovations for their
home which would make it easier for them to remain
in their home rather than be housed in an ageing faci lity. The purchases of the fixture and fittings under this
programme are duty free. Applications for this pr ogramme are available through the BHC website at www.bhc.bm
or can be collected in person at the Corporation’s reception desk at the Seven Arches Buil ding, 44 Church Street, Hamilton.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Housing Corpor ation on behalf of the Government of Bermuda engaged in a public –private partnership with Mr. Jim
Butterfield and Mr. K irk Kitson to rehabilitate and r efurbish the shelter buildings located on North Street
and managed by the Salvation Army. Throughout this
process, Major Dill of the Bermuda Housing Corpor ation liaised with Mr. Butterfield, who was keen to support with funds and manpower, and it was agreed that
the government would match the funding to upgrade the facility. Mr. Kirk Kitson joined the effort, and it was
all-hands -on-deck, with a methodical approach undertaken to repair the salvageable buildings one at a
time, while the buildings that were beyond repair are
being demolished.
Mr. Chairman, at the same time that building
works were in progress, consideration was given on what style of replacement building would be ideal for
the site. Many transitional housing options have been
considered. The Salvation Army and BHC have
agreed on what the replacement buildings will be, and
works will start during the upcoming year to replace
several of the demolished buildings. Significant work,
including the replacement of roofs , repairs to walls
and foundations, and extensive plumbing and electr ical work have been completed on existing buildings.
Mr. Chairman, two residential buildings housing the men and women of the shelter have been r emodelled and refurbished; the central building housing
the administration staff, common areas and the kitc hen were repaired; and renovations to the men’s she lter on North Street have been completed. To date just over $200,000 has been spent, split three ways between Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Kitson a nd the government.
In addition to allocated funds, Mr. Butterfield and Mr.
Kitson secured a number of individuals and firms to
provide monetary or in- kind support.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to again publicly thank Mr. Jim Butterf ield, Mr.
Kirk Kitson and all of their partners for their partnership on this effort to assist the Salvation Army.
The Bermuda Housing Corporation admini sters a number of programmes in pursuit of its mission, including the managing and leasing of a large invent ory of properties comprising houses and apartments.
Some of these properties are owned by the Corpor ation, and others are leased from private- sector ow ners. Mr. Chairman, the BHC manages 500 gover nment and private- sector residential units Island- wide,
and eight transitional homes comprising 180 rooms.
The BHC also manages and controls the Hustle Truck Programme, an acronym for Helping the U nemployed Sustain Themselves with Limited Emplo yment (H.U.S.T.L.E.), which has been in successful operation sinc e 2007. This year marks the 14
th anniversary of the programme. The Corporation, through the Hustle Truck Programme, has helped over 1,700
unemployed Bermudians in need with short -term te mporary employment and assisted them with finding
fulltime jobs. In ad dition, the programme has provided
much -valued assistance to our seniors, community
groups, churches and schools, and neighbourhoods. The Corporation works with local banks to help assist Bermudian clients to retain their homes by advising on
best steps to manage mortgage payments when they
are under threat due to the continuing challenges of
our economic times.
The Corporation continues to find ways to
reduce expenses and generate positive cash flows. Through efficient use of current staffing levels, redi stribution of duties, retraining and in- house seminars,
the Corporation has been able to use available staff members to ensure daily operations are performed to
expectations and in some cases exceeding expected
levels.
1170 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, the BHC is in the proc ess of
transfiguring the former Grand Atlantic condos into
Bermuda’s newest tourism venture, the Bermudiana
Beach Resort Condo Hotel. With the unanticipated
and deadly coronavirus devastating our tourism Indus-try in 2020 and causing a delay in the advancem ent of
this project, the Corporation continues with the planning process to ensure that when the tourism industry
returns to a global confidence level in travel, the I sland will be well positioned to take advantage of op-portunities arising by being prepared to provide tour-ism units for visitors to the Island.
Mr. Chairman, the BHC has successfully
signed a license agreement with the world- famous
Hilton (Tapestry Brand) Hotels, who have expressed continuous confidence in the Bermudiana Beach Hotel
concept a nd are also anxiously awaiting a global r eturn to travel and tourism.

$10 Million Loan

Recently, a $10 million
government -guaranteed loan [was negotiated] between the Bermudiana Development Company Li mited, a subsidiary of t he Bermuda Housing Corpor ation, and Clarien Bank to complete the first phase of
redevelopment of the Grand Atlantic Condos into the Bermudiana Beach Resort.
Mr. Chairman, the BHC continues to have
empathy with many of its clients who have suffered a
decline in their income through unemployment or underemployment. The team at the BHC has constant
meetings with clients to help them navigate through these difficult social, economic and financial times.

Transitional Housing

Mr. Chairman, the
BHC operates eight rooming or transitional houses
that contain approximately 180 beds. The various
houses are located throughout the Island and provide
a safe habitat for BHC clients. The rooming houses
cater to households that need immediate, safe or emergency accommodation. The Support Services
Department holds regular rooming house meetings to
listen to concerns and address complaints from the residents of the facilities. Mr. Chairman, the satellite
offices at the largest rooming houses at Southside are
charged with regular meetings with clients who have
fallen on hard times. The support given includes ec onomic, social and psychological guidance to occ upants to assist them in graduating out of the facility into more traditional Bermuda livin g.

Gulfstream Multi -Unit Rooming Housing
Southside, St. David’s

Mr. Chairman, the Gulfstream multi -unit rooming house comprises 78 rooms and currently houses 54 families from various backgrounds. Some families
have adjoining rooms to ensure adequate pri vacy for
parents and children. The Gulfstream residents are
appreciative of the opportunity, and regular house
meetings are held to listen to and allay concerns b efore they become problematic to society.

Langley House Multi -Unit Rooming Housing
Southside, St. David’s

Mr. Chairman, Building
632, known as Langley House, is a 61- bed rooming
house facility located at Southside, St. David’s. The rooming house is used specifically to house men in
need of affordable, safe accommodat ion. There are
currently 50 men residing in the rooming house. The Corporation has qualified social workers working out of the satellite offices including a former police officer
to monitor and correct any anti -social behaviours.

Harmony Club

The Corporation is in
the process of transforming the Harmony Club proper-ty into studio, one- bedroom and two- bedroom units
which will be used to primarily house seniors who are
mobile and can live independently. Harmony Club
property is also used as the Hustle Truck offices, and
the Gate House building is used to provide emergency
accommodation for persons in immediate distress or
in need of immediate rehousing.

BHC Staff

The BHC has recently
initiated an I nterns Programme for three young Bermudians who are working with the Corporation for one
year. This Interns Programme is used to ensure that
our young people have guidance and counselling as they make firm decisions on their career choices.
They are working in different departments of the Corporation including Finance, Property Management,
Property Operations, Compliance and the Support
Services Departments.
The Bermuda Housing Corporation’s Head
Office is located at the Seven Arches Building (East Entranc e), 44 Church Street in the City of Hamilton
and presently consists of 41 personnel. Of that total,
four Hustle Truck members operate from office space
at the Harmony Club. And four staff members, under
the direction of the Support Services and Property Operations Departments, operate off -site at a satellite
office in the Southside complex.
The current structure of BHC consists of seven departments:
• Project Management with two staff;
• Property Operations with 10 staff;
• Finance, Collections and Home Ownershi p
Services with eight staff;


Bermuda House of Assembly • Support Services with 10;
• Administration with five;
• Human Resources with two; and
• H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck with four.

Project Management

Mr. Chairman, the Pr ojects Department consisting of two employees assists
with advice regarding major repair work necessary on
existing buildings owned by the Corporation to ensure
longevity of the Corporation’s assets. The department has recently been restructured with the project managers overseeing the multiple dwel lings that come
under the BHC remit, to ensure that effective and
cost-conscious maintenance programmes keep the
units in safe and healthy states. They are also r esponsible for initial drawings of projected capital pr ojects as well as the project management of the properties through to completion. Projects planned for the
year include the following:
• conversion of Blocks B and D at Harmony
Club into one- bedroom and studio units ;
• restoration and conversion from five units to
nine units of Chelsea apartments i n St.
George’s ;
• renovation and conversion of the former St.
David’s preschool building into 14 loft apar tments ; and
• renovation and conversion of the former St.
George’s police barracks into a 15- multi-unit
complex. That project is nearing completion,
and occupancy shall begin next month.
Financing has delayed a number of these
other projects ; however, the Ministry i s in discussions
with Finance regarding a possible Phase II for the stimulus programme that can fund some of these pr ojects.

Property Operation s

Mr. Chairman, the
Property Operations Department is responsible for the
maintenance of BHC’s housing stock of approximately
700 units including the rooming houses Island- wide.
The department’s responsibilities include the r egular
maintenance of buildings under the control of BHC
and providing advice and assistance to clients of BHC
on housing- related matters.
The department comprises three property officers, five maintenance officers and one administr ative assistant. The de partment conducts regular
maintenance checks of buildings under the manage-ment of the Corporation and is responsible for small
maintenance works, along with coordinating more di fficult tasks with trusted and able contractors.
Last year the Property Operat ions Department
completed approximately 2,504 maintenance r equests. The requests for maintenance that this cap a-ble department handles are wide ranging. They tackle
everything from simple plumbing, electrical, water,
sewage and roof repairs to landscaping, painting,
flooring and major renovations.

Finance Department

Mr. Chairman, the F inance Department has a total staff of nine employees,
consisting of one finance manager; two assistant f inance managers, one responsible for reporting and
the other for IT; one accounts supervisor; three f inance officers and one cashier. The Finance Depar tment carefully monitors the Corporation’s spending and compliance, ensuring that policies and proc edures are adhered to and that clients act responsibly in paying their bills in a timely manner.
The Finance Department fields questions of a
financial nature, provides mortgage advice and assists
clients with understanding their financial obligations to
the Corporation.

Support Services Department

Mr. Chairman, the
Support Services Department is the department r esponsible for ensuring that adequate housing is found
for BHC clients. The department conducts regular i nspections of BHC housing inventory to ensure clients
are compliant with their rental contracts. The depar tment consists of ten persons: one manager, two rent-als case workers, two transitional house case wor kers, one junior transitional house case workers, three
rental inspectors and one intake officer.
There is a current waitlist for BHC accomm odation of 108 clients. The Support Services Depar tment offers myriad services to clients that include money management, housekeeping, social and behavioural problem eradication, child care, and health and safety guidance. In addition, the department offers advice on support from other agencies that stand
ready to assist clients who are in need of professional
counselling.

Administration

Mr. Chairman, the
Human Resource Department has a total staff of two.
The HR Department ensures that staff members have
the required skills to efficiently and successfully carry
1172 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly out their daily roles as the Corporation ensures employee welfare and provides mentoring and training
services.

Helping Unemployed Sustain Themselves with
Limited Employment (Hustle Truck)

Mr. Chairman, the
Hustle Truck Programme has proven itself over the
years, assisting unemployed persons who actively
seek w ork. The Hustle Truck Headquarters operates
out of the Harmony Club and caters to 20 temporary
employees per week. The Hustle Truck continues to
be of valuable assistance to Bermuda with the ability
to adjust to the needs of the community as they arise.
The current cost of the Hustle Truck pr ogramme is approximately $1 million per year —20
people per week per year, with persons able to remain
in the programme for up to three months per year,
taking one week off each month to seek regular employment. At this level the Corporation is able to rotate
through approximately 260 different people per year.
The programme is available for any unemployed Bermudian.
The Hustle Truck Office keeps a database of
information on the unemployed and their skill sets for the s pecific purpose of making a good fit when par tnering with employers. The Hustle Truck Office regularly receives requests from employers for qualified
and suitable potential employees. Upon receipt of r equests, the database is checked and those persons
who have the required qualifications are sent on interviews in the hopes of achieving fulltime traditional
employment.
The Hustle Truck has fundamentally replaced
the bulk -waste pick -up section that was closed in the
Ministry of Public Works by collecting and cleaning
neighbourhoods of illegally dumped bulk waste items
such as mattresses, sofas, furniture and appliances
on a weekly basis.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Housing Corpor ation continues to play a very important role in Berm udian society, assisting vulnerable people including seniors, mental health patients, inmates, young people and those who have fallen on hard financial times.
Despite the trauma caused by the COVID -19 pandemic and two hits to the Island from hurricanes in 2020,
the Corporation continu e with their daily operations.
There is an inverse affect in that the more difficulties
Bermuda encounters, the more there is a need for the
services provided by the Bermuda Housing Corpor ation.
Mr. Chairman, you will know that I have a
track record with Bermuda Housing Corporation, and I must say that this has been the most difficult period of
service. It has been a decade since the Corporation has been able to increase the housing stock. This
makes the delivery of units virtually impossible. But I
wish t he people of this country to know that the board and staff are working flat -out to address this deficie ncy.
In closing, I would like to thank the Board of
Directors and the management and staff of the Ber-muda Housing Corporation for their past services.
Mr. Chairman, with those comments, I now
move to Head 68—the Department of Parks.

HEAD 68 —DEPARTMENT OF PARKS

Mr. Chairman, the D epartment of Parks under the Ministry of Public Works
is responsible for the administration of protected areas
listed under the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986.
This Act incorporates changes and amendments from
the Bermuda National Parks Amendment Acts 2009
and 2017. The areas under the Act are inclusive of nature reserves, amenity parks, beaches and recre ational parks under the Department of Youth, Sport and
Recreation. The department has the added respons ibility of landscape and horticulture maintenance of roadside verges, school grounds, health clinics, rest homes, post offices, and other government properties
such as Clifton, the Laurels, Montpelier and Gover nment House, as well as propagating plants necessary
for these grounds.
As per the Act, the department is tasked with
providing safe, protected areas where patrons, res idents and visitors can enjoy active and passive recr eational pursuits. In addition, the department has as an
objective to maintain and manage all protected areas
such as the following:
• 1136 acres of nature reserves ;
• 75 amenity parks ;
• various government properties (post offices,
clinics) ;
• 30 kilometres of roadside verges ;
• school grounds ;
• sports fields ; and
• roundabouts .
In the peak spring and summer season the
department provides a highly trained and professional
lifeguard service at four public beaches. The depar tment is mandated by the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986 to enforce the Bermuda National Parks Regul ations 1988, the enforcement of which is accomplished
by way of the Park Ranger’s Unit. Ultimately, the department has to protect, conserve and preserve open spaces for present and future generations.
Mr. Chairman, the current account expenditure estimate allotted to the Department of Parks for the 2021/22 fiscal year, as seen on page B -225 of the
Budget Book, is $8,762,000, which represents a 5.67 per cent decrease over the prior year’s budget of $9,289,000.
The department budget is divided into various
programmes including the following:
• Administration Planning;
• Park Ranger Service;


Bermuda House of Assembly • Lifeguard Service;
• the Park Maintenance Section encompassing,
Government House, Maintenanc e and Deve lopment, Eastern Parks, Tree Service, Wes tern Parks, Schools Grounds, Tulo Valley and the Botanical Gardens ;
• Forts and Historical Sites; and
• the Railway Trails.
The Annual Exhibition is listed but is not funded at this time.
As seen on page B -227 of the Budget Book,
the Department of Parks has 143 fulltime equivalent posts within its remit, which remains unchanged from
2020/21. However, it is important to note that as a
result of the current economic challenges, the department had to operate duri ng the 2020/21 budget
year with 116 posts, which will more than likely have a
negative impact on the service delivery in some areas.
Mr. Chairman, despite the global pandemic,
we anticipate the Parks Department’s revenues of
$129,000 (as indicated on page B-226 of the Budget
Book) to remain approximately the same as the prev ious fiscal year. This is largely due to a notable i ncrease in the public’s interest in the use of parks
properties and forts for various events.
Locally, a steady demand continues for special permits for events such as beach weddings at
Warwick Long Bay, Jobson’s Cove, Stonehole Bay
and Chaplin Bay in South Shore Park. In addition, Fort
St. Catherine and Fort Scaur in Sandy’s parish remain popular wedding destinations. Fort St. Catheri ne with
the World Heritage designation over the past year has also become a popular destination for a multitude of
local events including but not limited to business r eceptions, cocktail parties, various plays, a ballet pr oduction, and even a haunted house.
Mr. Chairman, I will take this opportunity to
remind Honourable Members and those listening via
the airwaves that, until further notice, all permits to
hold functions in public parks and beaches have been
placed on hold as a result of the recent breach of
Health Regulations at a function held at the Botanical Gardens.
Mr. Chairman, additional revenue sources
within the department include camping and special permit fees for functions at various beaches, lifeguard service fees and horticultural produce fr om Tulo Va lley, which will recommence only after the temporary restrictions are lifted.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to report on key
activities in the respective sections of the Parks’ D epartment for the upcoming 2021/22 budget cycle. The department’s Sect ions can be found on page B -225.

Administration and Planning —
Business Unit 78050

The Administration,
which will have a budget of $1,140,000, is the hub of the department and encompasses the Park Planning
Section. This secti on will continue work on the management plans for Southlands and Botanical Gardens.
The section will also make use of the geographic i nformation systems (GIS) in the collection of data in the
analysis of Parks assets and other key operational
data.
With t he assistance of the Estates Section in
the Ministry, licences and leases will be drafted for concession operations at various parks and beaches.
In addition, the improvements for the boat ramp at Stone Crusher Corner in Kindley Field Park will continue.
The Sale Centre building and the greenhouse
at Tulo Valley nursery are scheduled to undergo reno-vation and repairs in order to increase the production
of native, endemic and other plants for Bermuda Gov-ernment properties. New signage, park benches and
picnic tables will be placed in the parks and beaches.
The department has continued the implementation of improvement projects such as community gardens
and the roundabout design scheme. The latter was again on display during the recent Christmas holiday
season, during which the department received n umerous compliments from passing motorists.
Mr. Chairman, the annual Agricultural Exhibition was not held due to the COVID -19-related Islandwide lockdown that occurred in March– April of last
year. Given the current environment in which large gatherings are not permitted, alternative methods of
holding the popular exhibition were explored, and this
year a virtual exhibition will be held from April the 22
nd
to the 24th, organised by Ag Show Limited. Work will
continue at the Southlands Park with an emphasis on
the restoration of the grounds for safe educational and
productive use by the patrons.
The department will continue to network and
collaborate with industry partners in order to achieve
goals and objectives that are beneficial and progressive for the parks system, inclusive of organisations such as the Keep Bermuda Beautiful, Bermuda Tourism Authority, Bermuda Zoological Society, Mirrors
Bermuda, Garden Club of Bermuda, Bermuda Botani-cal Society and the Skills D evelopment Programme,
to name a few.
Administration will continue to process special
permits and collect fees for the various functions in
parks (once permitted). This section also provides
support services to the National Parks Commission.
Mr. Chairman, for the upcoming year the A dministration Section will focus on the following prior ities:
• strategic planning;
• updating and developing management plans
as per the Act;
• targeted training and development of staff;
and
• the integration of synergies with the var ious
sections.
1174 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly These should result in stability, improved staff morale
and increased produc tivity.

Park Ranger Service—Cost Centre 78000

Mr. Chairman, the
Park Ranger Service budget for the 2020/21 fiscal year is $503,000. This section has taken the lead with
a number of the public –private partnerships in which it
has been involved, bearing positive achievements. The section has been directly involved with the Friends of the Bermuda Railway Trail and continues to
assist the department with the culling of invasive vegetation throughout the Railway Trail system.
Additionally the bridging of Flatt’s Inlet is nearing completion, the continuation of which will include the installation of the access ramps to and from the
span bridge in April –May of 2021. The achievement
will greatly enhance the use of the Railway Trail by
providing connectivity and safe passage between the
Palmetto Park in Devonshire and Coney Island in St. George’s.
Mr. Chairman, the section continues to have a
working relationship with the Bermuda Police Service,
primarily the Community Action Team which has pr ovided valuable assistance when enforcing the Berm uda National Park Regulations 1988. One such exam-ple is with the removal of abandoned vehicles and
boats from parklands. At the Southlands Park, the
Park Rangers are directly involved in the culling of
invasive species, often with the assistance of private –
public partner relationship including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Mirrors Bermuda as work conti nues towar ds the restoration of the park.
Mr. Chairman, the Park Ranger Service also
works closely with the Bermuda Bicycle Association
and the Fat Tire Massive mountain bike group, who
year-round have provided assistance in maintaining
walking trails in designated parks. Mr. Chairman, the
Park Ranger Service also provide patrols by boat to
the Island- based parks and nature reserves. As such,
campgrounds at Higgs and Horseshoe Island Parks
will be monitored and maintained, as will the military graveyards and the lim e kiln at Ferry Point Park.

Lifeguard Service —Cost Centre 78010

The Lifeguard Service
has a budget of $457,000 for 2021/22. The depar tment anticipates that there will be 21 seasonal and
reserve lifeguards trained and certif ied under the
Royal Life Saving Society [RLSS]. The Service will be
on duty to meet the demands of the summer season
and will operate from April to November 2021. The
Lifeguard Service works alongside the Park Ranger
Service and will continue to provide th e lifeguard and
water safety support during the swim portion of the
second ITU Bermuda International Triathlon currently
scheduled for October 2021. In conjunction with the Park Ranger the Lif eguard Services, staff have also made themselves available to provide training and certification for interested staff members of the Department of Parks in
either American Heart Association Basic Life Support or Bermuda Red Cross Community CPR, AED, and
First Aid with the instructors who have been certified.
Mr. Chai rman, the Park Maintenance Section
is found on page B -225. The combined Budget will be
$ 6,316,000. This section comprises the following cost
centres:
• Government House—cost centre 78015,
budget $258,000;
• Maintenance and Development —78020 ,
budget $669,000;
• Eastern Parks —78030 , budget $906,000;
• Tree Service —78035 , budget $567,000;
• Western Parks —78040, budget $1,297,000;
• Schools Grounds —78045 , budget $523,000;
• Tulo Valley Nursery —78055, budget
$333,000;
• Botanical Gardens and Arboretum —78065 ,
budget $1,435,000.
Mr. Chairman, the combined sections provide
landscape and horticul tural maintenance and the necessary bedding plants for the Island’s parks, beaches,
nature reserves, roundabouts, schools and gover nment properties. In addition to the maintenance per-forme d by these employees for the upcoming year,
they will continue to make improvements as follows:
• Blue Hole (former dolphin show area) ;
• repair and replace the fencing in Spanish
Point Park, Astwood Park, Chaplin Bay, Adm iralty House Park, Mullet Bay Park and Shelly
Bay Park;
• repair and upgrade bathroom facilities in the
parks ;
• install park benches and picnic tables at var ious parks and beaches such as John Smith’s
Bay, Astwood Park, West Whale Bay, and
South Shore Park (Warwick Long Bay p layground);
• replace gates at parks, beaches and the Rai lway Trails; and
• be involved in the restoration and improv ement of parks including Coney Island, Adm iralty House, Shelly Bay, Ferry Point, Kindley Field, South Shore Park and Southlands. This
will involve the major clearing of invasive species and replanting with natives and endem-ics.
The Skills Development Programme conti nues to develop persons with the skillsets for gardening and landscaping. This programme has successfully garnered the support from the Garden Club of Berm uda and is one of this year’s recipients of the End to
End fundraiser. Some of the goals of the programme
are as follows:


Bermuda House of Assembly • Research colleges that we can consider sending SDP participants and Parks’ workers ;
• Improve our training programme in areas like
arboriculture, horticulture and landscaping;
and
• Gather information regarding a pprenticeship
programmes to share with government departments and the p rivate sector.
Mr. Chairman, at the Tulo Valley Nursery ,
plans are progressing for the repairs to the slat house
and replacement of both the greenhouse and Sale
Centre. This government plant nursery will play an
instrumental role in the roadside beautification initi ative by propagating ornamental groundcovers to be
planted at the roadsides to compete with and mi nimise the growth of weeds.
Mr. Chairman, the restoration and improv ement of Botanical Gardens is a work in progress. The
process for the updating of the management plan continues for the Botanical Gardens, which will assist in
progressing forward the ini tiatives to improve the
property and return it to its former glory, if not better. The networking with key industry partners will be key
in achieving this objective. Improvements to the B otanical Gardens remain as per last year, which include
repairs to th e Exotic House and the Cactus and Succulent House; replacement of the Education Building; and a proposed Open Plan Barn in the stables section
near the main ring.
The upgrading of the collections will continue,
and plant labels will be installed. Benches and picnic
tables will also be replaced, fencing will be installed to control traffic flow and parking, with the former garage and maintenance yard site being repurposed as a
parking lot.

The Railway Trail —Cost Centre 78100

Mr. Chairman, the
budget for the Railway Trail is $320,000. This has r emained constant for over 10 years. The Railway Trail continues to be one of the most actively used parks in
the system for both residents and tourists. Events such as the End -to-End charity event generally held
during the first week in May and more recently the Cycle for Change and the Triple Challenge have also
highlighted the popularity of the Trail. Going forward,
the department is looking to increase public notices
and advertisement s to inform and educate the public
on things happening on the Trail. In 2020/21 staff were tasked with again providing the landscape
maintenance of the Railway Trails. The same will a pply for 2021/22. Mr. Chairman, projects planned for the Railway Trail in 2021/22 include
• replacement of damaged gates ;
• installation of park benches ;
• repairs of damaged fences ;
• culling of invasive plants ; and • the restoration of uneven surfaces primarily in
the western sections.
The department will network with Friends of the Bermuda Railway Trail and their industry partners for the surface restoration projects.

Forts and Historical Sites

The budget for
2021/22 $346,000. The primary management respon-sibility for this section includes Fort St. Catherine, a
World Heritage site, and other forts in the eastern parishes. However, jurisdiction for managing forts extends to other parks in the National Parks System.
The current staff of five members continues to mai ntain, promote and market the fort with the Bermuda
Tourism Authority (BTA) and destination- based magazines and publications. Revenues and patrons’ use
should remain steady in correlating with the projected
local participation for the 2021 season. Projects planned for the fiscal year include paint ing the guns at
Fort St. Catherine, Alexandra Battery, Gates Fort and
St. David’s Battery; and refurbishment and replac ement of the signs at various forts.
In addition the recent closure of the St.
George’s Foundation, Heritage Museum has afforded
the department the opportunity to preserve historical
artifacts which are currently being prepared for display
both at the Fort St. Catherine and for the first time at
the Alexandra Battery.

Thank you, Minister.

Proceedings of Committee suspended at 12:30 pm

Proceedings of Committee resumed at 2:00 pm

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2021/22

MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS

HEAD 68 —PARKS
[Continuation of Committee thereon]
1176 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Good afternoon, we are resuming the
debate. We are now in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2021/22 on the Ministry of
Public Works. And w e are debating Heads 36, 53, 68,
81, and 82.
Honourable Minister Lt. Col Burch, you have
the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
I will go back one paragraph so that there is a
flow as I am under Head 68.
In addition the recent closure of the St.
Georges Foundation, Heritage Museum has afforded
the department the opportunity to preserve historical
artifacts which are currently being prepared for display
both at the Fort St. Catherine and for the first time at
the Alexandra Bat tery.
It is anticipated that the displays will be avai lable for viewing by the general public by May/June of
this year. The imminent opening of the St. Regis Hotel
property and adjoining Golf Course will further highlight the historical significance of St . Georges in that
the golf course is to be named; “The Five Forts Golf
Course” commemorating the following five, area forts.
• Fort Albert
• Fort George
• Fort William – Gun Powder Cavern
• Fort Victoria; and,
• Fort St. Catherine
Mr. Chairman, the global pandemic and its
impact on the ability of Bermudians to travel off Island
for vacation and other recreational and or leisure activities has highlighted the importance of Bermuda’s
green spaces. The department has observed a sharp
increase in the use of our beaches , parks and railway
trails as persons gravitate towards these outdoor ar eas for their own physical and mental wellbeing. As
such , the role of the men and women of the depar tment in the care, maintenance and development of
Bermuda’s National Parks cannot be underestimated.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, I take this opportunity to thank the staff of the Department of Parks who
through resource challenges continued to work to the
best of their abilities to achieve the goals and objectives of the planned projects f or the fiscal year.
I will now turn to Head 81, the Department of
Public Lands and Buildings.

HEAD 81 —DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC LANDS AND
BUILDINGS

Mission Statement

Mr. Chairman, it is the
responsibility of the Department of P ublic Lands and
Buildings: “To effectively manage Government proper-ty and provide national mapping to enable the delivery of effective public services .
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Public
Lands and Buildings is responsible for managing the
Government es tate of over 2,000 acres and some 750
buildings. The land and buildings uses are diverse
and range including key public buildings, schools, p olice stations and post offices to the lighthouses, farms, beaches and islands. In addition, the department
manages 80 leases held from the private sector and
the government quangos for the government to pr ovide public services at approximately $9,000,000 per
annum in rents.
The department has a critical support role to
all ministries and departments to ensure that their real estate needs are met in order for them to provide their
services to the public. Without the supporting property resources there would be no public services.
Mr. Chairman, I will highlight throughout my
presentation, the four programmes or sections within
the department as well as the plans for the upcoming fiscal year that are designed to meet that responsibi lity.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -231 you will note
that there are four main programmes for the Depar tment of Public Lands and Buildings and are as follows: 8100– Administration ; 8101 Buildings ; 8102 –
Estates ; 8103– Land Surveys .
The total budget allocated to the Department
of Public Lands and Buildings is $19,610,000 for fiscal
year 2021/22, as compared with $19,919,000 for the
fiscal year 2020/21. This represents a decrease of
$309,000. This decrease reflects Government’s aim
reduce costs and still effectively operate and maintain facilities for public services across all government departments.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for the programmes
is as fol lows:
• 8100 Administration, $251,000
• 8101 Buildings , $8,722,000
• 8102 Estates , $10,261,000
• 8103 Land Surveys Management , $326,000
This compares with budget for the same programme s
for fiscal year 2020/2021 of:
• 8100 Administration, $279,000
• 8101 Buildings, $ 9,076,000
• 8102 Estates, $10,236,000
• 8103 Land Surveys Management, $328,700
The increase in 8102 is due the increases in
costs expenses in operating and managing the Go vernment’s aging stock of buildings.

Administration

Mr. C hairman, programme 8100 Administration Training has a total
budget of $251,000. Its objective is to provide senior
management and administrative support for the E states and Buildings Sections . This programme is split


Bermuda House of Assembly between two cost centres, namely: 91000 Administr ation at $239,000; and 91001 Training and Apprentic eship at $12,000
Mr. Chairman, the Administration cost centre
91000 has a specific budget allocation of $239,000 for
fiscal year 2021/22, as compared to the $232,000 for
fiscal year 2020/21. This represents an increase of
$7,000. However, cost centre 91001 has a budget
allocation of $12,000, which has been reduced from
$47,000 in 2020/21 in training support. Overall there is
a net reduction in the cost centre of $28,000.

Buildings Section

Mr. Chairman, the
Building Section 8101 has a total budget of
$8,772,000. The Buildings Programme is split b etween two cost centres, namely: 91002 –Services
Management at $925,000 ; and 91003– Maintenance at
$7,847,000
Mr. Chairman, the Buildings Programme as
seen on page B -231, has a mandate to effectively
manage the maintenance, repair and renovat ion of all
Government buildings . This programme has a total
budget of $8,772,000. When compared with the $9,076,000 allocation during fiscal year 2020/21, this
represents a nominal decrease of $303,000 over the
prior year. Again, with an aging infrastructure the
buildings demand more maintenance and improv ements.
Achievements 2020/2021

Mr. Chairman, I would
like to highlight some of the achievements of the D epartment of Public Lands and Buildings during the
2020/21 financial year and the plans for the 2021/22 financial year.
Mr. Chairman, the Buildings Section attended
to over 3500 helpdesk building maintenance c alls in
the year together with planned service works and capital works over the entire stock. With the onset of the
pandemic in 2020, the section also carried out works
to all public buildings to meet COVID -19 protection
requirements. The section should be commended for
coming out during the lockdown period to carry out the
urgent internal refit of the Southside Health facility for the Government’s COVID -19 Testing Laboratory for
Dr. Carika Weldon.
In addition, the minor damages caused by
Hurricanes Paulett e and Teddy were attended to late
in the year. The Buildings Team also supported works for the Salvation Army Emergency Shelters in Hami lton in conjunction with the BHC and private donors.

Capital Works Plans

Mr. Chairman, f or
2021/ 22 there are a number of planned capital works that will take place across the various capital cost cen-tres.
Mr. Chairman, $3,000,000 under cost centre
75309 for All Schools Maint enance has been spent in
2020/ 21 on annual scheduled improvements and repairs work to schools. Most notable were, plumbing
works for East End Primary, retaining walls rebuilt at
Paget Primary and flooring works at the Francis Patton Primary school.
Mr. Chairman, the schools continue to be an
annual high priority. Some $3,000,000 have been
budgeted in 2021/22 for these works under cost centre 75309. Concurrently, the Building and Estates sections will work closely with the Education Department
on the consultative process for the future of Bermuda
Schools and how this will aff ect the requirements for
school facilities in the future.
Mr Chairman, for capital cost centre 75112
Major Buildings Upgrade Projects in 2020/21 was
$3,050,000. As summary of the key works under this
account include
• renewal of flushing water system at West gate
Correctional Facility ;
• demolition of the old Hamilton Police Station
for the Ottiwell Simmons Arbitration Centre;
• restoration works to Camden House;
• new roof to Harbour Radio at Fort George;
• refit of the Park Ranger’s office at Admiralty
House; and
• refurbishment of residential properties , as examples of the varied works under this ac-count.
Mr Chairman, t he Ottiwell Simmons Arbitr ation Centre is continuing in 2021/ 22 under a Pu blic/Private Partnership Agreement and will be funded
by the developer an d should not place any demand on
this account for the next financial year.
Mr Chairman, the 2021/22 allocation for cap ital cost centre 75112 for Major Buildings Upgrade
Projects is $3,700,000. The account enables the d epartment to carry out major works to improve and r edevelop facilities to modernize to make them fit for
purpose and meet statutory compliance. The works
under this account for 2021/22 include:
• roof top solar PV projects for the Government
Administration and General Post Office buil dings, TCD building and DPT Bus Garage at
Fort Langton;
• completion of the Camden House Refurbis hment ;
• improvements to the Public Works Quarry Building Facilities;
• improvements to the Water Section Facilities;
• renovate Botanical Gardens visitors centre; and
• roof and interior works to St George’s Youth Centre.
1178 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, the refurbishment to the exter ior of the Sessions House was completed in 2021 and
the building envelope has been sealed, with the r eplacement of all windows and external repairs and painting, including restoration of the terracotta detai ling. The building envelope is now sealed and protec ted.
The works on the interior refurbishment are
planned to continue, however they will be put on hold
for 2021/22 to ease the demand on capital budget
under cost c entre 75320 for Parliament Building R efurbishment. The House of Assembly will continue to
meet at Veritas Place through the next financial year
and the rent has been allowed for in the budget.

Estates Section

Mr. Chairman, Pr ogramme 8102 Estates has a total budget of
$10,261,000. The Estates programme is split between
two cost centres, namely: 91004– Property Asset
Management at $4,528,000 ; and
91005– Insurance at $5,733,000.
The mandate of the Estates Programme is to
effecti vely manage the Government estate, to provide
insurance cover on all Government property and to
facilitate and secure office and residential accommodation for Government Departments as needed.
Mr. Chairman, t he Estates Section provides
property and land r elated management service to all
government ministries and departments. This service
includes insurance, acquisition, letting, rental and di sposal of land and property across the Island. The section is the custodian of the foreshore and sea- bed and
is resp onsible for licenses and leasing of same.
Mr. Chairman, the Property Asset Management Cost Centre 91004, together with the Insurance
cost cent re 91005, have a total allocation of
$10,261,000 for fiscal year 2021/22 as compared with $10,236,000 for fiscal 2020/21, as seen on page B -
231. This represents an increase of $25,000, or less
than one quarter of one per cent due to increased
costs for additional staffing including two trainee E states Surveyors, and the increased costs of electricity.
91005– Insuranc e: The budget for insurance in
2021/22 is $5,733,000 and remains unchanged from
2020/ 21.

Asset Management

Mr. Chairman, The
Office Relocations Capital cost centre 75099 for
2021/22, which can be found on page C -6, has been
reduced to a nominal amount of $250,000 compared
to $1,925,000 in 2020 /21. In practical terms, this will
require all government departments to hold any r equests for additional office space, relocation or office
alterations during the next financial year to reduce the
demand on capital. Land Survey Management

Mr. Chairman, I now
move to Programme 8103, Land Surveys, with cost
centre 91007 on page B -231. This programme has a
budget allocation of $326,000 for fiscal year 2021/2 2
as compared to a 2020/21 budget of $328,000, a decrease of $2,000.
This section provides traditional and specialised land surveying expertise and guidance for the
Bermuda Government . For example, the section establishes, maintains and updates a National Control
Monument Network across Bermuda, ensuring that
private land survey com panies have a standardis ed
and internationally compatible coordinate system to
utilise.

Conclusion

Mr. Chairman, there
has been a concerted effo rt in this budget to limit i ncreases on operating and significantly reduce capital
expenditure. At the same time the department conti nues to effectively manage the facilities to support pu blic services.
Mr. Chairman, as I conclude the Budget Brief
for Head 81, the Department of Public Lands & Buil dings, I would like to t ake this opportunity to recognis e
all the staff in the Department and thank them for their
hard work through these challenging —especially
times during the COVID -19 pandemic in 2020.
I will now move to Head 82 , the Department of
Works and Engineering.

HEAD 82 —DEPARTMENT OF WORKS
AND ENGINEERING

Mr. Chairman, the
Mission of the Department of Works and Engineering
is: To ensure the effective and prudent managem ent
of all engineering services relating to the construction,
erection, improvement, maintenance and repairs of
Government infrastructure and the operation of essential water and waste treat ment services.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Works and
Engineering is responsible for the provision of essen-tial services to the Bermuda public and the maint enance of highly visible major elements of the gover nment infrastructure. The range of varied and unique activities covered by the department includes: garbage c ollection and disposal, road maintenance and
repairs, bridge maintenance, government vehicle
maintenance as well as safe water extraction, treatment and distribution.
Services such as safe disposal of hazardous
substances, disposal of vehicles and constr uction m aterials, recycling, composting, the maintenance and
repairs of the government’s infrastructure, which i nBermuda House of Assembly cludes roads, bridges, docks and street lighting, are
also carried out by this department.
As you can imagine much of these services
had to remain in operation during the outbreak of the
COVID -19 pandemic , an event that changed the world
for us all. While there were some challenges to services early on, I am pleased to say that the team successfully navigated those challenges and rose to the
occasion, adjusting to a new norm of working under
COVID -19. To them, I would like to say thank you,
especially to those essential workers who ensured our waste disposal, water production and transport needs
were met during the height of the pandemic.
Mr. Cha irman, there are seven operational
sections of the department: Highways, Structures,
Electrical/Mechanical, Solid Waste, W ater/Wastewater, Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility ,
and the Quarry Facility . All of them are critical to the
effective operation and maintenance of the gover nment’s infrastructure. It is within this framework that I present the Department of Works and Engineering’s Budget Brief for fiscal year 2021/22.

Programmes

Mr. Chairman, I will
now present the seven program me areas, each with a
number of sub- program mes or cost centres, as shown
on pages B -235 and B -236 of the Estimates of Rev enue and Expenditure, namely:
• 8200 Administration
• 8201 Engineering
• 8202 Highways
• 8203 Waste Management
• 8204 Quarry Transport
• 8205 Quarry Products
• 8206 Water and Sewage

Mr. Chairman, the estimated budget for the
Department of Works and Engineering for the 2021/22
fiscal year is $26,976,000, which represents a decrease of $2,492,000 from the 2020/21 original budget level.
Program 8200 Administration (page B -235)
provides for the salaried senior management team of the department. The mandate of the senior manage-ment team is the efficient management of the seven
sections of the Ministry, including:
• Highways
• Structures
• Electrical/Mechanical
• Solid Waste
• Water and Sewage
• Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility, and
• Quarry Operations
Mr. Chairman, a $364,000 budget has been
allocated for fiscal year 2021/22. This represents an
increase of $105,000 when compared to the 2020/21 budget allocation. The additional funds are to cover
the cost of software for AutoCAD which has increased in price considerably world- wide due to a change in
the company’s business strategy.
Referring to the performance measure under
business unit 92000 Administ ration (page B -238) for
fiscal 2020/21 the total Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) accident frequency rate
for the department is currently 3.5. This is a slight i mprovement over the previous year’s score of 3.7 and meets the desired outc ome of five or less. The average number of training days per managerial staff
member is forecast to be one as compared to four of
last year, due to the impact of COVID -19.
Mr. Chairman, the full time equivalents for the
cost centre 92000 (page B -237) Admi nistration is one.
This is no change from the revised 2020/21 budget.
Program me 8201 Engineering (page B -235).
Mr. Chairman, the mandate of the Engineering Ser-vices Program me is to provide quality electrical, m echanical and structural engineering services . A budget
of $1,760,000 has been allocated for this program me,
representing an increase of $77,000 compared to the
2020/21 budget. This program me includes cost ce ntres 92001 Electrical and Mechanical Management,
cost centre 92002 Electrical support and c ost centre
92003 Structures.

The Electrical/Mechanical Management and
Electrical Support manage the provision of planning,
design, construction, installation and maintenance
services for electrical and mechanical systems ass ociated with the government's facilities.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 92001 Electrical
and Mechanical Management is estimated at
$772,000, representing an increase of $100,000 from
the original 2020/21 budget. This section provides
support on electrical and mechanical issues to other
sections and departments throughout government.
Mr. Chairman, referring to the performance
measure (page B -238) for cost centre 92001 Electrical
and Mechanical , the percentage of hours billed to pr ojects for other government departments is forecasted
to be 0.5 per cent for fiscal 2020/21, due to the ec onomic downturn. The performance target for 2021/22
is set to be 10 per cent based on present staffing levels to perform capital projects.
The full time equivalents for the cost centre
92001 Electrical and Mechanical is nine, the same as
fiscal 2020/21.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 92002 Electrical
support is mainly used to provide the budget for street
lights. Cost centre 92002 Electrical has been allocated $551,000, fifty thousand dollars more than last
year. Mr. Chairman, referring to the performance
measure (page B -238) for cost centre 92002 Electrical
Support , the number of new street lights to be i nstalled in fiscal 2020/21 is forecast to be nine. The
performance measure for the average number of
1180 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly streetl ights out of service is forecast to be only 4 per
cent which is under the desired target of less than 5
per cent per year.
The Structural Engineering Services (92003)
manages the provision of structural inspections, design, construction, maintenance, proj ect and contract
management services as well as acting as the go vernment’s functional authority on structural and related civil engineering matters. The budget for cost centre 92003 (Structures) is $437,000 which represents a decrease of $72,000 against the original 2020/21 budget.
Mr. Chairman, with regard to the performance
measures within Business Unit 92003, eight inspec-tions have been carried out on bridges and 18 on docks during the year to date. The full time equiv alents for cost centre 92003 Struc tures is five, repr esenting no change from fiscal 2020/21.
Program me 8202 Highways : Mr. Chairman,
the mandate of the Highways Program me is to develop and maintain the public road infrastructure to en-sure the safe passage of motorists and pedestrians.
This entails all work associated with the planning, de-sign and construction of road schemes and includes
activities such as resurfacing, drainage, signage, road
markings, retaining walls and bus shelters. They are
also mandated to
• provide technical advice to other Government
ministries and agencies on highway related matters;
• manage the improvement of public roads ;
• assist citizens with their private road i mprovement needs under the Private Road I mprovement Act; and
• act as the Government functional authorit y on
highways engineering- related matters.
Mr. Chairman, a $3,523,000 budget has been
allocated to this program me, representing a decrease
of $162,000 as compared to the 2020/21 original budget.
Mr. Chairman, Cost Centre 92004 Manag ement has a budget of $654,000, which represents an
increase of $97,000 compared to orig inal 2020/21
budget. Mr. Chairman, the performance measure for
cost centre 92004 Highways Management indicates that the forecast amount of communications received by the team from members of the public during fiscal
2020/21 is approximately 750. Mr. Chairman, the full
time equivalents for the cost centre 92004 Highways Management is nine, no change from last year.
Cost Centre 92005 Road Asphalt and Signs
budget is $623,000, which represents a decrease of
$132,000. This savings is a result of removing funding
from vacant positions and a reduction in maintenance
material budgets. Mr. Chairman, the performance
measure for Business Unit 92005 Asphalt and Signs
shows that the amount of road centr e line marked out
during fiscal 2020/21 is likely to reach 12.2 kilometres .
The forecast for the road resurfacing is 6 k ilometres , which is below projections of 10 kilometres due to i mpacts of COVID -19 and also a reduced budget. The
fulltime equivalents f or the Cost Centre 92005 Asphalt
and Signs is 16, one less than in fiscal 2020/21.
The budget for Cost Centre 92006 Public
Roads Maintenance is $1,117,000, which represents
an increase of $289,000 when compared to the orig inal 2020/21 budget. This unit is responsible for the
maintenance of retaining walls, sidewalks and other
masonry works, as well as the highways drainage sy stems. The increase is as a result of adjustments to
internal recharge budgets to reflect the projected decrease in economic act ivity for the upcoming year.
Mr. Chairman the performance measure for
cost centre 92006 Public Roads Maintenance shows 2 new bus shelters are projected for fiscal 2020/21. Also
3,000 feet of new sidewalks is expected to have been
completed, which is above the estimate of 500 feet
due to the anticipated competition of a long- standing
highways scheme. Mr. Chairman, the fulltime equiv alents for the cost centre 92006 Road Maintenance is 25, the same as last year.
The budget for Cost Centre 92007 Public
Road Cleaning is [$1,129,000] . This represents a d ecrease of $416,000 compared to the previous budget year. The decrease is a result of removing funding for
vacant posts, contractors, internal vehicle hire and
maintenance materials budgets. Mr. Chairman, the
performance measure for Business Unit 92007 Public
Road Cleaning indicates that the target for fiscal
2021/ 22 is 2,000 k ilometres of public road cleaned by
mechanical means. This was well below estimates
due to the unviability of the mechanic al sweeper
which is in the process of being replaced by a new
machine. There were also 20 emergency call -outs for
fiscal 2020/21, in line with estimates. The fulltime
equivalents for cost centre 92007 Public Road Cleaning is 25, the same as last year.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92008 Private Roads remains unfunded due to budget constraints. The performance measure for cost centre
92008 Private Roads indicated that the number of pr ivate roads on the waiting list for improvement under
the Private Roads (Improv ement ) Act 1969 is 30. Al though there is no budget allocated, the Ministry will
endeavor to assist with the execution of six projects
through the private sector for the upcoming year.
Program me 8203 Waste Management (page
B-235). Mr. Chairman, the mandate of the Waste
Management Program is to arrange for the collection
and safe disposal of Bermuda's solid wastes. The aim
of the Waste Management Section is to serve the
people of Bermuda by providing a comprehensive
waste management Program, util ising the best tec hnologies for disposal, recovery of materials and energy resources, protecting public health and safeguar ding the environment. This includes:
• education regarding waste reduction, reuse
and recycling


Bermuda House of Assembly • waste recycling
• waste collection
• composting
• land cr eation
• high temperature mass burn incineration with
energy recovery (Waste to Energy)
• Special and hazardous waste disposal
• management and maintenance of the Tynes Bay Waste -to-Energy Facility in a reliable,
safe and cost -effective manner; and
• to act as the government functional authority
on all matters relating to solid waste, env ironmental engineering, waste- to-energy and
process engineering.
Mr. Chairman, a budget of $15,537,000 has
been allocated to this program me for fiscal 2021/22.
This represents a decrease of $1,755,000 as compared to the 2020/21 original budget.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92009, Management, Education, and Enforcement is
$358,000, which represents a decrease of $18,000.
The performance measure for 92009 Solid Waste Mana gement was forecasted in fiscal 2020/21 to have
carried out five educational lectures during the year.
The Solid Waste Section is also forecasted to place
35 advertisements for 2020/21. The fulltime equiv alents for cost centre 92009 Solid waste management
are three.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Cost Centre
92011 recycling, is $1,041,000, which is a decrease of
$85,000 when compared to the original fiscal 2020/21
budget. The fulltime equivalents for the Recycling
program me are five, the same as fiscal year 2020/21.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92012 Airport Disposal Facility is $1,217,000, which is
a decrease of $44,000 from last year’s original budget. The performance measure for 92012 Airport Di sposal Facility shows that it is forecasted that 25,000 loads of materials will be delivered to the Airport Di sposal facility and the number of cars scrapped will be
around 1500 during fiscal 2020/21. The fulltime equivalents for the Cost Centre 92012 Airport disposal faci lity is six, no change from 2020/21.
Mr. Chairman, The budget for cost centre
92013 Composting Operations is $1,417,000, which
represents a decrease of $229,000 when compared to
the original fiscal 2020/21. The fulltime equivalents for
the Cost Centre remain at 10. No change f rom
2020/21.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 92014 Special and
Hazardous Waste has a budget of $1,238,000, which
represents a decrease of $100,000. The fulltime
equivalents for the Hazardous Waste section is six, this is the same as the estimate for fiscal 2020/21.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92029 Collections is $3,290,000, which is a decrease
of $500,000 when compared to the original fiscal 2020/21. The decrease is due to a cut in the internal
vehicle hire budget. The performance meas ure for cost centre 92029 Collections indicates that on aver-age 310 tons of domestic waste continues to be co llected during the week. The average number of trucks
available was nine. The fulltime equivalents for the
Cost Centre 92029 Collections are 59, th e same as
previous years.
Mr. Chairman, the Tynes Bay Waste- toEnergy Facility provides refuse disposal and renew able energy for the country. It is anticipated during fi scal 2020/21 that there will be six tours of the facility as
indicated in the performance measure for 92016 Tynes Bay Administration (page B -239). The facility is
also forecasting that there will be one complaint from
the members of the public from the public drop off f acility and the number of employed pow er engineers
will be 17, the same as last year.
The budget for Cost Centre 92016 Tynes Bay
Administration is $443,000 and represents a decrease
of $141,000 from the 2020/21 budget. The fulltime
equivalents for the Tynes Bay Administration section are five.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Cost Centre
92017 Tynes Bay Operations is $4,450,000, repr esenting a decrease of $542,000 from original fiscal
2020/21. The performance measure for 92017 Tynes
Bay Operations anticipates that 65,000 tons of solid
waste will be processed at the Tynes Bay Wast e-toEnergy Facility during fiscal 2020/21. The amount of electricity generated and sold to BELCO is forecasted
to be 18,000 kilowatt -hours in 2020/21. The revised
forecast for the amount of ash concrete the facility
produced is 4, 500 cubic yards. The fulltime equiv alents for Tynes bay Operations is 31, the same as fi scal 2020/21.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92018 Tynes Bay Maintenance is $2,065,000, a d ecrease of $18,000 from the original fiscal 2020/21.
The performance measure for cost centr e
92018 Tynes Bay Maintenance indicates that the availability of the plant is forecast to be 60 per cent for
stream one, 89 per cent for stream two and 96 per
cent for the turbine respectively for fiscal 2020/21. The
fulltime equivalents for Tynes Bay Mainte nance is 14
the same as last year.
Program me 8204 Quarry Transport and pr ogramme 8205 Quarry Products (page B -235): Mr.
Chairman, the mandate of the two Quarry Pr ogram mes is, collectively: To manage the fleet and
equipment leasing, mechanical maintenance, quarry operations, and to act as the Government functional
authority on all matters related to fleet management, vehicle and other mechanical engineering and maintenance activities.
Program me 8204 Quarry Transport : Mr.
Chairman, a $1,988,000 budget has been allocated to
this program me for 2021/22, representing a decrease
of $443,000 as compared to the original 2020/21 Budget.
1182 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The budget for cost centre 92019 Quarry A dministration is $484,000, representing a decrease of
$67,000 from the original fiscal 2020/21. The fulltime
equivalent for the Quarry Administration is one. This is
one less than the previous year due to the closure of the Quarry Canteen and subsequent redundancy of
the canteen cook position.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
9202 0 Quarry Vehicles and Equipment Operation is
$2,314,000 which is a decrease of $259,000 from the
original 2020/21 figure. The decrease is from a reduc-tion in vacant post budgets. The fulltime equivalents
for the Cost Centre 92020 Quarry Vehicle Equipment
Operation are 32.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92021 Quarry Vehicles and Equipment Maintenance
is $4,690,000, which is a decrease of $127,000 compared to the previous year. The cuts are a result of removing funding for vacant posts. The fulltime equivalents for the Cost Centre 92021 Quarry Vehicle
Equipment Maintenance is 5 2, three more [than] the
previous year to create a trainee post for succession
planning and two additional mechanic posts. With the
budget cuts , however, these changes are not for eseen to be implemented for the coming year.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92034 Quarry Receipts (an internal recharge budget with a negative value) is set for $5,500,000 and is the
same as for fiscal 2020/21.
Program me 8205 Quarry Products : Mr.
Chairman, a $2,029,000 budget and a $3,140,000 rechargeable budget for quarry products have been
allocated to this program me for fiscal 2021/22. The
fulltime equivalents for the Asphalt Plant remain u nchanged at seven.
Program 8206 Water and Sewage (page B -
236): Mr. Chairman, the mandate of the Water and
Sewage Program is : To provide planning, design,
construction, operation and maintenance of the Gov-ernment water extraction, treatment and distribution systems and the wastewater collection and dist ribution systems; to produce potable water on a cost r ecovery basis to meet demand; to provide septage receiving facilities for private sanitation truckers and for limited public facilities; to act as the Government
functional authority on all matters related to water and
wastewater engineering.
Mr. Chairman, a $4,915,000 budget has been
allocated to this program me. This represents a decrease of $111,000 as compared to the original
2020/21 Budget.
The budget for cost centre 92025 Water and
Sewage Adminis tration is $1,024,000, which repr esents a decrease of $22,000 as compared to the ori ginal 2020/21 Budget. The performance measure for
cost centre 92025 Water Section Administration (page B-240) indicates that the administration area within
the section has so far achieved 99.71 per cent response within 24 hours to enquiries by customers dur-ing fiscal 2020/21. Mr. Chairman, the fulltime equiv alents for the cost centre 92025 Water Section Admi nistration (page B -237) is five .
The budget for cost centre 92026 Water Su pply and Treatment is $2,616,000, which is a decrease
of $67,000. This budget ensures that there is sufficient
funds allocation to pay for contractors who supply
supplementary bulk water, remote monitoring and
control systems support, and to pay for the electricity
charges associated with pump stations and treatment plants within the infrastructure.
Mr. Chairman, the Performance Measure for
Cost Centre 92026 Water Supply and Treatment
(page B -240) forecasts that 260 million gallons of potable water w ill be produced during this fiscal 2020/21.
The fulltime equivalents for the cost centre 92026 W ater Supply and Treat ment is nine .
The budget for cost centre 92027 W ater Sewage and Distribution is $702,000) which represents a
decrease of $79,000. The Per formance Measure for
cost centre 92027 Water Storage and Distribution is
forecasting for fiscal 2019/20 that the average lost service hours due to a main’s breaks are 120 hours.
The number of mains repairs made for the year was
20. Mr. Chairman, the fullti me equivalents for the Cost
Centre 92027 Water Storage and Di stribution is nine .
The budget for the cost centre 92028 Sewage
Collection is $573,000, which is an increase of
$13,000 over fiscal 2020/21. The Performance Measure for cost centre 92028 gives the amount of time as
a percentage that the Tynes Bay Septage receiving
facility is operational. For 2020/21 this figure was 96
per cent . The performance measure also tracks the
number of blockages experienced in sewer mains across the island and that number was 12. The
fulltime equivalent for the Cost Centre 92028 Water
Sewage and Distribution is one.
Staff: Mr. Chairman, total staffing levels within
the Department of Works and Engineering are shown
on page B -237. Employee numbers estimate for the
2021/22 budget are 344. However, also of note is that
due to budget constraints only 290 of these required
posts are currently filled. This means that the wor kload for those 290 staff is greatly increased and ser-vices levels and expectations must fall in line wi th this
lower number.

Review of Major Capital Projects

Mr. Chairman, I will
now provide Members of this Honou rable House with
a summary of the status of the major capital projects
being managed by the Department of Works and E ngineering.
The overall 2021/22 Capital Expenditure Plan
for the Department of Works and Engineering is
$14,599,000. Details are found on pages C -6 and C -7
of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure 2020/21.


Bermuda House of Assembly 1) Road Works (CEP cost centre 75042): Est imate for this cost centre is $1,230,000. This budget
comprises major maintenance work to the road network, which includes road resurfacing, as well as road
improvement schemes such as junction improv ements, road widening and new sidewalks. This year’s
budg et consists primarily of work associated with the
BELCO trenching scheme that will see new underground cable laid across the island over the next two
years.
2) Water Projects (CEP cost centre 75044): Mr.
Chairman, this programme is for planned and unfor eseen small to medium water and sewage projects,
including a requirement every year to provide equi pment and general facility upgrading to meet ongoing
treatment, environmental and safety related issues.
The 2021/22 estimate for this cost centre is $250,000.
The funding will be used for continuing an advanced
metering system to reduce non- revenue water through
early leak detection. Started last year, this system has already saved the government significant amounts of money in lost revenue.
3) Water/Sewage Capital Maintenance, (CEP
cost centre 75345): This CEP line item will be used for
various system refurbishments as required by the a ging plant and infrastructure. This represents no new
funding as CEP 75044 was reduced by the same amount. Essentially, the new CEP was created for
better tracking and asset management. The 2021/22 estimate for this Cost Centre is $375,000.
4) Improvements in Street Lighting (CEP Cost
Centre 75046): Mr. Chairman, the Estimate for this cost centre is $560,000. This budget is used to cover the ongoing LED modernisation project currently b eing delivered by BELCO.
5) Bus Shelters (CEP cost centre 75048): Mr.
Chairman, the 2021/22 estimate for this cost centre is zero. No new bus shelters will be built for the coming
year due to the economic clim ate.
6) Private Road Street Lighting (CEP Cost Ce ntre 75051): Mr. Chairman, the Estimate for this cost
centre is zero. This budget is normally used to provide
extra lighting on private roads, but due to budget con-straints, no service is planned for next year .
7) St Georges Sewage Plant (CEP cost centre
75061) : Mr. Chairman, the Estimate for this Cost Centre is $500,000. This budget supports Implementation
of the Water and Waste master plan. The funding will
be used for implementation of plan, including primaril y
consultant services.
8) Asbestos Disposal (CEP cost centre 75064):
Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22 estimate for this cost centre is $500,000, which will be used to continue the
repacking of containers that have deteriorated too far
at the Government Quarry and also to ship adequately
packed materials to the United States for permanent disposal.
9) Structural Refurbishment of Bridges (CEP
cost centre 75116): Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22 est i-mate for this cost centre is $1,300,000. This budget
will be used to carry out repair work on Watford Bridge
which was delayed last year , as well as to purchase a
new emergency fast erection bridge for the Island. The old emergency bridge, which was over 30 years old was repurposed to replace the Bailey bridge located at Coney Is land.
10) Refurbishment Ferry Docks and Public Landings (CEP cost centre 75117) : Mr. Chairman, the
2021/22 estimate for this cost centre is $1,100,000.
The work here will include the refurbishment of one
floating dock for the fast ferry system as well as repair
works on minor docks and wharfs across the Island.
11) Reconstruction of Retaining Walls (CEP cost
centre 75127): Mr. Chairman, the 2020/21 estimate
for this budget is zero dollars. No work is planned for
this initiative during the upcoming budget year du e to
cost reduction.
12) Stabil ise Roadside Rock Cuts (Structures)
(CEP cost centre 75142) : Mr. Chairman, the 2020/21
Estimate for this budget is $50,000. Work for this budget will include design work to address multiple erosion sites across the island the projected execution
the most safety sensitive of these works as time and
budget allows.
13) Foreshore Protection Work (CEP cost centre
75144): Mr. Chairman, this cost centre is used to carry
out repairs and mitigating measures to the foreshore.
The 2021/22 estimate for this budget is $825,000 to
address critical areas of the Westgate Correctional
facility, Gravelly Bay and Shelly Bay road.
14) Causeway Refurbishment (CEP cost centre
75207) : Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22 estimate for the
cost centre is $250,000. These funds are utilis ed in
the event of storm damage to the causeway over the
course of the year.
15) Tynes Bay Waste Treatment Expansion (CEP
cost centre 75210): Mr. Chairman, capital funding for
fiscal 2021/22 is zero dollars. No work is planned for
this initiative during the upcoming budget year as long
term planning for the facility is now part of a larger
scheme to involve the Water and Waste Water master
plan for the island.
16) Dangerous Walls and Rock Cuts (Highways)
(CEP cost centre 75258): Mr. Chairman, the 2021/ 22
estimate for this cost centre is $500,000. This cost
centre is used to carry out repairs to collapsed walls
and rock cuts. Additionally, as most cases of [these]
damages occur due to vehicle accidents, the gover nment will increasingly be seeking insura nce coverage
from the vehicle owners to pay for damages .
17) Quarry Refurbishment (CEP cost centre
75264): Mr. Chairman, The 2021/22 estimate for this
cost centre is $500,000, which will be used to fund
upgrades at the Quarry Depot. Two new buildings
have been added to the site, which were relocated
from Morgan’s Point (the former Artemis Building). The funds will be used to fit out the building interiors
with garage equipment and tools.
1184 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly 18) Pembroke Canal Upgrade (CEP cost centre
75293): Mr. Chairman, thi s program me is for the upgrade of the Pembroke Canal. The 2021/22 estimate
for this cost centre is $400,000. This funding will be
used to advance initiatives to address flooding issues associated with the canal.
19) Reverse Osmosis Plants Electrical Systems
(CEP cost centre 75294): Mr. Chairman, this pr ogram me has been created for the as needed upgrade
of all the electrical control and remote monitoring sy stems in each of the Water facilities. The 2021/22 E stimate for this cost centre is $275,000.
20) Tynes Ba y Capital Maintenance (CEP cost
centre 75308): Mr. Chairman, t he 2021/22 estimated
total cost of this cost centre is $3,000,000 and will be used for continuation of the clinker crane project as
well as much needed boiler works. The current age of
the plant is over 25 years and most systems are nearing a critical state. Additional funding is being sought
for a total plant refurbishment in the short to medium
term as part of the Water and Waste Master Plan. U ntil that time, funding from the budget is being us ed to
address critical items to maintain plant operation.
21) Morgan’s Point Works (CEP cost centre
75324): Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22 estimate for this
cost centre is zero dollars. This budget is used to ad-dress any further contamination discovered during the Morgan’s Point site development. It is zero for the
coming year as development has halted.
22) Solid Waste Capital Maintenance (CEP cost
centre 75043): Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22 estimate for this cost centre is $355,000, and will primarily be
used to replace ageing equipment and infrastructure
at four sites: Special Waste in Sally Port, Recycling at
the Government Quarry, Composting at Marsh Folly
and the Land Reclamation at the Airport Waste Management Facility.
23) Swing Bridge Refurbishment (CEP cost centre
75096): Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22 estimate for this
cost centre is $700,000. This budget will be used to
effect repairs to Swing Bridge as required as current
budget constraints cannot effect the needed replac ement of the bridge in the short term.

Review o f Major Capital Acquisitions

Vehicles and Equi pment ( CEP cost centre 76495) . Mr. Chairman, the v ehicles and equipment to be replaced under the
2021/22 budget are those that have surpassed useful economic life and are in poor and/ or dangerous cond ition. The focus for next year will be the replacement of equipment for the solid waste program mes which r equire speciali sed material handling equipment, such
as a tub- grinder, compacter and other auxiliary
equipment.
Other equipment under this budget includes
trucks and vehicles used as tools for various oper ational departments, such as parks, who have been
starved of equipment for many years, resulting in
massive losses due to inefficiency. With this equi pment purchased it is envisioned that service levels
can increase even with the reduced staffing numbers.
This year will see the purchase of four electric
cars for use in the government fleet. These vehicles will give us the opportunity to assess their durability
and prepare various charging stations at government
sites.
We will also take possession of two new trash
trucks from UK firm Hillend, later this year, the same
supplier of the 5 received last year. The 2021/22 est imate for this annual allocation is $3,591,000.

Okay, thank you,
Madam Chairman.
That concludes my presentation on the D epartment of Works and Engineering and all of my
Heads for the Ministry of Public Works.
So, let me close with these few remarks. Considering the challenges this country and the world have faced over the last 12 months, the Ministry’s
plans will be continuously scrutinised and adjusted as
necessary to ensure that w e on target to achieve our
goals.
At the same time, the Ministry will continue to
seek other opportunities that will enable the Gover nment to build the economy. Madam Chairman, for the
fiscal year 2021/22 the Ministry of Public Works has
received a budget allocation of $67,010,000, which is
$3,752,000 below the original 2020/21 year. To
achieve this budget, which is almost $4 million less
than the last fiscal year, and $8.4 million less than two years ago, there are only two areas that these funds
can come from —staffing and/or operations. The Mi nBermuda House of Assembly istry has looked at all revenues to find areas to [?]
cuts without reducing staff. The combination of r educed operations across the Ministry and the removal
of funding for 62.5 vacant funded posts reduced the
maintenance, training and operating budget, got us to our goal.
Madam Chairman, the last year living with
COVID -19 has taught the world that life will never be
like it was again. The wearing of facemasks, getting
our temperature taken before entering buildings, sanitizing hands and practicing physical distancing to sheltering in place, was a complete shift in the way we
conducted our daily lives.
Madam Chairman, the common theme
throughout my brief is that the resources available to
the Ministry have been signif icantly reduced. And, as
with any reduction in resources, the knock -on effect
will be a reduction in the service delivery levels. What
does that mean, Madam Chairman? From a practical
sense, and example could be that residents who are
accustomed to seeing the roads swept once a month
may see service carried out every other month. Grass
that is cut on a 20- day rotation basis may increase to
a 35- day rotation.
Madam Chairman, I am putting my marker
down now because I want the listening audience to
fully appreciate the challenging times we are in and to work with the Government rather than jumping on s ocial media to rant, criticise and complain. I also want the listening public to appreciate the hard and ded icated workers who are on the receiving end of the
criticism at times, which is grossly unfair to them.
I thus urge the public to be patient and tolerant when it comes to the delivery of these services. We simply cannot cut as much grass, pick up as much
trash or fix as many roads as we used to. This may be
the “new norm” as we balance our physical needs with
our fiscal needs, and thus, again I call for patients and
understanding as we strive to serve the public the
best we can.
I would like to thank the 592 people (well, that
should be 591—I shouldn’t be t hanking myself) who
make up the Ministry Public Works and encourage
them to follow the Ministry’s motto, Business as usual
just won’t do.
We are committed to striking the right balance
and delivering on our mandate to the people of this country. Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chai rman, and as the Minister has just ended off, I would like to take this opportunity to continue to give acc olades to the Ministry for the fine work that they are
doing u nder such restraints. This last year has, obv iously, been extremely tough. So we want to thank the
Minister and the staff for the fine work that they have
had to accomplish under stressful, stressful, stressful situations. As we go through the subjective a nalysis I
am sure we will hear a little more about some of the challenges that the Ministry had to face.
What I have found from my past experience is
that this Ministry has always come under intense
amounts of tension because of the size of this budget ,
and tension from the other Cabinet Ministers, in many
ways looking for opportunities to get done what they
need to get done . And a lot of times it is this pa rticular
Ministry that is the one that is having to help. So again, I tip my hat to the work that has had to be done. There is much to be heralded.
I would now like to go into the Heads 36, 53,
68, 81, 82 and start off on page B -216, the Ministry of
Public Works. Just a bit of clarification, I want to go
down on page B -216 under development and try to
clarify the number for you. This original amount under
Development, under Capital Expenditure on page B -
216, says for 2020/21 $42,147,000. If you look at the
previous book, the actual estimate was $41,147,000.
So I was not quite sure what happened t here. If the
estimate last year was $41,147,000, I would have anticipated the original amount under Development to be
$42,147,000. I am hoping that someone, the PS or
whoever, can take a look at that and see if we can
clarify why that is the case. It could be for any number
of reasons; I don’t know. It could be just an error; or it could be correct and something else is wrong. But I do want to make sure that as we move through the book
that it reflects the correct numbers for the general
public and for hist ory as we go forward. So I apprec iate if we can get the Clerk to take a look at that.
I take note on page B -216 that under [Head]
82, Works and Engineering . . . sorry, under Current
Expenditure, total $70 million original amount
$762,000 and, of course, we have seen now that we
are pretty close to almost $3,752,000 that’s there. And listening to the summary of Minister, it appears that
COVID -19 has played a large role in this. So I thank
him for that briefing.
I am curious. The $1 million in the revised
amount, we spent an extra $1 million, $1.2 million. Can the Minister give us an idea of what that had to
do with? I assume it was [INAUDIBLE] answer
throughout the brief, I would assume that $1.2 million may have something to do with COVID -19 in setting
up. But if he can explain why we went over the revised
amount of $1.2 million [INAUDIBLE] again this month, I don’t know, but if he can reflect on that, that would
be great for us.
I take note that the numbers are consistent
under Current Expenditure, in trying to cut costs. So,
bravo to the Minister. Under Revenue, same page B -
216, I take note also of the significant reduction under
Works and Engineering from the original of $1.63 mi llion in reduction. Now, what I was trying to under-stand, and I know that under Revenue it is difficult to
project, even in the best of times, so I was just curious
as to how we came to the conclusion that our revenue
1186 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly probably would arrive at about $13.5 million, understanding that we are dealing with a situation of
COVID -19 and many of the Ministry’s departments
operate through COVID -19 and revenue. We can see
clearly that we will well beyond $3 million, almost, in our revised amount for the revenue there. So I am just
curious as to the thinking behind why we thought that
in 20 21/22 it would come to around $13.5 million,
which is just a little over a million more than t he revised amount. I am sure announced you will come
with some of that as well.
I take note under Capital Expenditure, once
again, we see the numbers there and they are brought out and highlighted. I am concerned under the Development part, if we can get those numbers looked at so we can clarify. And then I will come back to the other
question on Capital Expenditure.
So, I also take note that if you take a look at
the employee numbers, and this, again, is to clarify
some errors that I thought may have existed. If go
over to employee numbers, which is on page B -220
. . . sorry, if you also take a look at page B -216, employee numbers (sorry about that Minister, let me take you back to page B -216) the original amount 694, if
again you look at the estimate for last year you will
see that it was 714. I would have assumed that the
2021 estimate would be the original amount here. It is not. It is saying 694, when in act ual fact it was 714.
That would make a different of 17. I did not want to make any assumptions there again based on that di fference of 17, but if the Minister could take a look at
that, because I believe the original amount should be
714 as opposed to 694 as listed there.
Those are my brief remarks on the Heads
there and the total amounts for Public Works. I would
like to move over to page B -217, where the depar tment’s mission statement is. I was just curious, after having led out in the Cabinet Ministry debate for this
budget, if you go down to the third budget item where
it says, To effectively manage Human Resources
Management policies and practices for all Ministry of
Public Works operations. I understand that human
resources are being consolidated. And I did still see
some number under the Subjective Analysis. But I
understand that the Department of Human Resources
Management is now being merged into one. I was just curious as to whether or not this objective then has to
change being that it is all bein g pulled under the Cabinet Ministry. It may be something that the Minister has
to look at. I could be wrong, but based on that debate
it sounded as if all of the human resources are going
to fall under Cabinet. So, if we can get clarification there.
Then if we go down to the third item underneath that, objectives, it says, To manage and mai ntain Ministry of Public Works specific telecommunic ations system including related infrastructure and i nventory. Again, I ask him the same question, is the
objective s omewhat changed knowing that the phones
and the likes are now coming under the Cabinet Mi nistry? I do recognise that they are still maintaining
poles and the like, but maybe the structuring of that objective might be slightly different. Can he answer
wheth er or not he feels that may need to be changed
based on the changing of these departments?
Okay, thank you, Madam Chairman. I am going to move over to page B -218, as we look at the
General Summary. I go down to Head Office Admi nistration 3601, business unit 46111 Administration.
The Minister did mention. If I take a look there, the
Minister did mention $68,000 less. And I was trying to
merge that into the employee numbers. I was not
quite making any sense out of it. It is not an extreme
amount, considering the budget size. But what I would
like to know is how did the administration manage
through COVID -19? Certainly, people had to be in
office, out of office, I am just curious if he can give us an idea of what the administration was going through
trying to manage a massive, massive . . . I mean, this
is the largest man- wise problem, department, period,
with all of the departments that fall under it. Sorry,
Headquarters.
How did they manage COVID -19? And did
they have a system where they were using people i n
one week, off another week? How were they managing through this year under administration? And with
$68,000 less being spent, I am sure they were on their
Ps and Qs there in how they were able to manage. I
didn’t hear any answer to that.
I understand t he central filing under business
unit 46112, same page B -218, under Head Office
Administration, programme 3601, so that was fine.
Thank you very much.
Under programme 3610 Accounts, if I take a
closer look I see that this is obviously finance. And the
concentration has been on payables, receivables,
payroll and the like. I see it is $120,000 less. I am not
sure, but it is a decent amount and most likely [INA UDIBLE] when I look at the numbers. Maybe there was
a merger somewhere else or something. I do reca ll
last year the focus was on debt collection. I am just curious as to how they are getting along at collections. How did we achieve the $120,000 less? And again, as
I look at the staffing numbers, I could not quite make it
out, especially knowing that a l ot of the positions now
were not funded. Can he give me an idea of where we
are with that?
Under 3611, purchasing, I recall the convers ation on this here. It was quite interesting, because u nder purchasing the focus really was on . . . and if you
take a l ook at the purchasing original amount of
$558,000, the focus was on inventory control. I am curious as to how that was doing and if that is still the
focus under purchasing? Some parts were actually touched on by the Minister, but how are we getting
along as far as the inventory is concerned? I note


Bermuda House of Assembly some [INAUDIBLE]. Again, is that still the focus under
this particular [unit]?
If I go down now to 3612, still on page B -218,
Telecommunications, I notice that the allocation of
$747,000 is there. I thought it was transferred to I nformation and Digital Technology, on page B -262. So I
am still a bit confused as to exactly what it is that we
are doing as far as telephone maintenance if, in fact,
this has gone over to Cabinet. I am not sure what the
difference is i f the Minister can qualify that, because
[INAUDIBLE] taking over this telephone system.
On the same page, B -218, unit 3613, Human
Resources, you will see an allocation for $122,000 for
fiscal year 2021/22. Obviously this is an extreme drop
from the original amount and also from the revised amount. I was hoping that the Minister could give us
some more detail as to why that is. It may have to do
with, such as human resources, being merged over.
But it was not clarified as to what was going on here.
I take note under 46117 of the Recruitment in
[INAUDIBLE] students. Again I must tip my hat to the
Minister for the fine work that he is doing there. Later
on I will get to a few questions on how we are getting
along with recruitment because I know that he talked
about it in the performance measures, the difficult to
fill positions and I will ask a question on how we are
getting along in advancing with that. Also under Human Resources, programme
3613, unit 46118, Training and Development, the Mi nister did menti on that this was due to a transfer of employees under Training and Development. I was not
quite sure of . . . the allocation estimates among the
2021/22 of $22,000 is drastically lower than prior. I
was not sure how that correlated to the training on
page B-219 under Subjective Analysis. Are they two
completely separate things, and do not have anything
to do with each other? In his analysis it was difficult to
tell whether or not they were one and the same. I am
assuming based on the numbers that they are not the
same, so if he can clarify that, and how the transfer of
employees . . . well, I can see how if they transfer employees out they will not need that amount of training.
So I will leave that alone.
Under 3614 Architecture and Design, which
sure is a fascinating area here, considering you spent
less in the development last year, this year gone, or this current year, what has caused the revised
amounts to almost double? And what are the upcoming works that are anticipated that these guys will be
working on as far as designs are concerned. I know
he mentioned about electrical design, but what other works are they working on in particular that would lead to an increase to $192,000 over the original amount
for 2020/21 of $174,000. And they subsequent to that
question: What led us to spend almost double in the
revised amount during this COVID -19 period as to
why we spent $310,000 compared to the original amount of $174,000? Another question under Telecommunications,
the Minister mentioned . . . who maintains the poles?
[He] mentioned about the poles that one was decom-missioned and we were looking to replace one. Exac tly who maintains those? Who is responsible for mai ntaining the poles? And as we go forward, who is rent-ing space on these poles? I know that there was i nterest. Who is renting space on these poles, and who
maintains the poles?
I am going to move over now, Madam Chai rman . . . I want to make sure you can hear me because every so often it does seem to drop out.
On page B -219, the Subjective Analy sis, u nder Salaries and Wages, there is a massive amount of reduction there. I assume that this is due to the loss of
the departments. I added up the departments that
were lost and I think that was department 49 and 97, Land Valuation and Land Title. It doesn’t amount to
the total amount. So what was the other part of this
reduction that is quite large here?
Under Transport, we only spent $18,000. I am
assuming that is due to COVID -19. What services
does Transport provide? And do we believe it will go
back to the previous numbers? We are still struggling
through this COVID -19. Can he give us something on
that?
Understandably travel will be less. Communications, I understand that he is going to ensure that
we are getting information out there, whether it b e
schedules of trash collection and the likes. So, I recognise that these numbers will still be somewhat be
[INAUDIBLE ].
Advertising and Promotion. I am not quite
sure what that entirely covers. What would we be a dvertising and promoting necessarily? Can the Minister
help there? Again, it is a small amount.
Under Professional Services, again, we are
pretty much maintaining the estimate for 2020/21
found on page B -219, under the Subjective Analysis,
Head 36, Professional Services. The original amount
was $497,000 and then the estimate for 2021/22 is
$467,000. That is $30,000 less. But I guess what is
significant here is that we spent $190,000 less, with
the revised amount. Can the Minister help us out here
on what that would be due to? And whatever that rea-son was, what are we now going to include or add to
our services that are estimated at $467,000?
Turn over to page B -220 . . . apologies Madam Chairman, I cannot see you, so I do not know if you are here or not. I assume you are Madam Chai rman.

The Chai rman: I have been here the whole time.

Okay, great.
On page B -220, under Head 36, again I did
have some questions about employee numbers. The
Minister mentioned that there were 22 posts defund1188 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ed. So, I expect that answer that, so I will leave that
alone. I will move on to something else.
Under Head 36, page B -221, Performance
Measures. I take note under busi ness unit 46111,
Administration: Conduct safety health assessments
and corrective action plans for the operational areas,
and then, Provide safety and health training for Mini stry employees . They are pretty much staying the same
there. What I wanted to a sk the Minister was under
Admin. Did COVID -19 not provide more opportunities
for training under Health? And how did it assist ma ybe
in some of the other areas of Cabinet, and maybe not
just Public Works?
Considering the magnitude of COVID -19 and
what took place, I was just curious as to whether or
not this particular area here was working with the
Health Ministry and what was goin g on and what they
were discussing as far as dealing with COVID -19 and
the information that needed to get out there. Thank
you.
On page B -222 under Head 36 business unit
46117, Complete recruitment of difficult to fill posts.
The Minister spen t some time speaking of BeFAST
and different things. I guess I was curious to understand a little more about . . . my apologies as I just
want to go by my notes here.

Yes. I am just looking for the
names that he mentioned acknowledging the fine
work that they were doing. I cannot find them right
now. It i s quite a substantive list. Right, I will get to
that later.
I was curious here, under business unit
46117, what are those positions that we have ident ified that are still outstanding that fall into these difficult
to fill posts? And I know that it is chal lenge, but if he
could name off some of those. I know that he mentioned something about surveyors that appear under
the Ministry of Headquarters.
What are still some of those difficult to fill
posts, and what are we doing to get us to a better place in fi lling those? I do understand that the Minister
has been actively working to get young people into
training program mes. That is admirable, so it would be
good to hear about that.
Under 46118 on the same page B -222, Training and Development, look ing at Budget Reductions ,
Training. I was just curious as to how the Minister believes they will still be able to maintain these targeted
outcomes that are the same from the original to the
target amount, due to the fact that we have reduced the budget. It is going t o be a bit more difficult having
fewer people. How does he feel that he will be able to maintain these outcomes with the budget restraints in
place?
I think what I will do is go through each Head,
and then I will go through capital development , rent
and al l that, all as part of one. So, if that is okay with
the Minister, I will just continue to move through the
questions, and then I will go to capital development
and the likes, systematically.

Okay. If we move on now
then to page B -223, and I know that Minister , as far as
this particular Department , has done a lot of work
there. And so, I am thankful ( because we only have
the one page here) for the extensive briefing that was
given. So, I want to thank Bill for allowing that extensive—

Sure, the Head is 53, Bermuda Housing Corporation and it is found on page B -
223. My apologies.
I will start out with the mission statement . I
guess because the Housing Corporation is morphing
into other areas and sections as we listened to the Minister, I thought they may be discussing, I do not
know . . . are they discussing whether or not they
changed the mission statement from just Rental and
Mortgage Assistance? They have morphed, they are
doing quite a bit more. They are investing, getting i nvolved even in the hotel and other things. So, it might be interesting to see, as they broad en their scope , if
they would also broaden their mission statement and
their objectives , the main objectives , as to what it is
they are seeking out to accomplish. Is that something
that they are considering?
Now, because it is just this page here on page
B-223, I had to take a lot of notes on what the Minister
had to say, so will be discussing all these things that fall under the grant of $6,050,000 which has remained
static over the years. I was just curious. In the past we have talked about the fact that there were derelict
buildings that they had identified. I am just curious as
to whether or not . . . and there was a discussion
about how, potentially , the private sector was showing
interest in some of the derelict buildings that were managed under the H ousing Corporation as to whet her or not they were getting interest. I recall asking that
question before and asking if they would publish the
information or who to contact in turning some of these
properties. Can the Minister let us know whether or
not the y are considering selling off any properties
which are under the Housing Corporation?
The Minister also spent quite a bit of time in
explaining the H.U.S.T.L.E. truck, which again, every
year that I do this here, I give him accolades for initiatBermuda House of Assembly ing with others this H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck Intern Pr ogram me. I wonder if he could highlight some of the
transitions that have taken place. I mentioned that it is
something that they work on where they work with
these folks and get them into permanent jobs. Can he
give us some idea, maybe to encourage some of the
listeners who are struggling that if they get on the
H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck, it could lead to fulltime work ? Can
he give some highlights of that ?
They mentioned that they have helped over
1700 individuals . Does he anticipate, obviously during
this time , the need for the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck to grow?
Can the Minister give us a little more information on that? Maybe they need another truck, maybe we can
find another truck . [Maybe] the public [would] donate,
considering the financial constraints that are out there.
I do know several people who are on the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck and they are grateful for it.
There is a rotation of about 260 people, the
Minister mentioned, and there are 20 people per week, which is admirable. I s there any anticipation on
this upcoming year for the spending on the
H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck and the number of people who
need help?
Also, I recall that the IT and Admin were
merged with the new responsibilities taken on by the Bermuda Housing Corporation in working with
Southside and these mergers. Are there any other
mergers that are taking place that have been cost ef-fective for the Housing Corporation through that e ndeavour between the Corporation and BLDC ?
The Minister mentioned the Bermudiana
Beach Res ort and there being a delay due to COVID -
19. They have a $10 million loan, I believe, he mentioned. We do know that Government has guaranteed
them for $10 million. So, with this first phase, exactly
when do we anticipate for Bermudiana Beach Resort
. . . due to COVID -19 delaying things, when do we
expect an opening date? I know that there was some
mention of sometime this year in past statements. So,
I was just curious as to whether or not he has a more
defined date as to what that opening date will be, co nsidering that $10 million is supposed to be injected
into the construction or whatever works to take place
there.
Can the Minister also give us an idea of the
approximate amount of work , the type of work, and
money spent for this current fiscal year to help with the Housing Corporation and the Bermudiana Beach
Resort contract to get up to par? How much does he
believe he would have spent in the last year to assist
with the Bermudiana Beach Resort in maintenance? I know that there was some elevator work going on as
well. What kind of financial contribution took place this
last year for that particular property?
I would like to also give my accolades to the
Minister, along with Mr. Butterfield and Mr. Kitson for working with the Salvation Army and they spli t the
$200,000 three ways to get things going there to build up and refurbish our Salvation Army . So I would like to
give accolades to all of them for that.
The Minister also mentioned in his summary
Harmony Club , and that they were developing it for
seniors. Just two questions on this. Who is occupying
the place now? I think he mentioned it , but I missed it ,
[Is ther] one particular tenant ? Who is occupying
Harmony Club at present and when can we expect the
completion of these senior units? This is vitall y important with our ageing population as the Minister has mentioned in other areas that even in Civil Services there is an ageing population, and we do need to find
adequate housing for seniors. When can we expect
the completion of these units ? And will there be studio
type units, one bedroom units and the likes?
I had a question about Support Services, but
the Minister did spend some time there. He also mentioned that there was a waiting list of 108 people for
housing. Is this an unusual number? Has this increased due to COVID -19, or is this the status quo for
this kind of thing? Has this been going on for the last
couple of years in the Bermuda Housing Corporation?
Just bear with me. I have a lot of notes here. I
mentioned Gulf Stream, Housing. Yes, on page B -
223, again we are on the Head 53 Bermuda Housing Corporation, due to challenges of the last year has the
Housing Corporation had to reduce their rent? What I mean by that is not give reductions , or relief, I should
say, but have they actually had to reduce the actual
rent itself in order to help accommodate folks who are
still finding it difficult during this particular time in our
history?
Does he have an idea also of how much we
may have lost under the Housing Corporation due to COVID -19? During t his last fiscal year how much
have they lost due to the inability to be able to rent
and the like because of COVID -19?
One more question under Housing Corpor ation. It would be nice to hear if they have come up with
anything creative that they are using to assist those
customers of the Housing Corporation who are cha llenged. Have they come up with any ways of assisting
during this difficult time in the past year and for the
upcoming year ? Maybe they have been able to secure
grants from places other than Government . It would
be good to hear if there have been any other break-throughs with assistance to help with those who are
much in need. And that will conclude my questioning
for Head 53. Yes?

Yes, Head 68, Parks, page
B-224. I did not realise the time was going by so fast.
Let me just move a bit quicker here.
Under Head 68, Parks, I had no questions on
the objec tives. So I will move to page B-225, under
1190 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the Expenditure Program me, General Summary. I am
going to move straight to business unit 6801, 78000,
Park Service, Park Ranger Service.
On page B-227 you will see under there the
number of employees. I was just curious as to . . .
probably the numbers are the same. They are cutting
back about $33,000, and I know that they have a diff icult time as it is. I did not quite hear exactly what the
$33,000 had to do with. It is probably something
small. But I was curious as to how they are going to
maintain the work that they are doing considering i ncreasing by $33,000 there. What is that increase of $33,000 really to assist in?
Under Lifeguard Service business , unit 6802.
Let’s take a look at the original amount for 202 0/21 of
$470,000, and the estimate for this year 2021 /22 coming up $457,000. That is pretty static there. I would
assume that the revised amount is due to tourism , and
we only spent about $306,000. I would have thought
that it would have been even less tha n that when it
came to Lifeguard Services because there were so
few people, although locals were using it (just to just ify, why we could not have gone lower ). Maybe we
could have gone lower. But it looks like we maintained
the same number of lifeguards. So, I am just curious
as to how we managed with this $306,000. Maybe we
could have done better there.
I will move along to Park Maintenance, bus iness unit 78020 . . . Yes, I have an answer for that
already, so I will move to, on the same page B -225,
Park Maintenance 6803, Eastern Parks. I jokingly said last time that the Eastern Parks got less money than if
you go down to 78040, Western Parks had an alloc ation of $1.3 million under the original amount, $ 1.35
million in 20 20/21, and Eastern Parks got only al most
an even $1 million. And I said, Well maybe that is due
to Cup Match. But, Madam Chairman, if you go to the
revised amount, Eastern Parks did not quite hit their
million dollar mark , close ; but Western Parks wound
up spending even more than their alloc ation for
$1.395 [million] and we still did not even have Cup
Match!
And then if you look at the estimates for
2020/ 21 under Eastern Parks and for Western Parks,
there is still a disparity between the two. I am not sure
if Eastern Parks has fewer parks than the western
end. I do not know. Maybe that is the reason. Can the
Minister clarify ? The ones in the east, I am thinking
they are being left out. I think that much is [due to] St. George’s this time, so we might need a little extra
beautifying down in th e eastern end.
Let me go to School Grounds, Tulo Valley,
yes, under the same item, business unit 6803 Park
Maintenance, Tulo Valley . The Minister mentioned
that there are renovations on the greenhouse. I was
trying to understand . . . I know that it produces plants,
flowers and the likes. I am looking for the Perfor-mance Measure. Oh, yes , on page B -230 under . . . it
is not there. We are doing maintenance on the gree n-house. We are spending less , $67,000. What budget
is the renovation coming out of? I know that this place
is going to need some extensive work . How much
does he believe it is going to take in order to get it to where it needs to be so that it is rightfully functional?
Then down to business unit 78100 Railway
Trail. The Minister did mention that gates , benches,
and uneven surfaces were being taken care of there. I
wanted to know whether or not there were any plans
to work on [INAUDIBLE ], whether there are any plans
to take care of connecting Ferry Reach and Coney
Island. I know back in the day t hey were talking about
a bridge or underwater something. Are there any talks
on that as they near the end of the Railway Bridge in Flatts ? Are there any plans of a Ferry Reach/ Coney
Island connection, which would be incredible, quite frankly, moving something for this up into the country
on the Railway Trail ?
Also, under the Railway Trail you will see
78100. You will see that in the revised amount we only spent $58,000. Is that a true reflection ? Or did we
just not bother with the Railway Trail due to COVI D-19
and the financial restrictions that were in place? I did
not get an answer to that because we are looking like
we are going to get back to the Railway Trails and
maintaining them and getting rid of the invasive species as the Minister had mentioned. B ut what ha ppened to the revised amount for the current year of
2020 /21 as to being only $58,000? Did we do nothing
at all, or very little?
I will move down , because the Minister did
answer quite a bit about Administration and Planning, talking about Southw inds, 6804, Administration. I did
get answers to that. Thank you very much.
Down to Forts 6805, business item 78080,
Forts and Historical Sites. Now, the Minister did a nswer the question. I was curious as to Fort St. Catherine due to the fact that we have a hotel opening up
within the next month and one- half, what exactly was
happening there . And he gave details of Fort St.
Catherine , that there was going to be painting and
refurbishing of some of the showcase items within the
fort. Due to the fact that they have named the golf
course Five Forts Golf Course, are there any other
works going on in some of these other forts in St. George’s which are right around the corner from Fort
St. Catherine that could use some badly needed assistance? I know he mentioned other areas ; but were
any of the forts other than Fort St. Catherine getting
attention in the east end?
Move on over to B -226, under Head 68 Parks.
I am going to skip on down to Communications on this particular page. I recognise the original amount of
$74,000 for 2020/ 21, and then the estimate of
$73,000 for 2021 /22. I would have thought that we
would have been communications under Parks, especially due to the COVID -19 challenges. Did this co mmunication fall somewhere else, or did we just not
bother to d o anything for the last current 2020/ 21?


Bermuda House of Assembly Also, under Rentals for the Parks , I am just
curious . What do we rent under Parks? I notice that
we did not use it all in the revised amount . What exactly do we rent?
And this was a new item, Insurance for
$3,000. What was that $3,000 for? We have not had
that in the past under Parks. So, I am just curious as
to what that $3,000 for insurance was.
I think one of the other interesting areas was
Energy . I was not quite sure what that speaks to. Certainly, we had an original amount of $119,000, and
now we have got an estimate of $84,000, but what is
this? What is this energy that we are speaking of
here?
Under Revenue, go down further on page B -
226 under Parks, Head 68. Again, these are very,
very difficult areas to f orecast , so I can appreciate the
challenge here. I can only assume that under 8253
Admissions there were none for the revised amount.
But what I am curious about is on the estimate of
2020/ 21 of $60,000. How come we are going back to
$60,000? And maybe I a m making [the] assumption
that the Admissions original amount in 20 20/21 of
$60,000 and then the revised amount being zero that this was due to COVID -19. So, how do we get back to
the original amount of $60,000 if it is not for COVID -
19?
On page B -227 under Parks again, the Summary of 143, and it being the same 143. The Minister
did answer that. I have that checked off. Yes, he did mention that they were short, but they were working
through it.
I will move on to the Performance Measures
under 68. Under Park Ranger Service 78000, number
2, total number of special permits issued/percentage
of special permit requests processed within three
working days . I was looking at the original forecast of
650. I just wanted to say that I thought it was quite
impressive that we came in, in the revised forecast of
$539, so I like that.
If you go down on the same page to business
unit Maintenance and Development, 78020, Total
number of toilets serviced. I found this one pretty i nteresting. How many toilets do we actually service?
So that we have some kind of reference here with
these numbers, how many toilets do we actually ser-vice?
On page B -229, still under Head 68, Parks,
Performance Measures, go down to 78035, Tree Ser-vice. Here it has, Total number of trees felled. There
were almost 130 and then the target outcome for
2021/22 is 150. We did not do many trees in this last fiscal year although we anticipated doing quite a bit.
Because we did so little was there a machine down
that we did not have? And outside of that, if these
guys were not a specialised skill set, tree service,
what else were they doing other than tree service if
they weren’t maintaining trees? Under business unit . . . oh, I’m sorry. Under
Tree Service still, number 3, Percentage of woodchip
truck deli veries to schools, playgrounds, parks and
Botanical Gardens once per month. We have a target
outcome of 100. I am assuming that we must have had a machine down or something? Or we purchased
a new machine to do this work? Is that why there i s a
vast difference between the revised amount and the
[INAUDIBLE ] amount. There was no [INAUDIBLE].
Under business unit Administration and Planning 78050, Total number of special permits issued for Botanical Gardens and Arboretum. I just wanted to
point out that last year there was typo error here and it
looks like another typo error here under the target
outcome of 25,000 per cent, just to highlight that. This
has consistently been a typo for some reason, this particular one, every year. There is an error here, so I just want to highlight that to take note.
Under business unit, Tulo Valley, 78055,
number two, Total number of plants grown and sold. I
just don’t know, and the target outcome was, of
course, 200. Where is the revenue for these plants allocated? I couldn’t tell from the budget and so I
wasn’t quite sure. It does say horticultural produce. I
am assuming that it is there. I don’t know. If you can
clarify where the revenue for the [Tulo] Valley plants,
grown and sold, where that falls.
I did have a question on bedding, but I erased
it. It looks like the Minister said something to that, so I
will leave that alone.
I am going to now move over to Head 81,
Public Lands and Buildings, on page B -231, line item
8101, Administration, 91002. It appears here that it
does not have to do with staffing. If you look at the
numbers there, the original amount of 200 and . . . I’m
sorry. I’m saying Administration, my apologies. Let me
get it lined up here. Service management, 91002, under Buildings, 8101, the original amount of $1,066,000
and you have in 2021/22 an estimate of $925,000, a difference of $141,000. I do not think that that is due
to staffing, when I was looking at the numbers. The
Minister can give us some more information there to
understand it a little better.
Under 91003, Maintenance, certainly the Mi nister spoke of ageing staff and buildings, and the like.
We are actually spending less, $160,000 less than the
original amount for 2020/21. But I was wondering, it
seems a bit odd, we are taking on more staff. If you go
over to page B -231, we are actually taking on more
staff here but we are spending less. How are we managing through that? And also under Maintenance, I was just curious if the Minister can give us an idea
how we are doing with the asbestos abatement and
mould issues that Public Lands and Buildings conti nue to wrestle with. I recall the Minister speaking to the fact that mould is just another part of everyday living.
And he is correct in that. But it would be nice to know whether we are making some headwa y as far as
1192 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly these buildings are concerned, especially schools and
the like, in ridding ourselves of this pest.
If we go over to page B -232, under Head 81,
Public Lands and Buildings, I just want to highlight
one or two items here. I mentioned Training alre ady.
This Transport, which has been taken out completely,
I’m just curious as to why it has been taken out. Under
Transport, an original amount for 2020/21, it was
$125,000, and it looks like we pretty much hit our target there on spending it [and if that’ s] why we have
eliminated it there.
Under Professional Services, we are spending
$50,000 less than the original amount. Can the Mini ster tell us what some of these professional services
that fall under Public Lands and Buildings are? And what are we not g etting for $50,000? What did they
take out there?
We go down to Revenue Summary here,
page B -232 again, under Revenue Summary, Works
and Engineering Property Rentals . If the Minister
could let the public know, what are some of the prop-erties that we actua lly do rent out? So the public is
aware of some of these opportunities that allow us to create revenue. Quite frankly, the one in [INAUDIBLE ]
costs a million dollars, which is a substantial amount.
Can the public hear a little more on these property
rental s?
Also under Head 81, Public Lands, page B -
233, under Performance Measures, the very first one there which has been a subject over the past, update
the Government property asset management plan . I
would like to hear what the latest here is. We have talked about properties that could potentially be sold
off and it does not appear as if we have sold any
buildings in the last, well, this current fiscal year. Is
there a plan to more toward some of these buildings
that quite frankly are derelict, we are not get ting to
perform maintenance on them, whether or not with the
performance side of the management plan, that identified buildings that we could sell. Are we are going to
move towards ridding ourselves of some of these
properties?
The second one is, Number of vacant Government -owned buildings inspected and reports pr esented to the Minister on the options for the properties. I guess this goes back to what I always end up
saying. Have we identified even more buildings now
that have fallen behind and potentiall y are going to be
included on this management plan, other than the
original plan that was put together?

Okay. Yes. Thank you.
Under business unit 91002 and 91003, if you
go down further there is a starred area there, it says, Number of sites to have completed asbestos reports
in the year. And we have a target outcome of 40. So it would be interesting to . . . it looks like we are doing
something by heading to some of these problem ar eas. But when it says, Number of sites to have completed asbestos reports in the year, can the Minister
tell us, or highlight, some of the areas that they have
already identified that they are working on? This is a
new target w hich reflects the seriousness that the
Minister is taking on here. Can he identify some of
those areas that they are currently on?
I take note under business unit 91004 through
to 91006, the very first item there, Number of Government departments renting f rom the private sector .
If you read the whole area it is worded slightly different and it is much better clarified. So I do not know
who is responsible for that, but I want to thank them
for rewording this so that it is much clearer to the li stening public .
One of the things I identified under this performance measure was that for the current year we
had a performance measure which said, Number of
Governments departments with Occupancy Agreements for their accommodation in Government premises. That was a ne w objective for this current year,
but for the next year it is not even included in here. So
I was wondering why we decided to take out that par-ticular one. I will read it again. It says, Number of
Governments departments with Occupancy Agree-ments for thei r accommodation in Government premises—basically, Government departments renting
from Government and identifying them. Why did we
decide to take that out? It is not in this performance
measure so I am curious as to this upcoming 2021/22 [budget], why we decided to take that out.
Okay. So I will move over to our last Head,
and that is Head 82, Works and Engineering. Again,
these guys have had to work under some pretty tough
conditions. For the edification of the public I wanted the Minister just to give an i dea for the Administration,
which you will find on page B -325 under unit 8200,
Administration Unit, item number 92000, how difficult it has been. I take note that it looks like we are going
to spend more there but that has to do with software
costs. I am n ot sure what that software was, if you can
help us out there, what that software was that is cos ting us more money. But if you could tell us what the Administration had to go through in managing through
this tough time of COVID -19 and how they were managing, because it brought on a whole new element
both managing human resources, quite frankly, and
people. You know you cannot have a whole bunch
people within the building, within an office area, how did they manage that working remotely and the likes?
So I will go on over to page B -235, Head 82,
Works and Engineering. He gave an answer to, as I said under Administration, that it was a software cost,
if he could again tell us what software he is talking
about.
This item number 92500, Regular and Sick
Leave. I am not sure . . . I have never seen that before


Bermuda House of Assembly at all. I am not sure why that is listed there. I do not
know if this is an error, or if it is something that is coming up. Maybe this is going to be included at some
point in time, if the Minister can tell us why we have a
new item number 92500, Regular and Sick Leave.
I am going to go now to 8201, Engineering.
The Minister mentioned under here that this had to do
with electrical/mechanical, planning and design;
92002 electrical support, it is streetlights and the like.
What I would like to highlight, first of all, is 92001, electrical/mechanical, which is planning and designing and the likes. We are spending $99,000 more, and I
was just trying to understand. He did speak on this
here a bit, but he did not give clearly why we are
spending almost $100,000, $99,000 more here. I do not believe that the numbers . . . yes, the numbers are
static, as far as employee numbers. What does [this] $99,000 increase have to do with?
Under 92003, under Engineering once again,
Structures. I must confess, he did say what Structures was. I missed it because I was writing down some other things. So if he cares to indulge, he can let us
know what exactly (under Engineering) Structures
were.
Under business unit 8202, Highways, i tem
92004, Management. Again, we are spending more in management here. Did we pick up someone else from here? Was it a funded position that was needed to be
filled and we are still spending $27,000 more? I was
not quite sure and did not hear an answer to t hat.
The Minister did mention under 92006, Hig hways Maintenance, Walls et cetera. So we are spending more, $289,000 more here. And he mentioned that it had to do with walls. Is this because we have got a
lot of our public walls still being subject to or ha ving
been affected by people having accidents and knoc king them down? Or is this more just maintenance on
these walls that over a period of time they have det eriorated? Because many of them are Bermuda stone.
I will go down to Waste Management, 8203.
Beca use of the time I am just trying to get through
some of the highlighted areas that I wanted to get more answers to. I would like to go down to Compos ting, 92013, answers to. I would like to go down to
Composting, 92013, under Waste Management unit
8203, Composting Operations. I guess you can clearly see here that you have an original amount for 2020/21
of $1.646 million. You have an estimate for 2021/22 of
$1.4 million, a difference of $229,000 less. The difference of almost $400,000 between the $1.6 [milli on]
and the revised amount of $1.2 [million], was that due to COVID -19 restrictions and we just had fewer pe ople composting? I do not know what that is or why that
is the case. Can the Minister help us out there?

The Minister spent quite a
bit of time here. So he was pretty thorough on Works
and Engineering, I must admit. So the only other
question I believ e I have here is on the same page, B -
235, Head 82, Quarry Products, unit 8205, the asphalt
plant. I may have missed this part, but we did not do
quite as much work in this fiscal year. And that is u nderstandable because of the challenges that were
being ha d. But I am just curious as to, due to the cha llenges that we have had over the last year, a whole lot is not going to change to the degree of the spend that I see for 2021/22 of $2 million. Can the Minister
explain why he believes we will get back to spending
that kind of money at the asphalt plant? [They] may
have to do a whole lot of maintenance here.
I am going to go to performance measures
because the Minister really did spend a lot of time in this area here. I am going to go over to the performance measures on page B -238. Business unit
92003, Structures, number two, Number of Public Docks that have been inspected during the year. I
know that there is a lot of work that he is looking to put
into, based on what he has been saying, our public
docks. Can the Minister give us an idea of some of
those works that he is getting to?
Also, he mentioned over on page B -235, under Highways, item 92007, Road Cleaning, that the
machine was not fixed. But I also noticed on perfor-mance measures on page B -238, under business unit
92002, Roads Cleaning, amount of road cleaning by
mechanical means, that the target outcome is more
than the original forecast. So I assumed that this was due to the fact that maybe the machine had been
fixed. But to reconcile the target outc omes that he
mentioned in his brief on page B -235, under Road
Cleaning, it appears that the machines were not fixed.
Maybe I heard wrong, I don’t know.
I know there is not much time and I have not
gotten to the . . . he did not spend much time on the
grants, and the likes, so I am going to allow the Mini ster to go ahead and speak to get some answers to
some of those questions then.
What time do we end?

Sure. Thank you,
Madam Chairman.
I am goi ng to try and go in the order in which
the questions were asked. The first question was on
staffing in relation to the 14 less staff that were listed
1194 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly as opposed to the 497, I think. It is as a result of losing Land Title Registration and Land Valuation. So
those 14 staff would have come from those two d epartments.
The objectives and . . . Oh, I am having diff iculty reading some of my people’s writing. The objective for the numbers due to costs in the original moving date for the Public Works HR team was July and
August. That time is a work in progress. So once the
final date is confirmed the objectives will be amended.
Administration. The team were working from
home at times and then came on as shifts to ensure Ministry function. That question was asked in relation
to surveyors and engineers, but it applied to the whole
Ministry. We first were in lockdown and so everybody worked from home, those who could work from home,
except for the essential services like garbage collection and Tynes Bay and the water s ection, they ope rated throughout. Then we reverted to shifts, and as
recently as I think the beginning of this month, we ordered everybody who did not have a medical reason to work from home, to come into the office. Fortunat ely we have the space in the of fice that accommodates
social distancing. It is slightly more than what the
space standards would call for but that has been a
blessing in disguise. We have not converted from that,
those space standards are working out in our favour in bringing people bac k to work.
Is the objective for telecommunications due to
change? We are still managing the payments of the
BTC bills. It should be transitioned to I DT during this
year. But we still have to manage the cell phones for
Public Works, and the radio towers.
Finance Management less $120,000. The
reduction is due to un- funding of the Project Accoun tant post and the reduction in training costs.
Why is there a $13.5 million estimate for revenues for 2021/22? The estimate is a reduction compared to 2020/21 of around $1.6 million. This is due to
a projected lack of revenue due to economic downturn
primarily in the form of less garbage and power per
production at Tynes Bay.
What is the amount of the $122,000 under
object code 3613? Not all the HR staff have lef t; three
posts remain with Public Works, as well as the training budget for the Ministry’s industrial staff. The training under page B -219 is all sections within Public Works
Headquarters, Accounts, Purchasing, et cetera.
What would fall under advertisin g and prom otion? Tenders for public bidding is the primary activity
there.
Why was the revised amount for architect
doubled––the budget amount of $310,000 versus the
$174,000? The increase of the cost is due to rechar ges at the architect cost to capital projects. The budget
was estimated at $264,000. I would add that we are going through a bit of a transition where the Arch itect’s Department is concerned. The chief architect retired last year summertime, and [he] has deliberat e-ly not been replaced. We have two technicians who
are still on staff who are working out of the Estates Department. And we seem to be headed toward outsourcing the architectural function going forward. That
is saving us some money and we are getting better
results from the private sec tor.
Who is renting space on the poles? I think he
meant telecommunication towers. That is my assum ption. The department enters into agreements with the
various telecommunication service providers for space
for their equipment on each tower. The leases ar e
managed by the Department of Public Lands and
Buildings. And I guess I could say both telecommunications providers are on the tower as well as a couple
of radio stations.
Does the Ministr y of Public Works work with
the Ministry of Health? Most definitely. We have been working with the Ministry of Health on health and saf ety matters since the beginning of COVID -19 both in
terms of providing facilities to conduct the testing, and
now the vaccinations, as well as providing them with
support for storage war ehousing facilities for PPE and
various other supplies related to COVID -19.
What are some of the difficult -to-fill posts in
the Ministry? Mostly it’s surveyors. So [there are] es-tate surveyors, building surveyors, quantity surveyors,
structural engineers and tower engineers. We have a
fairly good Bermudian contingent in the engineering
section and not -so-good in the surveyor section. So
we are encouraging locals to get into these professions by doing outreach to various schools and ent ities and making pres entations around the country to
try and recruit people in those areas. Interestingly, we
get summer students who are interested in all of the
affairs except for surveyors. So we are working on a
plan to try and make it more exciting and more attractive to young Bermudians.
Training, how much; how to maintain target
outputs/outcomes with reduced budget ? With the use
of technology training has still been going on even though not in person. So we have in the Ministry two
training rooms that can be configured for just about
anything. Everything is on wheels, and can be confi gured to boardroom style, site instruction, lecture type instruction with all of the technological means to able to do Zoom and Cisco and whatever.
BBR, Bermudiana Beach Resort: We are ai ming for an opening date in October this year.
Derelict properties: Yes, we have sold some
BHC -owned properties and some government -owned
properties. We have had greater success with leasing properties out for 21- years less two days. We did that
with T eucer House, the most recent project that is
now I think just about coming out of Planning, so one should see work starting very shortly. Last week we
had some interest in the old prison headquarters up
on Happy Valley Road. So that may be going next. But we are at the stage where we presented to Cabinet about a year ago a list of I think 14 properties that


Bermuda House of Assembly could have been up for renovation in partnership with
the private sector, all for sale. So we are looking at
those with a view of getting back to Cabinet for a second bite at the cherry.
The most recent building that we are discus sing now is a plan to renovate and repurpose the old St. George’s police station.
In relation to the Housing Corporation, the
waitlist of 108: It is not unusual for that number to be [as shown], this number that has been consistent over
the last two years. We argue about that number, be-cause I believe that many people, having had to wait
for such a long period of time, lose hope and do not
bother to re- register. I think the num ber is higher than
that, which is one of the reasons why we are looking
at getting stimulus funding to be able to get some of
the renovation projects that we have at the Housing
Corporation, including one of the buildings at Harm ony, up and running and pro duced so that we can meet
some of this need.
Currently Harmony residents consist of the
H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck Offices, and then there is one
building that is partially being renovated, that’s about
12 units, I believe. And then there are three other
buildings that are currently occupied by Seniors and
[families in emergency situations].
Okay in fiscal 2020/21 what was the estimated $1.2 million for? This was for hurricane Humberto and Paulette costs. And an additional COVID -19 expense, PPE supplies and various other things, sani tisation, and the provision of [PPE] equipment at the entrance to all government buildings.
Why Western Parks have been budgeted
greater than Eastern Parks : No Cup Match compet ition here. The compensation is for a different size
staffing. The western [end] has more facilities to manage than the east, so public works does the same per
capita.
In relation to whether the Housing Corporation
has been reducing rents during this period: All of the
entities within the Ministry that have renta l units, the
Housing Corporation, WEDCO, BLDC, have been a pplying the government protocol , which is to have ou treach to all tenants, both business and private sector, and have a one- on-one conversation with them about
providing temporary rental relief over the period of
COVID -19. I think it is going very well. In the case of
the Housing Corporation . . . and anybody who has
been involved at any stage over the last decade will
know that there is a significant amount of rental arrears that is carried by the C orporation. There is no
action taken in terms of penalising those people who
are in arrears, as long as they meet the commitment
that they made in order to have a payment plan.
So, no one gets evicted for non- payment of
rent; they get evicted for not hono uring several commitments to make an effort to meet their financial
commitment. We expect, now that we are at the first year
anniversary, that there will be a review of all of those
arrangements and they will continue if the need ari ses. This year it has been approximately a half million
dollars for the Housing Corporation in lower rental r eceipts over the year.
Spending on Capital maintenance in 2020 for
the Bermudiana Beach Resort [BBR]: It has been about $640,000 this year. This does not include . . . it
does not have the figure for the renovation to add el evators to the building . . . actually, I do —$320,000 for
elevators; $180[,000] for maintenance, includes insurance, alarm monitoring and electrical, and the creation
of four model units for the vario us types of units that
will be provided at BBR for a total of $640,000.
Under Admin and Forts, works and other forts,
at the moment there is no funding to do any work in
those forts. But we are likely to do an assessment of
what is required so that when there is funding we can
get to work, as well as maybe encourage and entice
some private sector entity to assist in that regard.
This is a Parks question: What do we rent?
We rent portaloos for certain activities and events and we rent out facilities that are owned by Parks, like
whatever that building was at the Botanical Gardens
that was leased for a legal event last week.
Are railways being managed still? Yes. At one
stage it was farmed out to the private sector, but for the last several years we have brought it back in -
house and provided funding for the staff within Parks
getting some overtime by working on weekends on
the railway trails, along with volunteers that have popped up at various locations throughout the Island
who support the railway trail and use it and don’t mind offering up to help maintain it.
Park Ranger Services, employee numbers are
the same: The service is seasonal for rangers and
lifeguards. COVID -19 reduced staffing requirements.
The season started late, so July versus April, a shor ter season, unsettled, and fewer persons hired. Ho wever, beaches were still open to the public so the sal aries did not go to zero. In fact, what we have noticed,
as I stated in my brief, is that during COVID -19 and
once we were released from shelter in place we have
seen a significant uptick in the public use of both beaches and open spaces which fall under the Parks
remit.
The Railway Trail: There are no plans at this
stage to connect Ferry Reach and Coney Island.
There was a question about revenue of
$60,000. I hope the Shadow Minister knows where
this is from because it does not say on the question.
Maybe the answer will help. In any case, the antic ipated cruise ship visits for the second half of the year ,
and local visitors do visit in anticipation of crui se ships
returning.
That was complete gobbledygook. I don’t
know what that is.
1196 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. L. Craig Cannonier: I got it. Good.

The list under review
and disbursed to other locations. I don’t know what
that means either.
How many toilets serviced? All of the public
parks and beaches that have toilets were serviced
daily, plus all of the portaloo toilets placed for events
are serviced daily including weekends during summer
months.
The revised estimate for 78100 Railways, was
$58,000, much less than the estimate of $320,000
and here is why: Less work had been done during the
shelter in place; however, additional work has been
done to the amount of $31,000 [from] December to
February 2021. But I guess it is safe to say we expect
more to be done in this upcoming budget year.
Rental : parks for camping, parks for portaloo
use, Fort St. Catherine for events, Botanical Gardens
for events, and mobile equipment, like radios. Under
Public Lands and Buildings, page B -232, transport
cost is no w zero, why? Transportation costs are internal hire costs for the operation of government vehicles, costs are borne by the Quarry.
I guess I could comment that one area I would
like to fix before I leave is this business of renting from yourself and havi ng to . . . anyway, how long did we
. . . I answered how we managed that during COVID -
19.
Issued to Admin for 8200: S oftware costs
were for AutoCAD, which is a monopoly and [they]
have greatly increased their subscription fees. I guess
that is as a result of COVID -19.
Highways management, why the increase?
The principal highways engineer post was filled during
this year.
Composting, a reduction of internal vehicle
hire to budget savings. That might mean something to
somebody. It doesn’t mean anything to me.
Asphalt plant, why do we think we will spend
the normal or none? The trenching works for 2021/22
are very much tied to the BELCO underground project
where they are spending $250 million over two years. We are doing two things. We are going in the hol e
with them with infrastructure for ourselves, as well as putting redundancy in there for others who may not
have come forward as yet, so we don’t have to dig up
the roads. And we will follow them to St. George’s at
the moment on Harrington Sound Road, pav ing after
they have done the digging and we will be doing the same in the west from Belmont to Camp Hill.
Services management, what is the reason for
the reduction in budget? The reduced budget is . . .
they are not hiring two vacant funded posts for bui lding superintendent to reduce costs of building maint enance management posts.
Performance measure: Why was there need
for the occupancy agreement to be taken out of the
performance measures? The need for occupancy agreements was taken out of the performance
measures because it is more of an internal control to
manage relationships with in- house departments. O ccupancy agreements will still be set up but will not be a measure to be reported on. So, a change in prot ocol.
Public docks : I think this is in rel ation to the
funding. What are we going to do with public docks this upcoming budget year? The floating ferry dock for
the fast ferries . . . one of those is down for repair and
various other docks across the Island. As an example,
the first would be Darrell’s Wharf , I think the contract
is being awarded next week.
I stated in my presentation, and this was not a
question, about the fact that the special permits are on hold. They are at parks and public venues. They are
on hold for night time activities. D aytime activities are
permitted until 6:00 pm, provided they [abide by] the
Department of Health restrictions.
Performance measures. Mould abatement:
are we making headway in mould abatement? We are
working on two approaches: 1) to improve the sealing of the exterior envelope of the building to remove the
source of damp and water penetration; and 2) to i mprove housekeeping and ventilation in the occupied spaces to mitigate risks of mould. That is the case
with the current House of Assembly building. All of us
will know that the building leaked. It has been sealed now and those problems appear [to be] corrected.
I might also add in passing that the challenges
at T. N. Tatum that led to the first iteration of the school closing have all been resolved. The building itself is a single -story building, is occupied, and the
gymnasium and the auditorium are occupied. We put a pause on further occupation until the Minister of E ducation makes a final decision on the Education R eform Plan and the requirement for buil dings to support
that plan.
Performance measures, Number of sites for
asbestos reports, what sites are being worked on for
asbestos reports? The Department of Public Lands
and Buildings intends to start building an asbestos
register across all government buildings which will
assist in planning works and reduce risks of discovery of asbestos -containing materials during the project,
causing delays while abatement takes place. The
buildings being targeted were education and essential
services for corrections to these and other key oper ational abilities.
I can also say that this year we left money in
the budget for the removal of asbestos to the United
States. We think it is a closing window where we will
have that opportunity, but we will continue to take advantage of it until that window finally closes.
Engineering: Why $100,000. This was add itional staff from the previous budget year.
The highlights of the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck pr ogramme; extending H.U.S.T.L.E and whether we can
extend it. We are always look ing at ways of how we


Bermuda House of Assembly can, even if it is for a limited time, expand the pr ogramme, because they are a resource that can assist
us in meeting a number of needs that the Ministry has
that we may not have funding for. And you may recall
from my brief that the y have basically taken over the
large equipment and dumping that the Ministry used
to carry out, of couches and chairs and appliances.
And they are helping us in that regard. They are a r esource that has a wide job description. That means
they cover just about everything.
Some of the successes of the programme are
that six graduated from the Cisco Digital Course pr ogramme. Some have graduated into fulltime emplo yment in drug counselling, hotel, truck drivers, painters, landscaping, bartending and security . And, yes, they
are in talks with Public Works for an additional truck.
Let me just end these.

Under Head 82, and looking
at the structures, which would be 52003, under 8201
engineering. I note that the airport now has its floating
dock back. Is that government’s dock or is that the responsibility of the airport? I was not quite sure. It
was put out to sea and it is back, after having seen it
taken away a lot of people were hoping that it would
stay there.
Also, how are we getting along with the r emovable of derelict boats as well?

The airport docks are
a government -owned entity. I guess Public Works i nherited that from America’s Cup. No one asked us if
we wanted it to remain there, and so it was not
moved. But happily, Public Works, along with the
Bermuda Tourism Authority have been working t ogether for several months. And I am pleased to see
that it is back there and we will work out the logistics.
But whether we can safely leave it there during hurr icane season . . .
The second question was what? What was
your second question, Mr. Cannonier?

We are working with
Marine and Ports to remove these boats. It is a painstaking process, but we will get there. There will be an announcement in this regard from KBB [Keep Berm uda Beautiful] shortly th at will assist us greatly in our
removal of boats. We have the same challenge with vehicles that are left across the Island. We are dealing with legislation that is more than half a century old.
And of course if government intervenes and removes
a vehicle we have the expense of doing that plus the expense of taking the oil and whatever else out of it
and disposing of it over there at the airport.
The Ministries of Public Works and Transport
are in discussions about how we can change the law,
and bring thos e people––who are irresponsible in
leaving those vehicles and boats vacant and derelict
to the detriment of the community ––to take respons ibility for the pickup.
Madam Chairman, I think I have done all the
questions, unless there are some more.

The Chai rman: Are there any other Members who
would like to ask questions on Heads 36, 53, 68, 81, or 82?

Good afternoon, MP Jackson, thank
you for handing o ver the Chair.
1198 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Good afternoon to Honourable Members on
both sides of aisle and the listening public. We are
now in the Committee of Supply for further consider ation of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2021/22.
The following Heads un der the Ministry of
Home Affairs, 93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89, and 97 are now
to be debated.
I call upon the Minister in charge, Honourable
Deputy Premier, Walter Roban, you now have the
floor. This debate has started at 5:00 pm, precisely, and will end at 9:00 pm, precisely.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, you may continue.

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, I move that the
following Heads, 93, Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters; 29, Registry General; 32, Department of
Planning; 49, Land Valuation; 79, Environment and
Natural Resources; 89, Energy; and 97 Land Title and
Registration be now taken up for consideration.
Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for the opportunity
to lead the debate and present the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for Heads 93, 29, 32, 46, 79,
89, 97, Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters, the
Registry General, the Departments of: Planning, Land
Valuation, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy and Land Title and Registration, respectively.
I will present each Head in turn.

HEAD 93 — MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIR
HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, it gives me
great pleasure to present the budget for Head 93, the
Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters, found on pages B -298 to B -301 of the E stimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for fiscal year 2021/22. Ministry Head-quarters Head 93 comprises Business Units: 103000,
Administration and 103010, Consumer Affairs – Admin.

Mission and Objectives

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Ministry of Home Affairs
Headquarters Mission Statement is We Protect Bermuda’s Resources. To achieve the mission, Headquarters has the following objectives:
• collaborating and consulting with various go vernment departments and public sector
stakeholder groups;
• providing logistical, financial and administr ative support to the Ministry H.Q. and its con-stituent departments;
• eliminating unfair debt collection practices; • ensuring that landlords and tenants receive
fair and equitable treatment; and
• ensuring consumer protection through educ ation, fair practices and legislation.
The Consumer Affairs Business Unit has its
own mission which is, t o protect consumers by provi ding a safe and fair market place through oversight,
enforcement, regulation of rents and licensure of pr ofessions .

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, as noted on
page B -299, the Ministry Headquarters has been all ocated a total of $2,676,000 for the fiscal year 2021/22
or 25 per cent less than the original budget allocation
for fiscal year 2020/21. T his is comprised of a 32 per
cent decrease for the Administration section and a 1 per cent decrease for the Consumer Affairs Admi nistration Business Unit.
As a result of ministerial changes in June
2020, two additional departments from the Ministry of Public Works, the Department of Land Valuation and
the Department of Land Title and Registration, were
added to the Ministry. At the same time, the Ministry
responsibility for the Corporation of Hamilton and the
Corporation of St. George was moved to the Mini stry
of Public Works.
Additionally, responsibility for the Parish
Councils was moved to the Ministry of Youth, Culture
and Sports.
Mr. Chairman, the most significant changes in
the Subjective Analysis found on page B -299 in the
2021/22 Estimates are exp lained as follows:
• 10 per cent decrease in salaries due to not
funding a vacant post;
• 29 per cent decrease in advertising and pr omotion as a result of anticipated savings in
this area;
• 42 per cent decrease in professional services,
resulting in an anticipated decrease in professional costs; and
• 93 per cent decrease in the grants and contr ibutions budget as the grant for Parish Cou ncils has been reallocated to the Ministry of
Public Works.
Other minor expenses are also decreased by
$2,000 or 29 per cent.

Revenue

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Revenue
Summary is found on page B -300.
The Ministry anticipates that it will collect
$20,000 for fiscal year 2021 /22. This is $14,000 more
than the original estimate for fiscal year 2020/21, representing a 23 3 per cent increase. The revenue is
primarily from planning appeals of $12,000, and $8,000 from licensing debt collectors, under the new


Bermuda House of Assembly Debt Collection Act 2018 which was brought into law
on January 31, 2020.

Manpower
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the manpower
estimate for the Ministry Headquarters, as outlined on page B -300, are 14 full time posts, a reduction of one
post from the original estimate for fiscal year 2020/21.
This post reduction is in the Administration Section
which now numbers sev en posts; the Consumer A ffairs Administration Section remains at seven posts.

Grants and Contributions

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Ministry
Headquarters has a grant allocation of $5,000 for contributions to environmental projects.

Output Me asures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s Performance Measures are outlined on page
B-301.
The staff in the Business Units have worked
diligently and conscientiously to achieve a level of services within a changing landscape due to the COVID -19 pandemic, which had a significant impact
particularly on the services that the Consumer Affairs Business Unit could safely provide. One such service
was the suspension of rental unit inspections; another
was the suspension of conflict resolution services.
To the credit of the team in the Consumer A ffairs Business Unit, they anticipated problems at the
onset of the coronavirus crisis and responded quickly
to support and help businesses and the community to
navigate the new business landscape and mi tigate
potential financial harm. This was achieved in four
areas: landlord and tenant; government unemplo yment benefits; contracts; and tourism.

Major Policy Changes

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Debt Co llection Act 2018 is now fully operationa l creating a
Licensing and Regulatory Authority under the remit of
the Consumer Affairs Business Unit. The Act became
fully operational as of 31January 2020 and, in accor dance with the Act, debt collectors had ninety days
within which to apply and become l icensed. The dea dline was extended to 30 September 2020 due to bus inesses operating remotely with limited services during COVID -19. We are currently working on Phase two,
which addresses the conduct relating to loans and
mortgages.
Mr. Chairman, the implementation of the nomad work -in-place initiatives required an amendment
to the Rent Increases (Domestic Premises) Control
Act 1978 to increase the length of stay within a rent controlled vacation rental unit (VRU) from an aggr egate of six months within a consecutive period of twelve months to an aggregate of twelve months wit hin a consecutive period of twenty -four months. The
amendment was tabled on the 12 March 2021 in this Honourable House.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Ministry
plans to complete all of its initiatives as outlined in the
2020 Speech from the Throne and from previous
Speeches from the Throne. You will hear more about
them in the individual Heads. Those that are specif ically led by the Ministry include developing a plan for
addressing climate change; and eliminating single use
plastics by 2022.
Mr. Chairman, in relation to climate change,
this is a critical mandate for a number of ministries.
The UK Government is hosting COP26 this year in
Scotland. They have identified five critical “campaigns”: Adaptation and Resilience; Nature; Energy
Transition; Clean Road Transport; and Finance. The
Ministry of Home Affairs has had a focus on Nature
and Energy Transition and will continue to make this a
priority. I w ill speak further on this when debating
Heads 79 and 89. The elimination of single use plas-tics is one of the initiatives that we will be progressing.
The elimination of single use plastics is an extremely important matter, given the interrelated issues
of plastics, climate change, ocean pollution and human health. Honourable Members will remember that
I announced last week that a draft policy recommendation has been produced, and that policy paper also
looks at bottle deposits as an incentive for recycling.
The consultation paper will soon be published.
Mr. Chairman, the Consumer Affairs Business
Unit plans to undertake the following initiatives in this
fiscal year:
1. The creation of one comprehensive piece of
legislation that will encompass the Landlord and Tenant Act 1974 and the Rent Increases (Domestic Prem-ises) Control Act 1978, as well as the minor Rent I ncreases (Domestic Premises) Rules Act 1972. The Landlord and Tenant relationship continues to deteri orate. It is our belief that the complaint vol ume would
decline if the two governing legislations were up- dated
to be comprehensive and reflect today’s market con-cerns.
2. To develop Credit Reporting Regulations.
3. To strengthen the legislation to eliminate U nfair Contract Terms.
In closing, I woul d like to thank the dedicated
members of staff in the Ministry Headquarters, inclu ding: Mrs. Karen Marshall and her team in the Consumer Affairs Business Unit; and Mrs. Denise
Maughn, Comptroller, ably and effectively led by my Permanent Secretary Mrs. Roz y Azhar.
1200 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will now move on
to Head 29, Department of the Registry General.

You may proceed, Minister

HEAD 29 —DEPARTMENT OF
REGISTRY GENERAL

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It gives me great pleasu re to present the
budget for Head 29, the Department of Registry Ge neral, found on pages B -302 through B-305 of the
Budget Book. The Registry General is responsible for
maintaining civil registrations and providing public access to such records. Under the general direction and
control of the Minister of Home Affairs, the Registrar
General exercises his statutory functions and is assisted by such public officers as may from time to time
be authoris ed by the Legislature.

Mission

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The D epartment of Registry
General ensures the preservation of vital and general
records. This is achieved via the maintenance of a
reliable system for the storage of public records, access to those records and providing an efficient regi stry service which supp orts the registration of every
birth, death, adoption, domestic partnership and mar-riage in Bermuda. The Registry General also facil itates the registration of chattel mortgages; and the
registration of trade unions, professionals and charit able organis ations.
To meet these objectives, the department has
three business units as shown on p age B -302 and
are, as follows business units :
• 39000 Administration;
• 39020 Property, Professional and Organi sation Registration; and
• 39030 Births, Marriages and Deaths

Expen diture Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the current
account estimates for Head 29, Registry General, can
be found on page B -302.
The Registry General has been allocated a t otal of $1,047,000. This represents a decrease of
$773,000, or 42 per cent from the amount allocated in
the original budget for the financial year 2020/ 21,
which was $1,820,000.
The decrease consists of $110,000, or 13 per
cent decrease in the Administration Section; a
$625,000, or 100 per cent decrease for the Intellectual
Property Registration Section as this unit is transferring to the Cabinet Office; a $6,000 , or 9 per cent decrease in the Property, Professional and Organi sation
Registration Section; and a $32,000, or 11 per cent
decrease in the Birth, Marriages and Deat hs Section. Mr. Chairman, the most significant variances
in the estimated budget are further explained on page B-303 as follows:
• A decrease of $532,000, or 35 per cent, in
salaries, which is listed on page B -303, line item one.
The decrease is attributed to the Intellectual Property
Section being moved to the Economic Development Department in the Cabinet Office.
• A decrease of $10,000, or 83 per cent, in
Training, line item three. This represents a decrease in the amount of money allocated for overseas trai ning, as most training courses and seminars are now
conducted virtually due to the COVID -19 pandemic.
Also, money apportioned to the Intellectual Property
Section for overseas training is now allocated to the
Economic Development Department.
• A decrease of $26,000, or 90 per cent, in
Travel, line item five. This represents a decrease in
the amount of money allocated for business travel, as
attendance to most overseas conferences have been suspended due to the COVID -19 pandemic and meetings are now conducted virtually. Also, money apportioned to the Intellectual Property Section for overseas
conferences is now allocated to the Economic Development Department. However, travel will be required
by relevant staff to receive Terrorist Financing training
specific t o non- profit organizations (NPOs), as recommended by the Caribbean Financial Action Task
Force ( CFATF) Assessors, to ensure the maintenance
of an effective Anti -Money Laundering/Anti -Terrorist
Financing regime (AML/ATF).
• A decrease of $9,000, or 90 per cent, in Advertis ing and Promotion, line item seven. This can be
attributed to cost saving measures and alternative mediums used for advertisements.
• A decrease of $30,000 in Professional Services, line item eight. This decrease is a result of the Registry Ge neral considering cost -saving measures
and alternative forums to consult someone with counter terrorist financing experience with the NPO sector
to identify any gaps or issues with our current fram ework, as required by CFATF to maintain an effective
AML/AT F regime for NPOs. One such task is to ensure our supervisory manuals and procedures are fit
for purpose as per CFATF standards.
• A decrease of $146,000 for Repairs and
Maintenance, line item ten. This is due to the funds apportioned for the maintenance of the Intellectual
Property registration are now allocated to the Ec onomic Development Department. Also, funds that had
been allocated this fiscal year for upgrading the data
management system for the provision of a new service allowing for the Voluntary Registration of vital
events , such as, adoptions, births, marriages and
deaths of Bermudians who have immigrated to anot her jurisdiction will still be needed to complete the pr oject, but no new monies are required for the 2021/ 22
fiscal year.


Bermuda House of Assembly • A decrease of $9,000 for Other Expenses, line
item twelve. This represent funds apportioned to the
Intellectual Property Section for other operational
costs that are now allocated to the Economic Deve lopment Department.
Mr. Chairman, the budget estimate of
$1,047,000 al located to the Registry General, will a llow the Registry to provide the core services mandated by the law. The allocation of $737,000 to the A dministration business unit 39000 , as found on page B -
302, will ensure that the proper resources are made
availabl e to facilitate the efficient and timely registr ation of all professional b odies, organis ations, vital and
general events occurring in Bermuda during this fiscal period.
The Department will continue to meet its ou tput measures as it registers documents relating to
charities, professional bodies, chattel mortgages and other legal transactions with the $59,000 allocated to
the Property, Profes sional and Organis ation , business
unit 39020.
The $251,000 allocated to the Birth, Death
and Marriage business unit 39030 will ensure that all
of these vital events occurring in Bermuda will be reg-istered.

Revenue

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, on the revenue
side, page B -304, the Registry General expects to
realise $736,000 in revenue during 2021/ 22. The most
significant amounts are explained [as follows] :
• $165,000 is expected from ordering of birth
certificates ;
• $140,000 is expected from marriage licenc es;
• $65,000 is expected from marriage certif icates ;
• $30,000 is expected from marriage cerem onies.

Capita l Development Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the capital expenditure budget for the department can be found on
page C - 16 and relates to, (1) the renovation of the 1
st
floor of the Government Administration Building (GAB)
to accommodate R egistry General staff that will be
moving from the 4th floor when the Intellectual Property Section transfers to the Cabinet Office; and (2) the
acquisition of furniture for the office and the marriage
room after renovations are complete.

Manpower

Hon. W alter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the manpower
estimates for the Registry General as outlined on
page B -304 are 12 fulltime posts. Within the depar tment all posts are filled except two. It is anticipated
that the vacant posts , customer service representative and charities administrator , will be filled by the begi nning of the upcom ing fiscal year. T he Registry General consists of the following three sections:
• 39000 Administration, seven staff;
• 39020 Property, Professional and Organi sation Registration, one staff; and
• 39030 Births, Marriages and Deaths, four
staff.

Performance Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s Performance Measures are outlined on page
B-305. In spite of the fact that the department is operating under strength with two key posts currently v acant, the staff members of the Registry General con-tinue to work hard and are dedicated to achieving
these goals.
The department is responsible for discharging
duties conferred under a total of 32 Acts and Regul ations which gover n the operations of the Registry
General. The main function of the department is to
ensure the efficient and timely registration of all vital
and general events occurring in Bermuda. The department continues to meet these measures and dil igently delivers on core services, and all sections have
met their deadlines for projects assigned.

Major Policy Changes

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the most si gnificant policies being worked on this year are described, as follows:
The Registry General has oversight of the l ocal n onprofit Organization sector , which is subject to
assessment by the Caribbean Financial Action Task
Force (CFATF). The last assessment was conducted
in September 2018, which was critical to the Gover nment of Bermuda to demonstrate that monies r eceived/distributed by local charities are not being
laundered or used to support terrorist activities. Bermuda was extremely successful and received high
ratings for its AML/ATF regime. However, ongoing
maintenance is required to ensure that effectiv e poli ces and an AML/ATF framework for charities remains
in place.
One recommendation highlighted in the initial
draft report from the CFATF Assessors was the need
for Countering Terrorist Financing training with r espect to charities. Specifically, the se rvices/work that
the Registry General provides to the NPO sector can
be greatly improved if staff were more aware of global
trends and red flag indicators that could possibly point
to an entity being misused for terrorist financing. The Registry General wi ll enhance both its policies and
procedures for terrorist financing detection and pr evention specific for the non -profit sector (via Countering Terrorist Financing training for charities).
1202 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Also, following the 2020 update to Bermuda’s
national assessment of terrorist financing risks in the
local NPO sector, it was determined that one aspect
of the exemption granted to privately funded charities
(PFC s), that are supervised by either a licensed trust
business or corporate service provider, does not
achieve the intended policy purpose of addressing the
gap in the oversight and supervision regime for NPOs.
The Registry General will establish proc edures for privately funded charities supervised or
managed by a corporate service pro vider to qualify for
an exempti on from registration.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Admi nistration Section will complete the final phase during
the 2021/ 22 fiscal year for the introduction a voluntary
register of vital events for Bermuda’s citizens that occur outside our jurisdiction. Currently, relevant Ber-muda legislation, for example, the Adoption of Chi ldren Act 2006, the Registration (Births and Deaths)
Act 1949, the Marriage Act 1944, and the Registry -
General Recording of Documents Act 1955, only require the registration adoptions, births, deaths, name
changes and marriages that occur in Bermuda. Ho wever, when persons born in Bermuda migrate to other
countries, information related to vital events that occur
outside of Bermuda is lost.
Vital sta tistics captured in Bermuda provide
continuous data on births, maternal, and fetal deaths collected at the local level. For example, mortality st atistics compiled from death certificates are used to
measure health quality, set public health goals and
policy, and to direct research and resources in Bermuda.
The death certificate provides important i nformation about the decedent, the circumstances of death, and the cause of death. When persons born in
Bermuda die overseas, the data regarding their death
is not returned to Bermuda. Therefore, the opportunity
to utili se data which could contribute to public death
prevention and intervention strategies is also lost.
Bermuda, although very small, is arguably
quite a valuable contributor to the world’s population,
and the voluntary registration of vital events for people
born in Bermuda or closely related to Bermuda repr esents an invaluable opportunity to extend and/or r eturn each person’s footprint back home. In its simplest terms, voluntary registration will allo w the Registry
General to advance its records of vital registration by allowing opportunity for generations to not only record vital events that occur outside of Bermuda but will also
provide opportunity for the research of vital events of
generations past .
The introduction of a voluntary registration
system provides opportunity to produce financial r eturn on payment for the deposit of certified copies of
births, adoptions, marriages, name changes, profes-sional registrations, and deaths that have occurred
outside of Bermuda. On payment of a nominal fee, the
Registry General would allow persons to inspect and
examine any document recorded and copy or make
extracts from any document register or index assoc iated with the voluntary register.
The Administration Section will continue in the
upcoming fiscal year with the preparation for digitis ation of key office documents and records. The Regi stry General continues to work with the Department of Communication’s Paperless Working Group to convert public -facing form s into a digital format. This includes
the Vital and General Registration section’s Notice of
Births, Notice of Intended Marriage and Domestic Partnerships, Professional Registration; the Charity
section’s applications to register as a charity, and
temporary fundraising licences; requests for exem ption from registration by privately funded char ities/charitable trusts, and annual reports for registered
charities.
The objective is to implement online ordering,
search functionality, as well as e- payments. Thi s will
be introduced over a multi -tiered period, and this pr oject is being considered as a combined initiative for
departments within the remit of the Ministry of Home
Affairs.
This innovation aims to improve efficiencies
and I am pleased to report that the department is now in the proof of concept phase.
Over the upcoming fiscal year it is expected
that there will be user testing and the start of Phase 2 which would include integration to the back -end sy stem, e -payments, workflow, and digital signatures.
Mr. Chairman, the Property, Professional and
Organi sation Registration Section will continue efforts
to update the existing data management systems to
moderni se the charity registration system during the
2021 /22 fiscal year. The first phase of the project has
been completed, which made available electronic rec-ords of charity data and information held by the Regi stry General. Charity data includes information currently available under the Public Access to Information
(PATI) legislation, such as new applicatio ns and reregistrations; charity financials; new registrations a pproved or deferred; registrations approved and d eferred; new registrations denied and registrations denied; names of directors and trustees; and Charity
Commissioner decisions. The availabil ity of electronic
records shortens search times and increases the rel iability of access to available charitable resources.
The second phase commences in the upcoming 2021/ 22 fiscal year, and will allow prospective
charities to apply electronically for a temporary l icence; and, apply to register as a charity, attaching
hard copies of prerequisite documents. Further, char ities desirous of re- registration will be able to pay the
annual registration fee and submit their annual report, update charity trustee dec larations, financials, const itutions and bye-laws, public benefit and/or vulnerable


Bermuda House of Assembly person’s polic ies, and make amendments to their
charity file on -line and in real time to ensure all charity
records remain current.
Potential donors and persons seeking c haritable resources will experience shorter search times
with greater efficiency and enhanced search results
specific to defined charity categories.
Mr. Chairman, the Births, Marriages and
Deaths Section will enhance the civil marriage ser-vices provided by expanding the time period for a civil
marriage ceremony to be conducted before the Regi strar General. Currently civil marriage ceremonies can only be contracted in the presence of the Registrar
General between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:00 pm
on that da y, either at the office of the Registrar or at
an alternative approved location, as pursuant to the
Marriage Act 1944 (the Act) .
In order to make civil marriages more attractive, especially for couples who would like to travel to
Bermuda to have a destinat ion wedding, the Act will
be amended to remove the current timeframe to allow
a civil marriage ceremony to take place at flexible
times , for example, at varying times for couples who
may desire to have a sunrise or sunset civil marriage
ceremony.
Addition ally, the department will expand the
pool of persons who may perform a civil marriage ceremony. Under the Act, civil marriage ceremonies may
only be performed by the Registrar General or an A ssistant Registrar General acting in his place. However,
with the expansion of venues at which civil marriage
ceremonies may be performed, it is expected that civil
ceremonies will place greater demands on staff r esources of the Registry General as the increase in
permitted venues has made such marriages more
popular. F or example, if more than two civil marriage
ceremonies are scheduled for the same date and at
similar timeframe, but at different venues, a third officer will be required to perform one of the cerem onies, which will provide staff or other officers the flex ibility and additional time to get to the designated loc ations.
Legislation will be amended to increase the
pool of persons who may perform civil marriages by creating a new category of marriage officers to be
called Civil Marriage Officers.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my gratitude to the team and dedicated staff members of the
Registry General Department, led by Mr. Aubrey Pennyman, as they continue to take a proactive approach
to ensure Bermuda remains relevant and comparable
with its global par tners.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would now like to go on to Head 32, the D epartment of Planning. Mr. Chairman, may I go on?

Yes. For the benefit of the listening
public, we are taking the final Heads under the Mini stry of Home Affairs Head 32. HEAD 32 —DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, it gives me
great pleasure to present the budget for Head 32, D epartment of Planning, found on pages B -306 through
B-310, page C -16 and C -21 of the Approved Est imates of Revenue and E xpenditure.

Mission
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Mission of
the Department of Planning is to ensure the sustain able management of the natural and built environment .
The Department’s objectives comprise:
• balancing the need for development with protecting the natural environment;
• managing the development of land to ensure
its efficient use;
• ensuring policies and processes are streamlined, transparent and consistently impl emented;
• ensuring developments are constructed in compliance with required standards to protect
the health, safety and welfare of communities;
and
• engaging with, educating and being responsive to the needs of the public.
To meet these objectives, the Department has
seven business units as shown on page B -307, and
are as follows:
• 42000 General Administration
• 42020 Front Desk Operation
• 42050 Enforcement and Searches
• 42060 Forward Planning
• 42070 Development Applications
• 42080 Building Permits
• 42090 Inspections

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman,
The Department of Planning’s total budget a llocation, B -307, is $3,390,000 for the 2021/22 fiscal
year. This represents an increase of $42,000 when compared to the original budget of the previous year
and is primarily to facilitate the cost of the department
relocating from its current premises to a new office
location.
Expenditure has been reduced and in some
cases eliminated in a number of areas. These reduc-tions are focused in areas involving training, line item three, travel, line item four, and materials and supplies, line item thirteen of the Subjective Analysis of
Current Account Estimates. Items that were eliminated include: funding for advertising and promotion, line
item seven, which can be accommodated through
other sources such as social media and the depar tment’s website. The Department’s Heritage Fund
1204 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly seen on page C -21 was reduced given the lack of applications to apply for the Listed Building interest free
loan scheme. This reduced grant will maintain the existing loans that are currently in place.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Depar tment of Planning’s estimated revenue is found on
page B -308 for the 2021/22 fiscal year and is estimated to be $1,458,000. This estimate represents a r eduction of $13,000 or negligible 1 per cent w hen compared to the original estimate of the 2020/21 fiscal
year.
This minor decrease is expected due to an
anticipated reduction in B125 Subdivision Fees. It is
not anticipated that the department will receive any
proposals for large scale subdivision s chemes such
as the recently approved Riddell’s Bay scheme.
With respect to B123 Planning Application
fees, found on page B -308, there are no anticipated
major projects on the horizon, projects which typically
generate higher fees. As such, it is forecasted that this
will result in a decrease of $37,000 in revenue. Ho wever, it is possible that towards the end of the fiscal
year these types of projects may appear on the hor izon.
Notwithstanding this, it is important to point
out that despite the economic dow nturn associated
with the impacts of COVID -19 the department has
experienced an increase in small projects, such as, home renovations and additions over the final two
quarters of the 2020/21 fiscal year. I will provide some statistics which support this in dication. Despite these
challenging economic times, it is certainly encoura ging to see homeowners investing in their properties.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Depar tment of Planning employee numbers are outlined on page B - 308 of the B udget Book. While two vacant
administrative support posts have been unfunded for
this upcoming fiscal year, the department has added a
new trainee heritage officer position which has been
created for a finite three- year period. The purpose of
this new posi tion is to specifically train a Bermudian to
eventually fill the post of heritage officer, given the
number of previous unsuccessful recruitment attempts. As a result, the department for this new fiscal
year has 32 fulltime employees, five of which are currently vacant. All post holders with the exception of
two are Bermudian.
The vacant posts include: senior planning officer (Development Management), planner (Forward Planning), heritage officer, trainee heritage officer and electrical inspector. The recruitment process has
commenced for three of these posts; planner, trainee
heritage officer and electrical inspector. Recruitment is projected to commence for the
senior planning officer this fiscal year. The total bud get for staff salaries is listed on B -307, line item one
and totals $3,141,000 and represents 93 per cent of
the department’s budget.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented on
pages B -309 to B -310 of the Budget Book. These performance measures remain unchanged from when
they were first introduced last year. In continuing with
the department’s aim to streamline its services, tr emendous effort has been spent this past year on accelerating planning approvals and issuing building
permits to support the struggling economy. The plan-ning team rose to the challenge at the start of this past
fiscal year with all resources redirected to the pr ocessing of applications. A number of projects were temporarily placed on hold to focus all ef forts on expediting approvals. These efforts were met with much
relief by the construction industry who were eager to
return to work following the shelter in place period.
Mr. Chairman, for the information of Honour able Members, I would like to provide st atistics that
may be of particular interest.
For the period of April 1, 2020, to the end of
January 2021, 279 planning approvals for develo pment were granted. This represents an increase of 20
approvals or 8 per cent increase when compared to
the same period for the prior fiscal year.
For building permits, an increase has also
been experienced whereby the Department has i ssued a total of 702 permits, an increase of 59 permits
or 9 per cent over the previous year. A further breakdown of permits reveals the following:
• 133 commercial permits have been issued for
the same period, representing a negligible d ecrease by 19 permits or 12 per cent over the
previous year;
• 226 residential permits were issued, repr esenting an increase of 10 per cent over the
previous year;
• 343 minor works permits were issued, repr esenting an increase by 56 permits or 19 per
cent over the previous year.
Mr. Chairman, the department has also experienced an upsurge in property transactions as ev idenced by the number of planning searches pe rformed. Comparing the figures for the same time per iod used for reviewing planning approvals and permits,
this fiscal year thus far reports 222 planning searches.
This reflects an increase of 31 or 16 per cent from last
year.
Mr. Chairman, when considering that the I sland has undergone significant upheaval and interrup-tion in commercial activity due to the COVID -19 pandemic, it is quite remarkable and extremely encouragBermuda House of Assembly ing to see these increases. The staff in the Depar tment of Planning should certai nly be commended for
their hard work during this fiscal year in playing their
part to support the economy.

Major Achievements

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, aside from the
general processing of planning applications and iss uing of building permits, the Department has completed
a number of other key projects.
When presenting the budget last year, it was
announced that the department was about to embark
on the tribunal process to hear all 200- plus unresolved
objections to the draft Bermuda Plan 2018. These tr ibunal inquiries, which are required to be held in public, were abruptly brought to a halt in early April 2020
due to the escalating impacts of COVID -19. The Planning team swiftly established a solution of holding vi rtual meetings which were streamed live on the d epartment’s website via YouTube. Thanks to technol ogy, the tribunal process was successfully completed at
the end of December 2020. The recommendations of
the tribunal were submitted to me on 1 March 2021 for
my review.
Mr. Chairman, other technological advances
for the department included reaching full implement ation with their new system, ‘EnerGov’. The new sy stem has allowed the public greater accessibility to
planning submissions via an online platform and assisted in bringing greater efficiency to internal pr ocesses. Feedback thus far regarding the online submission platform has been extremely positive and greatly contributes to the department’s aim of strea mlining its services.
Mr. Chairman, these advances have not been
restricted to this new system, but have also been extended to the department’s website with the public ation of online guidance notes and on our Facebook page. Meeting virtually is the new way of doing bus iness and has certainly ensured that Planning services
have not been compromised. One such example i ncludes how the DAB (Development Applications
Board) were quick to hold their first virtual meeting
during the shelter in place period. These meetings
have continued throughout the year on a regular schedule therefore not causing interruption to the approval process for new development.
Mr. Chairman, I am also pleased to confirm
that the department’s efforts to increase awareness of
functions and processes along with a desire to clearly
understand concerns of the constr uction industry has
continued from last year with stakeholder engagement
continuing virtually. Meetings have been held with key
groups in the industry such as the Institute of Berm uda Architects, the Construction Association of Berm uda, the Chamber of Commerce (Energy Division), the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation
(BEDC) and non- government organisations (NGOs), such as, the Bermuda Audubon Society, BEST and
the Bermuda National Trust.

Plans for the Upcoming Year
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment of Planning will be continuing with a number of initiatives that are already in train which are expected
to be delivered this financial year. These initiatives are
for the purposes of streamlining the overall Planning
process in order to support individual landowners as well as the construction industry and also to become
more open and transparent.
Mr. Chairman, with respect to legislative
change, I first introduced last year that amendments to the Development and Planning Act 1974 are
planned (1) to enable the development planning pr ocess to become more fluid; (2) to protect specific ar eas that must be protected given their natural environment value; and (3) to enable emergency approvals to
be granted during times of a national crisis. I am
pleased to report that the department has been wor king with Chambers to draft these amendments which are expected to be tabled shortly.
Mr. Chairman, another item which I anticipate
to table this year includes an amendment to the D evelopment and Planni ng (General Development) O rder 2015 in order to increase the scope of what is
considered ‘Permitted Development’. In my continued
efforts to encourage renewable and green technol ogies, changes to increase the scope of solar PV will
be one of the key featur es of this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, in amplification of the amendment I just described, in order to incentivise renew able energy and development for the purposes of local
food production, I will be working with the Minister of
Finance to table amendments to reduce Planning application and building permit fees associated with applications to install renewable energy and construct buildings for local food production. The department
recognises the role it plays in order for the Island to
adapt to a rapidly c hanging climate, rising energy
costs and in supporting local food security.
Mr. Chairman, the department will be executing the following initiatives:
• Following my review of the Tribunal report, I
will be tabling the Bermuda Plan 2018 in the House of
the Legislature for final approval and adoption.
• We will be releasing the draft Local Plan for
North East Hamilton of which the Department has r ecently prepared for public consultation with the aim to finalise and implement soon thereafter. This plan
compris es a policy framework which will provide the
necessary flexibility to attract new investment to the
area whilst encouraging a raft of community benefits
to this part of the City.
• Release the draft World Heritage Site Management Plan 2021, of which the department has also
recently prepared, for public consultation. The d e1206 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly partment is working with the Ministry responsible for
Municipalities, specifically the Corporation of St.
George to formulate a new governance structure to
manage and implement the Plan goi ng forward.
• Continue with the review of the Bermuda
Building Code to incorporate changes in order to align
with best practice and advancing construction building methods especially with respect to energy efficiency
and provision of infrastructure to support telecomm unications.
Mr. Chairman, last year I introduced the co ncept of a Competent Persons Scheme to enable competent tradespersons to perform minor works without the required inspection process. In partnership with
the Department of Energy, a draft po licy focusing on a
pilot programme for PV solar installers is nearing
completion. Consultation with such entities as the PV
installers and the Energy Division of the Chamber of Commerce will follow before implementation.
Mr. Chairman, there are a number of initiatives being spearheaded by my Ministry of which the Department of Planning has contributed its expertise
to. Some examples include:
• In support of the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity
Programme (BOPP), the Department of Planning has contributed its expertis e in the d evelopment of a Marine Spatial Plan for the i sland’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
• In collaboration with the Regulatory Authority,
the Department has contributed advice to potential investors with respect to new energy
technologies and also major undersea cabling
industry.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, despite the var ious challenges that have been presented this year
with the advent of a global pandemic, I am proud of the significant effort made by the Department of Plan-ning in their role to support t he construction industry.
I would like to thank the dedicated members
of staff in the Department of Planning, including: Ms. Victoria Pereira, Director; Mr. Larry Williams, Assistant
Director; Mr. Aidan Stones, Acting Building Control
Officer; and their r espective teams. It has been indeed
a pleasure working with them.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will now move on
with your permission—

You may proceed, Minister.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I
will proceed with Head 49, the Department of Land
Valuation.

HEAD 49 —DEPARTMENT OF LAND VALUATION

Hon. Walter H. Roban: It gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 49, the Department of
Land Valuation, found on pages B -311 through B -313
and page C -16 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure.

Mission

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Mission of
the Department of Land Valuation is to proactively
maintain an accurate and fair Valuation List for land tax purposes. The department’s work ethic, principles
and expertise are aptly summarised in their maxim
We value Bermuda as the department strives to be a
model of appraisal and assessment administration
with a reputation for delivering impartial, accurate and understandable assessments that exceed statutory
requirements, guidelines and international best practices. To this end, the department’s objectives comprise:
• maintaining an accurate and current Valuation List for Bermuda under the authority of the
Land V aluation and Tax Act 1967;
• undertaking Island wide quinquennial or fiveyearly revaluations for land tax purposes as required by the Act;
• providing prompt and accurate valuation advice to the Tax Commissioner and the Regi strar of the Supreme Court on volu ntary co nveyances and probate matters; and
• providing valuation and policy advice to other
government departments as requested.
To meet these objectives, the department has
the single Business Unit, Valuation, as shown on Page B -311

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment of Land Valuation’s total budget allocation is
$994,000 for the 2021/22 fiscal year. This represents
a decrease by $40,000, 4 per cent, when compared to
the original budget of the previous year.
Expenditur e has been reduced in a number of
areas and are primarily attributed to the postponement of the 2020 Island- wide revaluation project.
The most significant changes in the Subjective Analysis found on page B -3129 in the 2021/22
Estimates are explained as f ollows:
• a 2 per cent decrease in salaries, line item
one, due to no overtime costs associated with the 2020 revaluation project;


Bermuda House of Assembly • a 45 per cent decrease in training, line item
two, as a result of anticipated savings in this
area;
• an 81 per cent decrease in professional services, line item five, as a result of not needing any data inputters for the 2020 revaluation
project; and
• A 50 per cent decrease in the materials and
supplies as a result of not having to print the
draft valuation lists for deposit in all the post
offices and Information Leaflets for all taxpa yers.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment of Land Valuation’s estimated revenue is found
on page B -312 for the 2021/22 fiscal year and r emains at $6,000. This is revenue in respect of fees
that are paid by objectors to have their objections
heard before the Land Valuation Appeal Tribunal in
instances where the objection was not resolved during
negotiations with the department.
Whilst the number of objections the depar tment might receive during the 2021/22 fiscal year is
unknown, and how many, if any, will go before the
Tribunal for a hearing, the estimated revenue is based
on an estimate of a total of 10 tribunal hearings.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Depar tment of Land Valuation employee numbers are outlined on page B –312 of the Budget Book. The number
of fulltime positions has not changed when compared
to the original budget of the preceding fiscal year. With a total of 10 fulltime positions budgeted for in
2021/22 fiscal year, the Department of Land Valuation
is one of the smallest departments in the whole of
government.
The budget for staff salaries is $913,000, and
represents 92 per cent of the department’s budget.

Output Measures

Hon. Walte r H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented on
page B -313 of the Budget Book. The Department of
Land Valuation has yet again had an exceedingly d emanding year and the work of the Land Valuation
team should never be m inimised or diminished as this
small team are directly responsible for providing the
annual rental values (ARVs) to the Tax Commission
which forms the basis for collecting some $95 million
in government revenue from land tax, stamp duties
and property license fees.
Mr. Chairman, for the information of Honour able Members, I would like to provide statistics that
may be of interest to them. Maintenance of the Valuation List
Hon. Walter H. Roban: The legislated function of
maintaining the entries in the Valuation List utilises the
greater part of the department’s resources. This work entails inspecting, reassessing and making a corr esponding alteration to the Valuation List on any res idential, commercial or tourist property that is built, altered or demolished.
As at 13 December 2020 there were a total of
36,321 units in the Valuation List with a combined as-sessed annual rental value of approximately $1.3 bi llion.
The department makes every effort to amend the Val-uation List for property alterations within 20 working
days of case creation. However, the COVID -19 pa ndemic had a detrimental impact on the department’s ability to undertake onsite inspections and the turn around target was revised to a realistic level of 50 per
cent. I am pleased to report that as at December
2020, the department exceeded this target and com-pleted 65 per cent of the Maintenance of the List cases within the 20 working day turnaround target.
The department completed a total of 412
Maintenance of the List cases by December 2020, resulting in 513 proposals to amend the Valuation List
in respect of property alterations. Each proposal is an opportunity for a taxpayer to object to the amendment to the Valuation List. During the fiscal year 2020/21
thus far, the department received only three f ormal
objections, which is less than 0.7 per cent of all pr oposals served during this period. Both objections were
settled without the need to go before the Land Valuation Appeal Tribunal.

Appraisal Services

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The department of Land Valuation provides accurate and timely valuation advice
to other Government Departments, upon request, i ncluding:
I. Provision of valuations to the Tax Commi ssioner and Registrar of the Supreme Court for
voluntary conveyances of property and pr obate purpos es respectively, to ensure that the
correct amount of stamp duty is levied on each document.
II. Valuation advice to the Cabinet Office in rel ation to sales of properties to restricted per-sons. The Department reviews the purchase
price, on which the government license fee is
calculated, to determine if the price is an
“arm’s length” transaction, and thus a fair r eflection of the open market value of the property.
III. Appraisal advice to other government depar tments, when requested, such as the Inso lvency Unit of t he Registrar of Companies and
the Estates Sections of the Department of
1208 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Public Lands and Buildings, Ministry of Public
Works, for the disposal or acquisition of properties.
As at December 2020, the department provi ded 317 open market valuations to other go vernment
departments and remarkably met or exceeded each of
their turnaround targets for this section. This included
completing 200 stamp duty cases for the Tax Co mmissioner, with 96 per cent completed within 20 wor king days of receipt; 43 probate cases for the Registrar
of the Supreme Court, all within 10 working days of receipt; 72 land acquisition cases for the Cabinet O ffice, all within five working days of receipt; and two
requests for open market valuations for the Estates
Section, Ministry of Publi c Works and Insolvency Unit,
Registrar of Companies combined, all within 10 wor king days of receipt.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, over the next
financial year, the priority and focus of the Department
of Land Valuation will continue to be the provision of
expert valuations which meet the demands of professionalism, independence, impartiality and objectivity,
and the provision of career opportunities to Bermuda’s
“best and brightest” in the specialist field of valuations.
The assessed annual rental values in the Va luation List will continue to be used by the Tax Com-missioner to calculate land tax revenues which repr esent 7.9 per cent of government’s estimated revenue
for the 2021/22 fiscal year. Additionally, the depar tment’s appraisal advice to other government depar tments is expected to generate significant revenues in
the sale of land to non- Bermudians.
Mr. Chairman, in keeping with this Gover nment’s commitment to encourage Bermudians to pursue “difficult -to-fill” pos itions within the public service, I
am pleased to update this Honourable House on the progress of the department’s trainee valuer, Ms. A ndesha Busby.
Ms. Busby successfully advanced from a Bursary Student to the trainee valuer position in August 2019 and i s currently on secondment with the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in Southampton, England, where she is part of the VOA’s Graduate Scheme. This scheme is specifically designed to provide un iversity graduate students with structured work exper ience in prepar ation for the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) as part of the Royal Institution
of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) requirements for
membership. Ms. Busby is on course to sit the APC in the fall of 2021, where it is anticipated that she will
successf ully attain the professional designation of
Chartered Surveyor.
Following this accomplishment and as part of
the department’s long- term strategy and succession
planning, Ms. Busby continues to be trained and developed to assume the role of valuer upon gain ing the requisite professional qualifications and post qualific ation work experience.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s processes
and procedures will continue to be reviewed with the goal of further streamlining and improving work flows and increasing efficiencies. The department will continue to leverage IT synergies with other government
departments as it fully embraces a paperless working
environment, which is in line with this Government’s
commitment to achieve 100 per cent paperless pr ocessing by 2023.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
thank the members of staff in the Department of Land
Valuation for their resolute commitment and continued
dedication, including Ms. Diane Elliott, Director; Ms.
Rachel Hall, Assistant Director, Revaluation; Mr.
James Needham, Assistant Director, Stamp Duty; and their respective teams. It has indeed been a pleasure
to work with them.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I would now like to move on to
Head 79, with your permission.

Yes, Minister, y ou may proceed.

HEAD 79 —DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND
NATURAL RESOURCES

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It gives me great pleasure to present the
budget for Head 79, the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR), found on pages B -
314 through B -322, and pages C -8, C16 and C -21 of
the Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.

Mission

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Mission of
the Department of Environment and Natural R esources is to protect Bermuda’s environment and r esponsibl y manage its natural resources.
The department’s objectives are to:
1) provide strategic direction and management in
the formulation and implementation of legisl ation, policy and standards to protect Berm uda's environment;
2) reduce negative impac ts to Bermuda's natural
environment, biodiversity, natural resources
and marine heritage;
3) increase the island's food security and local food production;
4) better ensure the survival of threatened species and habitats;
5) improve humane care and protection of animals;
6) improve the quality of Bermuda's ambient air and water quality; and


Bermuda House of Assembly 7) improve care and appreciation of Bermuda's
natural environment and marine cultural heri tage.
To meet these objectives, the department has
14 business units as shown on page B -315 each of
which comprise a varied complement of skilled offi cers. The business units are as follows:
• 89000 Administration
• 89010 Marine Resources
• 89020 Marine Conservation
• 89030 Marine Heritage and Health
• 89040 Marine Enforcement
• 89050 Terrestrial Conservat ion
• 89060 Veterinary Services
• 89070 Animal Control
• 89080 Plant Protection
• 89090 Agronomy
• 89100 Pollution Control
• 89110 BAMZ Administration
• 89120 Aquarium and Zoo
• 89130 Museum

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s total budget allocation is approximately
$8,038,314 for the 2021/22 fiscal year. This repr esents a decrease of $314,000, or 4 per cent, when
compared to the original budget of the previous year.
Salaries have been reduced with the defunding of one vacant post, namely the Marine Conserv ation Officer. As part of the ongoing review of the department, four existing Bermuda Aquarium Museum
and Zoo miscellaneous posts were re- designated as
substantive posts and the funds moved from wages to
salaries.
Expenditur e has also been reduced in a number of areas involving travel, line item six; communic ations, line item seven; advertising and promotion, line item eight; and professional services, line item nine. It
is expected that the department will continue its use of
virtual meetings to ensure that staff participate in i mportant meetings with overseas colleagues. The department will look to better use the government portal
and its departmental website to better communicate
and promote its services and provide notifi cations to
the public.
There are minor increases in transport, line
item 5; repair and maintenance, line item 11; and i nsurance, line item 12. These reflect the ongoing need
to ensure that the department can continue to effe ctively conduct its public rela ted field work services and
adequately protect important government assets.
The only major increase has been in oper ational energy costs. However it should be noted that,
in addition to continuing its internal energy cost saving
efforts, both the departm ent’s headquarter building
and the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo will have solar roof projects completed very shortly. These
projects will provide significant savings over the long
term.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment generates revenue from a variety of licences,
permits, services and entrance fees including licensing of dog, lobster and fishing activities, water rights,
crop storage fees and visitor admissions to the Ber-muda Aquarium Museum and Zoo (BAMZ).
The department’s estimated revenue is found
on page B -317 for the 2021/22 fiscal year and is est imated to be $1,101,000. This estimate represents a
decrease of $408,000, or 27 per cent, when compared
to the original estimate of the 2020/21 fiscal year. This
reduct ion is anticipated due to the loss of revenue expected from tourist related admission fees into the
Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo.
Expected revenue from dog licensing for
budget year 2021/22 is a combined $307,000. It r eflects the expected level of revenue for dog licence
collection rather than 100 per cent compliance. I can
assure you that every effort will continue to be made
by the department to work towards having every dog
in Bermuda licensed and the appropriate fees paid.

Capital Development Expen diture

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the capital expenditure budget for the department can be found on
page C -8. A capital minor works budget of $150,000
will provide for the general maintenance and upgra ding of the headquarters facility and plant protection
laboratory located in the Botanical Gardens, the C oney Island Facility (for marine resources management and enforcement), the Government Agriculture Service Centre in Prospect, the Government kennels, and improvements in the 200 acres of government owned
nature reserves managed by the Department.
Due to the need for specialised facilities and
educational displays $100,000 has been allocated to the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo, for repairs
to exhibits and life support systems.

Grants and Contr ibutions

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment engages several local entities to undertake specialized studies as noted on page C -21. Professional
local service contractors and consultants include the
Bermuda Institute for Ocean Science (BIOS ) for the
Ambient Air/Water Quality Programme for $230,000,
and the Bermuda Zoological Society’s Amphibian R esearch Project for $15,000. These funds allow for specific studies to be undertaken which enable the department to meet its monitoring requirements mandated by the Clean Air Act 1991. The department also
1210 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly provides the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (SPCA) a grant of $10,000 to assist with the
delivery of their programmes.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment has 78 fulltime equivalent posts as shown on
page B -318 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure. This is comparable to the 2020/21
budget. The department continues to modernise nu-merous job descriptions throughout the department’s
organisational structure to accurately reflect oper ational need and priorities.
The total budget for staff salaries and wages
is $6,286,000 and represents 78 per cent of the department’s budget.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, as with many
other departments the COVID -19 pandemic has had a
significant impact on the services provided by the
DENR and consequently on its 2020/21 performance
measures. Unfortunately, it is anticipated that this will
likely continue into the coming year 2021/22, although
hopefully to a lesser extent. These impacts can be attributed to necessary restrictions impacting public
activity, the department’s field work, scuba diving, and
patron visits to its offices and the Bermuda Aquarium,
Museum and Zoo. However the department has also
seen increased activity in key areas such as food s ecurity including food storage, enforcement and plant
inspections.
Mr. Chairman, a complete tabulation of the
output measures for the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources can be found on pages B -319
through B -322 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure for 2021/22.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89000, Administr ation noted on Budget Page B -319: Nineteen protected
species licences were issued to local and international
resear chers within five working days in fiscal year
2019/20. Research topics included investigating the
growth and survival of native yellow wood trees, the
status and habitat use of migratory bats, collecting blood samples, feather samples and ecto- parasites
from adult and juvenile cahows, measuring interglacial
temperatures in Bermuda via isotopic study of fossil molluscs, and banding longtails rehabilitated at BAMZ.
It is expected that this general level of interest will
continue with some 20 licences and perm its being
received in 2021/22 with 100 per cent being pr ocessed within five working days.
A number of invasive pest species continue to
have a tremendous impact on Bermuda’s ecology and farming sector. In fiscal year 2019/20, the department
made significan t efforts to address this problem resul ting in the culling of 14,177 pest birds, predominantly feral chickens, pigeons and crows. Culling efforts
were increased on behalf of local farmers who were
experiencing major crop damage from feral chickens,
as well as efforts to control pigeons within the City of
Hamilton and flocks found at local dairy farms.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89010, Marine R esources noted on Budget Book page B -319: Sustai ning our local fisheries is paramount. In addition to successfully ma naging the licensing of numerous fisheries (e.g. commercial finfish fishery, recreational lo bster fishery etc.) and providing support to the Marine Resources Board and the Commercial Fisheries
Council, the Marine Resources Section carried out
work on sever al specialised projects including the
Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP), and
more data was collected for the lobster research pr ogramme. The section also maintained compliance with
our membership to the International Commission for
the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), as well as
provided support to the Sargasso Sea Commission.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89020, Marine
Conservation noted on Budget Book page B -319: In
addition to its many other duties the Marine Conserv ation Section reviewed 32 planning applications pertaining to the marine environment; presenting them to
the Marine Resources Board within four weeks of r eceiving the application. It is expected that in 2021/22
the trend will likely decrease, dependent on develo pment interest, with 15 applications being received and
100 per cent being responded to within 20 working
days. The marine habitat assessments undertaken by the section was forecast to decrease in 2020/21 and 2021/22. However, given the need for increased effort
in the seagrass restoration project studies this projection may reverse itself.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89030, Marine Heritage and Health noted on page B -319: In 2019/20
twelve marine heritage consultations were conducted by the section within 20 working days. It is expected
that this range of consultations will continue for
2021/22.
The percentage of protected dive site moorings in place at the beginning of the season was 86 per cent during the spring and summer of 2019 but
decreased slightly in 2020/21 due to the r estriction on
commercial scuba diving put in place during the COVID -19 Lockdown.
In 2021/22 it is expected that there will be 42
dive site moorings in place and 100 per cent will be
assessed within 60 days and repairs made in readiness for the seasons. The department and the mini stry are most grateful to the Stempel Foundation for its
support of this important project.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89040, Marine E nforcement noted on Budget Book page B -320: In
budget year 2019/20 485 vessels were stopped and
checked with attention to daily bag limits, size and
species restrictions. This was an increase of 145 vessel checks or 40.5 per cent on the number reported in


Bermuda House of Assembly 2018/19. This can be directly attributed to having the
warden team at full strength of four under the superv ision of the marine enforcement officer. The numbers
of cases prosecuted and illegal traps found are expected to remain in the same range as previous years.
Mr. Chairman, of particular note this past year
was a very useful three- day training exer cise recently
organised by the Department of Public Prosecutions
to refresh all non- police service enforcement officers
on best practice for building a case to charge level
and how to best conduct themselves in court to support their cases. The fisheries w ardens and animal
wardens participated, along with several other departments. The course was enthusiastically received and I would like to take a moment to thank the Mini ster of Legal Affairs and the Department of Public Prosecutions for their great assist ance. Such training
will undoubtedly assist us as we address inappropr iate behavior in the marine environment.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89050, Terrestrial
Conservation, noted on Budget Book page B -320: An
important part of the Terrestrial Conservation Section’s mission is to provide environmental and habitat
assessment advice to the Department of Planning and
members of the public for all matters related to terrestrial conservation zones. In fiscal year 2019/20 the
section undertook 96 consultations on planning appl ications, environmental impact assessment scoping
reports, conservation management plans and pr oposed landscape schemes. It was expected to i ncrease in 2020/21, but was revised down to a similar level as 2019/20 due the impact of the pandemic. It is
expected to increase in 2021/22 as the impacts of the
pandemic lessen. This trend is expected for other
measures carried out by the Section such as the
providing of tours, invasive species removal and new
plantings.
Cost Centre 89060, Veterinary Serv ices, noted on Budget Book page B -320: Activities of the Veterinary Services Section were primarily customer f ocused, with animal imports, and re- visiting the cond itions of entry for various species occupying much of the section’s time. Additionally the section has been
working diligently to enact the new provisions of the
recently approved Dogs Act 2008, particularly those sections of the Act pertaining to ticketing and civil
penalties. These provisions will bring more efficiency
to the enforcement of the lesser dog offences.
The section continued its efforts to monitor
farm production and animal welfare on farms. During
the current fiscal year, 2020/21, the added capacity of the veterinary officer’s post has brought about closer
and more frequent contacts between the department
and animal farmers including closer monitoring of milk
quality. Matters related to the pandemic have led to fewer on- farm visits than anticipated, but, there has
been no indication of declined farm animal welfare standards. Addition ally, this section has completed legi slated amendments to the Endangered Animals and Plants Act 2006 which is expected to be presented to
the Legislature for consideration. These amendments
will improve Bermuda’s legislation to protect endan-gered species of animals and plants, and have it more
closely align with the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Fl ora (CITES).
Cost centre 89070, Animal Control, noted on
Budget Book page B -320: During 2019/20, the percentage of dogs believed to be eligible for licensure
has fallen by an estimated 11 per cent from 4,303 actual licenses paid in 2018/19 to 3,821 in 2019/20. I
can assure this Honourable House that the depar tment has been sending out its regular reminders to dog owners, and no other procedures have otherwise changed to warrant such a large drop in dog licensing.
Recognising that there is a need to address this as a
priority, the department will implement a public educ ation campaign reminding dog owners of their obligations under the law, hire a replacement animal warden to bring the team back up to full strength and will develop an online payment system for dog licensing.
Mr. Chairman, during the previous two budget
cycles I have mentioned dangerous dogs, and today I
do so again. While the COVID -19 pandemic has de vastated our society in countless ways, the shelter -inplace seems to have presented one small, bright spot in this fiscal year that being the reduction in dog attacks reported to Animal Control. During 2020, t he
number of incidents of biting/injury upon a person r eported to Animal Control declined to 14, representing
a decline of 36 per cent. Incidents of biting/injury upon
an animal declined to 18, that being a 44 per cent r eduction. Overall, Animal Control responded to 625
incidents/complaints during fiscal year 2019/20, compared to 701 for the previous year.
Notwithstanding this good news addressing
dog offenses is a priority for the department. As I not-ed previously, the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources is very thankful to the Department
of Public Prosecutions for the prosecution training r eceived by its enforcement officers. The training helped
to ensure that cases presented to the DPP are of ex-cellent investigative quality. This rise in quali ty of i nvestigations, combined with the increased complexity
and durations of investigations, and short staffing of
enforcement officers, have proved to be very cha llenging for the Animal Control Section. Nonetheless,
this small team of officers continues to strive for the wellbeing of animals and our community.
I would also note that the formation of the
Dogs Tribunal, as required by the amended Dogs Act 2008, is very near completion. The Dogs Tribunal will
provide a mechanism for those aggrieved by dec isions of the Department to appeal those decisions in a
non-court environment. The process is hoped to r e1212 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly duce costs and delays related to resolving disputes
inside of a court room.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89080, Plant Pr otection noted on Budget Book page B -320: The nu mber of items inspected for plant pest and diseased in
2019/20 was 851,538, with 16 per cent of those being
found to be infested. It was forecasted that this trend
would increase in 2020/21 but was revised down due
to the impacts of the pandemic . It is forecast that plant
imports will increase in 2021/22 as the infestations lessen.
Of particular note for this current budget year
2020/21 was the need for the Plant Protection Labor atory to refocus its efforts on inspections at the border as overseas agencies who normally would undertake pre-inspections of incoming shipments were otherwise
engaged. This was particularly important for the I sland’s Christmas tree supply this year. Through a
combined effort [of] the DENR, overseas suppliers,
HM Customs, local importers, and Stevedoring Services, all trees were inspected with minimal losses. Of
note was a large colony of carpenter ants found in one
container which were quickly destroyed, proving the
need for constant vigilance.
Another challenge has bee n the importation of
clean banana shipments. Since November 2018, when the problem was first identified, this fruit has unfortunately been found to consistently be infested
with mealy bugs in all life stages, as well as scale.
This is not just an isolated phenomenon for Bermuda.
It has been reported to the Plant Protection Laborat ory that one of the main USA exporters that supplies the Island has begun to regularly find mealy bug on all its main brands of bananas. Mealy bugs are of particular concern to Ber muda as they can cause pro blems for over 250 host species, including crops as
well as important ornamental plants.
The Plant Protection Laboratory continues to
work with local importers, and overseas inspectors to
try and find practical solutions to allo w for the import
of this important food staple, lower the cost to the
consumer, while protecting the Island’s agriculture
sector and its fragile environment. The DENR can r eport that there is significant light at the end of the tu nnel, and incoming shipments are trending towards being much cleaner.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89090, Agronomy
noted on Budget Book page B -321: Improving the I sland’s food security has taken on added importance since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The Agriculture Service Cent re is one of the main means by
which the Government can provide direct assistance
to our local farmers. The centre provides cold storage
for local crops, ice for farmers and fishermen, packaging materials, banana ripening services, seeds and
chemicals.
At this time, I would like to extend a big thank
you to all of our local farmers for all of their efforts over the last year providing local produce when we needed it the most. Much of what they produced was
in high demand and went quickly to the consumer r ather than to storage. As such, the value of produce,
goods and services handled by the Agriculture Service Centre remained within the same range of $207,000 in 2019/20 to $212,000 in 2020/21. The
trend is expected to continue in 2021/22.
Similarly, I not e that the economic embargoes
for locally grown vegetables are expected to remain consistent, ranging between 129 issued in 2019/20 to
125 in 2021/22. This tells us that our farmers are able to supply local demand of certain crops, for the entire
island, f or periods of time.
We want to see this trend increase and the
Government will play its part to assist our farmers produce more good quality food for our island, thereby
increasing the Island’s food security. I will be working with the Minister of Finance to table amendments to
reduce planning application and building permit fees
associated with buildings for local food production. We
will be also working with the Board of Agriculture to
review potential methods of farming that could help to reduce product ion costs and reduce the negative i mpact caused by hurricanes.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89100, Pollution
Control, noted on Budget Book page B -321: The I sland’s four main freshwater lenses remain at full c apacity and continue to be underutilised with the ex-cess rainwater captured overflowing to the sea. All
reported spills of oils and fuel were monitored and
cleaned up according to the government’s guidelines.
Working closely with the Bermuda Shipping and Mar itime Authority (BSMA) and Marine and Ports Services, new regulations to address abandoned and
derelict vessels are being drafted which will help to address associated pollution and aesthetic issues.
All stakeholder responses to the Department
of Planning were provided within the required 10
working day period. It is expected that in fiscal year
2021/22 all applications will be reviewed by the Poll ution Control Section and 100 per cent of these will be
responded to within 10 working days. This section continues to manage 4,200 water rights for wells and
boreholes under the Water Resources Act 1975 and
the 680 operating licences for controlled plant polluting equipment under the Clean Air Act 1991.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89110, BAMZ A dministration, noted on Budget Book page B -321: Total
visitors to the B ermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo
was 68,241 in 2019/20. Unfortunately, due to the pa ndemic and the resulting drop in visitors to the Island, the admission rate for 2020/21 has since been revised
down drastically to 17,000. It is hoped that as the i mpacts of pandemic lessen the annual visitor numbers
to the facility will improve somewhat and, as such, the
number of admissions has been estimated at 32,000,
a cautious estimate for 2021/22.
The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo in
combination with the Bermuda Zool ogical Society co nBermuda House of Assembly tinues to strongly support schools throughout the i sland with conservation and science education classes
tied to the Cambridge Curriculum. In fiscal year
2019/20 the actual number of students who took part
in the programme was 5,298. The student experiences were provided on the facilities in Flatts; on Trunk
Island; and on the floating classrooms MV Endurance
and MV Callista , engaging students in the natural hi story of our Island.
Demand for classes continues to be strong. It
was hoped thi s number would increase sub stantially
in 2020/21, but with the closure of the facility for reasons associated with the pandemic , this was not to be
the case. It is anticipated that the number will increase
in 2021/22 as opportunities permit.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89120, Aquarium
and Zoo: As seen on Budget Book page B -322, the
statistics reflect the ongoing efforts made to provide
world class exhibits and exemplary care and support
for the government animal collections. The number of
animals receiving pr eventive veterinary care was consistent with previous years at 286 in fiscal year
2019/20, and this trend continued in 2020/21 and is
expected to continue in 2021/22. Further, I note that
efforts to treat injured wildlife continued with over 200
animals and birds being treated at BAMZ, with the aim
of releasing them back into the wild.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 89130, Natural Hi story Museum, noted on Budget Book page B -322: The
number of specimens added to the natural history co llection was 665 in 2019/20 as the Curator and his
team, now at full strength, were able to tackle a bac klog of entries. It is expected that the entries will co ntinue at a level of 350 in the upcoming fiscal year.

Major Policy Changes

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, as mentioned
throughout my brief, the ongoing pandemic has had a
major impact on the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources and its intended outcomes for
2020/21 and unfortunately it has not been operations
as normal.
Notwithstanding the above, I would like to
highlight the following, which were made during this fiscal year, including:

The Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I wish to take a moment to
update this Honourable House on the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP). In June 2019,
the Government, in partnership with the not -for-profit
Waitt Institute and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean
Science (BIOS), embarked on an exciting new pr ogramme which will result in the creation of an int egrated marine spatial plan for the entirety of Berm uda’s 200 nautical mile Economic Exclusive Zone
(EEZ). Also included in this initiative is the Blue Eco n-omy Strategy which will look to identify ways to capitalize on numerous opportunities in our waters such
as fisheries, blue tourism and ocean rene wable energy. The ambitious time line for the completion of this Plan is March 2022.
Since its announcement much effort has been
made developing the organisational structure to support an effective work programme. The Waitt Foundation has generously prov ided funding for support staff
to add capacity to the steering committee, made up of key personnel from numerous government depar tments and organisations with a mandate to manage
our marine environment.
On 17 September 2020, a virtual launch was
held to b egin the stakeholder consultation process for
the marine spatial plan. Stakeholder focus groups
then met from October 2020 to February 2021 to give feedback on the principles, goals and objectives for
the marine spatial plan. All stakeholders and the general public have also been encouraged, through social
media and other avenues, to take the Ocean Use
Survey to provide information on how they use the ocean space.
As part of the Blue Economy Strategy work,
chapters on fisheries, blue tourism and ocean r enewable energy were drafted, which contain recommendations on how to improve these industries. The cha pters will be posted on the website for consultation in
March. www.bermudaoceanprosperity.org
,

IMO [Instruments Implementation Code III]
Triple III Audit

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the UK, Bermuda and other Overseas Territories (OTs) are currently preparing for a mandatory audit by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to assess how w ell
the various IMO legislative instruments which address
ship safety and pollution from ships are being followed. The date of the audit has been extended due to the pandemic to after April 2021. Bermuda’s Shi pping Registry, with over 12 million gross tonnage of
registered shipping, requires the audit to continue to
progress.
The Pollution Control Section of the DENR
has a major role in the maintenance and training of the National Oil Pollution Contingency Plan in addition
to ensuring that the local oil spill emergency plans of
Bermuda’s licensed ports are aligned to this national
plan. This section also manages the spill response equipment in addition to maintaining links with various
organisations that can offer overseas assistance in
the event of a larg e spill.
The UK Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA)
recognises this effort and has provided significant funding to Bermuda to run on- Island oil spill response
courses at various levels. In addition to the $166,000
provided by the UK MCA for Bermuda to purchase oil
spill equipment and to run oil spill courses in Berm u1214 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly da, this year we have also received a further $40,000
to purchase additional equipment and to set up a
maintenance service contract.

BELCO monitoring

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Coinciding with the commi ssioning of the new BELCO North Power Station e ngines in February 2020 the Pollution Control Section
has seen a corresponding rise in complaints by the
public related to air quality issues from fumes and soot emissions in addition to concern of these impacts
to residential water tanks. The Pollution Control Section has advised the Environmental Authority and has
required BELCO to install a new portable monitoring station at a location to the north that is experiencing
down drafting of fumes.
The Poll ution Control Section has contracted
Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) to oversee this monitoring station, and data is being compared to the Bermuda Clean Air Regulations in add ition to that of overseas UK/EU jurisdictions. As a r esult of recent a ir quality data the Ministry is proposing
amendments to the Clean Air Regulations to more
closely align with UK/EU air quality standards.
BELCO was also required to contract a third
party, BIOS, to sample water and sediment from water
tanks from locations being impacted by BELCO emi ssions. Data has been shared with the public and shows that the combustion- related contaminants are
not present in the drinking water above the stringent
standards of the UK, EU, US or the World Health O rganization.
The signature of these contaminants that can
be measured in the sediments at the base of the tanks
indicates a road- vehicle source that has effectively
diluted out any signal from BELCO emissions. Further work will concentrate on determining what sc enarios could lead to mixing of the sediment in Berm uda’s water tanks.

For the benefit of the listening public
and Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of Supply for further consid eration of the Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure for the year [2021/22], under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is my pleasure to
yield the chair to Honourable MP Lovitta Foggo.
The Honourable Minister.

[Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chairman]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, may I continue?

Continue, Minister, yes. Thank you. Plans for the Coming Year
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Increased food security and
reduced cost of living: Madam Chairman, this year the
department will continue to foc us its efforts on i ncreas ing local food production and assisting industry
in reducing production costs, which will translate into
increased food security for the Island and reduced
cost of living for our residents.
These efforts will be governed by the f ive-year
National Crop Strategy and Action Plan and the Ma-rine Resources Strategy. Notable projects will include
the renovation of the Island’s cold storage of locally
produced crops at the Agriculture Service Centre,
strategies to assist our declining loc al bee population,
amendment of legislation to regulate and encourage aquaculture and backyard farming.
Looking to strategically expand opportunities
for fisheries, the Government will develop a regime for
the pelagic fisheries, meaning offshore fisheries outside of our reef zone, Madam Chairman. That pertains
to fishing outside of the coral reef area. It’s more the deep- water area. So that the public understand what
“pelagic” means; it means outside of the reef area and
into the deep sea.
Similar to the economic embargo system in
place for local agricultural crops that will allow our
fishermen to better capitalise on their fish catches when they have sufficient supply. As part of the
BOPP, a new Fisheries Aggregation Devices (FADs)
programme will be pilot ed, in consultation with stak eholders, with a goal of providing more economical
harvesting of important pelagic fish species such as
yellowfin tuna. Additionally, we will provide input to the
Bermuda Economic Development Corporation
(BEDC) to their feasibi lity study for a shoreside fish
processing facility.

Planning for long -term sustainable use and co nservation of our marine resources

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as part of
the BOPP, data collection and analysis of important
commercial species s uch as Spiny Lobster, Black
Grouper and Red Hind, will be conducted to update
management plans for these species.
Recognising the need for better integrated
management for fisheries, consultation will begin on the licensing of recreational fishing from vessels. The
goals of a recreational licensing system are to provide
fisheries managers with more quantitative information from which to make management decisions and to
improve sustainability of our reef fish stocks.
Acknowledging that effective enforcement is
one of the most critical elements of effective man-agement, the department will complete the Marine
Resources Enforcement Strategy. It is expected that the recommendations from this strategy will be incorporated into the functions of the newly formed B ermuBermuda House of Assembly da Coast Guard, which is expected to add much
needed capacity to the fisheries wardens. Efforts will
continue to protect our critical seagrass and mangrove
habitats through better protection and plantings.

Tackling pest species

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, work will
continue in the monitoring and management of local
pests, diseases and invasive species which threaten
the Island’s economy, human health and fragile env ironment. Recognising the very real risk that alien i nvasive species can hav e on our Island’s biosecurity I
look forward to bringing before this Honourable House new legislation aimed at preventing the introduction of invasive species and mechanisms to control a pest
should it somehow establish itself.

Better protection for
the world’s most threatened species

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the E ndangered Plants and Animals Act 2006 will be
amended in order to ensure the Island’s compliance
with the International Convention on International
Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES).
In order to better protect globally threatened
migratory species, as identified by the International
Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) endangered
and threatened sharks will be protected; as well as the
manta ray, a species which has been identified as
regionally threatened.

Tackling Climate Change
with nature based solutions

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, while
Bermuda may have a relatively small impact in terms
of causing climate change, unfortunately we will l ikely
bear the brunt of its effects, especially in relation to
any sea level rise.
To this end the department is developing an
Island wide tree planting initiative that will look at o pportunities for reintroducing shade trees lost to
storms, removing inv asive species, and improving
good quality woodland and foreshore vegetation, such
as mangroves and buttonwoods, which provide pr otection from storm surge.

Ensuring clean air and good ground water

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Department and the E nvironmental Authority will continue to monitor emission
from energy providers such as the Bermuda Electric
Light Company (BELCO) for water and air quality. Recognising more can be done in this area the Clean
Air Act 1991 will be amended to better manage poll u-tion and nuisance events to advance higher standards
and penalties for infractions.

Reduced use of pesticides
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment will continue its work to minimise the nega-tive impacts of pesticides to our local community and
environment. To this end the DENR will undertake
research to identify pesticides known to contaminate groundwater and will develop new policies to either eliminate or reduce the use of these chemicals.
The department will also undertake pesticide
residual studies on vegetables and meat available in
the local market. It is expected that results obtained
from these tests will provide a critical baseline for our
understanding of the quality of food available to the local consumer.

Better management of dogs

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, Animal
Control section will continue to implement the Dogs
Act 2008 with a view to improve the keeping of an imals and promote the prevention of bites and injury.
This year the department will continue its work to i mplem ent the Dog Tribunal, new ticketing and citations
regulations that will provide more efficient enforc ement, and mandatory bite reports for better data collection and informed management. As noted, the department will also be implementing a campaign to i ncrease public awareness of the Dogs Act and responsibilities of owners.

Increased Environmental Education

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, a new exhibit focusing on conservation and research on Nonsuch Island will be opened at the BAMZ in the sum-mer of 2021. Numerous smaller jobs [are also in] pr ocess to ensure the safety of the animals and enhance
the enjoyment of our visitors to the facility.
Additionally, as part of the Marine Resources
Enforcement Strategy, the department will develop a
new cam paign to raise awareness of the rules and
regulations governing use and interaction with threa tened marine resources.
Madam Chairman, in closing I would like to
thank the hardworking and dedicated members of
staff in the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, including: Director, Andrew Pettit, Dr. Tammy Warren, Dr. Sarah Manuel, Dr. Philippe Rouja, Dr Jonathan Nisbett, Dr. Ian Walker, Dr. Geoff
Smith, Mr. John Edmunds, Ms. Terry Lynn Thompson,
and Mr. Jeremy Madeiros, Ms. Maria Trott and their
very able teams. It has been indeed a pleasure wor king with them through this period.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I would like to
move on with your permission to Head 89.
1216 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Please proceed, Minister.

HEAD 89 —DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am pleased to present the
budget for Head 89, the Department of Energy, found on pages B -323 through B -335, and page C -16 of the
Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.

Mandate and Mission

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Mission Statement of t he
Department of Energy is: We promote, advocate and
develop policy and legislation for the Space, Energy
and Telecommunications industries .
Though the official name of the department
speaks to only one sector, the department’s respons ibilities span all t hree sectors, with Space including
Satellites as well. The objectives of the department
are as follows:
• to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports while
balancing the security, sustainability, and affordability of energy in Bermuda;
• to provide education, advice and guidance on
policy and regulation for the energy and tel ecommunications sectors (which also includes
space and satellite); and
• to facilitate the growth of industry and bus inesses in Bermuda through supporting the development and maintenance of r obust
space, satellite, telecommunications, and energy infrastructure.
To meet the mission and objectives, the d epartment has one business unit, 99000 - Administr ation, with four officers as noted on page B -324 of the
Budget Book.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the total
current expenditure for Head 89 is estimated to be
$790,000. This represents a reduction from last
year’s original budget of 10 per cent. Staffing levels
have remained constant, and the reductions can be
seen to be attributed mainly to the effects of the
COVID -19 pandemic.

Subjective Analysis

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the su bjective analysis is found on page B -324. In response
to the changing working environment due to the pan-demic, the depart ment has, for the fiscal year
2021/22, cancelled all overseas training entirely. This
reduces the overall training budget, line item two, by
$3,000, or 60 per cent, and eliminates the travel
budget, line item three, by $10,000 or 100 per cent.
Madam Chair man, an additional savings of
$3,000, or 60 per cent from the communications budget, line item four, has been achieved by the department not needing to have its own wireless network, and by making more use of internet protocol (IP)
communications such as W ebEx services for virtual
conferencing.
The largest reduction is in the department’s
advertising and promotions budget, line item five.
There has been a reduction of $55,000, or 86 per
cent. This has been reduced due to the ability to host
conferences and networking events in the virtual setting, which the department will be doing in the fiscal
year 2021/22.
This will enhance Bermuda’s profile in the e nergy, space and satellite sectors whilst also en suring
fiscal responsibility and safety of participants alike.
The department shares physical office space
and some services with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports, the Privacy Commissioner’s Office and
the Department of Public Lands and Buildings. This
sharing of services has resulted in a reduction of
$1,000, or 33 per cent, in the repair and maintenance
budget, line item eight.
Again, due to COVID -19 restrictions on faceto-face meetings and large gatherings, the supplies
and materials budget, line item nine, does not require
the same level of fundi ng as in previous years and
has been commensurately reduced by $5,000, or 63 per cent.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the output
measures found on page B -325, for this year were
built primarily around major project outputs and r esponsiveness to enquiries from the public. Whilst the
department has operated in a largely remote fashion,
it has remained responsive to the public and to its i nternal government customers, endeavouring to r espond to all requests for assistance within one week,
but often managing to respond within the day. The
output measures based on public outreach however
were not met due to public health restrictions in not
being able to conduct ‘in person’ outreach, either
through public information sessions such as lu nchand-learns or with the hosting of the now -biennial E nergy Summit. However, the department has adapted, with public outreach and information now being di sseminated fully through electronic media, and an E nergy Summit planned for the coming fiscal year t o be
conducted in a virtual setting.

Revenue

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, page B -
324 notes the Revenue Summary for the Department
of Energy. This revenue is collected on behalf of the
government by the Regulatory Authority. These fi gures note an overall decrease from the original budget
of the previous fiscal year for both telecommunic aBermuda House of Assembly tions and energy sectors of $2,415,000, or 13 per
cent, to $15,661,000. Handset fees, aircraft and m arine radio licences, and two -way radio licences included in General Fees, line item one, are projected to be
$6,394,000, a decrease of 58 per cent. The fees for
mass media, line item three, remain constant at
$29,000, as this is a recurring annual fee. Most of the
revenue comes from spectrum band fees, line item
four. These are projected to be a total of $9,021,000,
a decrease of 6 per cent. The fees for the electricity
sector, line item five, are projected to decrease by
$97,000, or 49 per cent, to $103,000. These are
based on kilowatt -hour sales by the electrici ty utility.

Capital Expenditures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Energy Rebate Programme, under project number 76889
highlighted on page C -16 of the Approved Estimates
of Revenue and Expenditure, is funded in the coming
fiscal year with $300,000. This is a 50 per cent i ncrease from the funding allocated for the programme
in last year’s original budget estimate of $200,000.
These rebates for the installation of solar photovoltaic
systems (otherwise known as solar PV) provide an
incentive to move to solar energy. Participants in the
rebate initiative can only avail themselves of the funds if they use a ‘registered installer’, who is pre- qualified
by the Department of Energy.
The participants benefit from the rebate
amount they receive, and also fr om having a solar
installation which reduces energy costs. Businesses benefit as well from being employed to design and install the solar PV. Every kilowatt of installed capac ity helps us all by offsetting fuel use with a renewable
energy source, thereby reducing our carbon footprint,
as well as keeping more dollars circulating in the local economy rather than being spent on foreign fossil fuel.

Major Achievements

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, during the
past fiscal year, the department has continued to administer the Energy Rebate Programme, which works
to benefit those homeowners in smaller residences
with greater benefits given to those in homes with A nnual Rental Values of $30,000 or less. The pr ogramme has met with much success even considering
these more difficult times, as the fund has been oversubscribed. As noted above, the fund remains an i mportant incentive to those who are trying to go ‘gree ner’ and implement measures to help them not only reduce their energy costs, but contribute to a healthier
and more sustainable Bermuda. Over the past year,
approximately 170 kW of nameplate capacity have
been installed, benefitting 29 homeowners. The pace of participation in the rebate initiative is indicative of
the quality of the investment that solar PV provides,
as it makes good financial sense for homeowners in Bermuda to implement with [the] rebate programme
making solar PV all the more attractive for homeow ners.
Madam Chairman, the COVID -19 pandemic
has thrown so many of us worldwide, into a very di fferent way of life. Face- to-face activities have been
drastically reduced. In order to honour its commitment to continued education and outreach activities, the
department once again teamed with the Challenger
Learning Center of Alaska to host a summer Space
Camp, but conducted it virtually for the first time. A total of six middle- school students participated in this
pilot held in July 2020, which garnered an Arthur C.
Clarke Innovation Award for the Challenger Learning
Centre. Worldwide, there ar e 40 Challenger Learning
Centers, and this award is bestowed annually to a programme within the Challenger network that demonstrates particular innovation and excellence in
education. I am pleased to continue our relationship
with the Challenger Learning C enter of Alaska, which
we accessed through the Space Advisory Panel. The
programme brought the basics of aerodynamics, flight, and space travel to our students, who were
teamed with Alaskan counterparts to conduct exper iments and complete projects online, resulting in a rich
academic and cultural experience.
Madam Chairman, another achievement for
the Energy team this year was its continued succes sful work with the European Space Agency (ESA). In
May 2020, during the height of the shelter -in-place in
the initial stages of the pandemic, the ESA brought its
personnel to Bermuda to monitor a satellite launch
deployed from French Guyana. Though the launch
itself was ultimately postponed, the Energy team saw
to it that their arrival and accommodation here withi n
the pandemic restrictions was smooth and seamless,
which, given the difficulties of travel at that time, was
quite a feat. Furthermore, the department continues to
work to provide training opportunities for Bermudians wishing to pursue careers in the space and satellite
industries.
Madam Chairman, the department continues
to work with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an independent non- profit organisation that works with
governments and other non- profit organisations to
help develop programmes and poli cies that lead to
renewable energy and climate change solutions. This
year the department has, with RMI’s support, provided
assistance to the Ministry of Public Works and the
Department of Public Transport to electrify the government motor vehicle fleet including public buses. Whilst a seemingly simple exercise, there have been
complexities in ensuring that new vehicles are fit for
purpose as ‘one size’ is not suitable for all routes. I nfrastructure at the depots also needs to be modified to
suit the new buses, and this is being coordinated with
the support of the Department of Energy.
Madam Chairman, despite some delays rela ted to the pandemic, the solar installation project on
1218 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ‘the finger’ at the Bermuda airport is now in the commissioning and testing ph ase. It is Bermuda’s first util ity-scale solar development, and has the capability of
delivering six megawatts of clean, renewable solar
energy to the grid. Another piece of work supported by the Department of Energy and RMI is the deployment
of solar phot ovoltaic panels on government sites. In
an effort to ensure that lessons learned from the solar
installation at ‘the finger’ at the Bermuda airport are
utilised, the department has provided support to the
Ministry of Public Works in their deployment of rooftop solar panels which are to be installed at various sites
in the Bermuda Government’s Estates portfolio.
Madam Chairman, the department has also
provided support and guidance in the transfer of ow nership of BELCO to its new owners, Algonquin. In ex-amin ing the particulars of the transfer, the department
together with the Regulatory Authority has worked to ensure that the best interests of Bermuda remain paramount, with specific measures in place to encourage
not only the continued increase of solar energ y to the
grid, but also to adopt greater efficiency and conservation measures in both generation and consumption
by end users.
Madam Chairman, in an effort to ensure that
regulatory legislation is fit for purpose, the department
has been working with the Regulatory Authority with a
view to amending the Regulatory Authority Act 2011,
the Electronic Communications Act 2011 and the
Electricity Act 2016. The purpose of the review is to
ensure that the Regulatory Authority will be able to
respond to industry needs in a more agile and efficient
fashion, whilst still keeping consumers’ interests pr otected. The amendments will also ensure more equitable access to the grid, and open up the industries to
new participants, thereby breaking the hold that prev iously minimally -regulated monopolies and oligopolies
currently have.
Madam Chairman, to increase the attraction
of Bermuda as a locale for inward investment, the de-partment has been working with the Regulatory A uthority to introduce a ‘regulatory sandbox’ for prospective energy investors to pilot new energy technologies in Bermuda. Historically, Bermuda has been a risk -
averse jurisdiction. But we would be better served by becoming a center of innovation and excellence in order to bring Bermuda closer to its long- term goals of
having cleaner, more affordable energy. The depar tment continues its work with the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP), and some current
proposals for cleaner and more affordable energy are
ocean- based ones such as wave- based energy generation and possibly floating solar PV.
Whilst Bermuda is constrained by a limited
land area which affords few sites for large terrestrial installations, the ocean around us that comprises our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is vast. The Depar tment of Ener gy is working with other departments in
the Ministry of Home Affairs, principally the Depar t-ment of Environment and Natural Resources, in order
to find a balance between the needs of users of the
marine environment including the fishing industry, the
tourism sector, and recreational boaters on one hand
with the need to identify and develop marine sites for
clean and affordable energy on the other.
Madam Chairman, the department has also
begun working with consultants to develop a ‘Green Energy Fund’. The aim of this fund is to provide access to local investors to renewable energy develop-ments of varying sizes. I look forward to reporting more to this Honourable House on those efforts in the
coming months.
Madam Chairman, providing support to the
Department of Planning has also been a critical piece of work for the Department of Energy over this past
year. Work continues on the development of a ‘Com-petent Persons Programme’. The programme aims to
have a pool of registered experienced and skilled i nstaller s who have demonstrated a set level of expertise and competence. These persons will then be able
to submit more streamlined planning applications, thereby making the process more efficient by eliminating the need for detailed planning applications. A pilot
is to be introduced in the coming months for solar
panel installers. The programme will be a benefit on
several levels, chiefly to customers who will be able to
get their rooftop solar panels installed with a minimum of red tape, saving them time and mone y.

Plans for the Coming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, in the
coming year, the department will endeavor to continue
its outreach activities in the virtual sphere. In April
2021, the department is collaborating with the Sail GP
programme. Al though this is still in the planning sta ges, the plan is to focus outreach on the subject of sustainability in transportation at Sail GP. Another Space Camp, dependent on the availability of personnel at
the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska, is proposed
for July or August 2021. It will be open once again to
middle school students. In November 2021, the department intends to ‘reboot’ the Energy Summit in a
safer and more cost -effective format online. The d epartment will also work with its partners on the Space
Advisory Panel to deliver another Space Sustainability
event, the timing of which is to be determined. In add ition to these larger events, the department will conti nue to produce public service announcements, with
simple energy savings tips, accessi ble on social m edia platforms.
Madam Chairman, the solar PV rebate work
will continue, with an emphasis placed on how to ad-just the rebate to better address the demographic of
homeowner who needs the incentive the most. We
are seeking to have greater impact in the community, to expose more of our historically disadvantaged
householders to the benefits of solar technologies and


Bermuda House of Assembly to ensure that those technologies are as affordable as
possible. There will be some minor adjustments in the
rebate criteria, to ensure that prospective beneficiaries
are having their systems installed in a timely fashion,
so that funding is more easily managed and rebate applicants are more efficiently served. Further adjus tments will be aimed at ensuring that the homes
served are t he primary residences, and not ancillary
buildings or rental units. The department’s goals are
to ensure that clean, renewable, and affordable energy is available to all income level households. In the coming year, the department also seeks to re- design
this initiative to incorporate elements of training, and
then ensuring there is work for those trained individu-als.
Madam Chairman, aligned with the rebate in itiative, the continued work on the development of the Competent Persons Programme, and the develo pment of the Green Energy Fund will be the introduction of a course to provide basic solar installation
training at a ‘Level One’ designation. The goal is to
ensure that with increased demand for rooftop solar
panels, there will be an adequate and properly trained
workforce to carry out those installations. The course
will provide training, free of charge, in an effort to develop jobs in this difficult economy. It is anticipated
that the dates and requirements for the course will be announced in the coming weeks.
Madam Chairman, as an adjunct to the review
and amendment of regulatory legislation to the electronic communications and electricity sectors, the department is preparing a draft Fuels Bill, which will aim
to implement the Fuels Policy as adopted in 2018.
This Fuels Bill will give transparency to fuels pricing
and set clear rules for businesses that import, distri bute and retail fuels in the local market. This will help to
assure consumers that pricing is fair.
Madam Chairman, in closing, I would li ke to
thank the small and dedicated team in the Department
of Energy for all their hard work. The department has
embraced the changes that the COVID -19 pandemic
has brought, and it looks forward to creating a better
environment for innovation and investment in the com-ing year. The efforts of the department in the coming
year will be aimed at making Bermuda a nexus of i nnovation, expertise, and opportunity for a more vibrant
economy.
With that, Madam Chairman, I conclude my
brief on Head 89. I would like to go on to the final
Head within the department, Head 97, Land Title and
Registration Department.

You may continue.

HEAD 97 —LAND TITLE AND REGISTRATION
DEPARTMENT

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman. It gives me great pleasure t o present the budget for Head 97, the Land Title and Registration Depar tment (LTRO), found on pages B -326 to B -329 of the
Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.

Mission Statement
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the mi ssion statement is: Guaranteeing land titles, simplifying
property transactions, and using digital technology to
maintain data security.
Additionally, the department's objectives are:
• to create and maintain an electronic register
of legal estates and interests in land so
provi ding security for owners and third parties;
• to publish as much of its data as possible in a
way that is easy to access;
• to maximise the use of its data for the benefit
of wider society and drive innovation in the
digital economy;
• to use digital technology t o reduce the time
needed to receive, process, and deliver services to its customers, making them instant aneous wherever possible;
• to continue to reassess its processes, using
technology to make them as simple as poss ible for customers and colleagues alike, using
continuous improvement and new technology to ensure its systems are as efficient as pos-sible;
• to create and maintain the Index Map; and
• to maintain the Deeds Registry and ensure transfer notices are completed within 10 days
of receiving the complete application.
Madam Chairman, the LTRO, strives to become a world- leading Land Registry Office, which
means being brilliant at delivering its essential and
core statutory services. It aims to make dealing with
the office quick and simple by becoming even more
customer -focused and efficient while upholding its
values at all times.
To meet these objectives, the department has
a single registration programme, 9701, with business
unit 107030, which is found on page B -327 of the
Budget Book. The single regist ration programme
comprises two primary areas: land title management;
and revenue.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the
LTRO's total budget allocation is $1,388,000 for the
2021/22 fiscal year. This represents a decrease of
$75,000 compared to the original budget of the prev ious year.
Madam Chairman, once again, the bulk of
LTRO's expenditure represents salaries and the cost
of employing four consultants to assist the depar tment. The next biggest expenditure derives from the
1220 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly administration running cost of leasing the LTRO's O ffice in Milner Place.
On page B -327, Subjective Analysis, the following are noted:
• Salaries, line item 1, have been reduced by
33 per cent to reflect removing the Deed Re gistry project's overtime and removing the office manager's position.
• Other personnel costs, line item 2, are linked
to training overseas, and as LTRO will conduct all overseas training online, this has been reduced by 100 per cent.
• Advertising and Promotion, line item 5, the
LTRO has reduced its budget by 40 per cent,
and as necessary will place its advertisements
on the government portal.
• Clothing, Uniform and Laundry, line item 11,
has been cut in its entirety 100 per cent as the
LTRO do not require any protective clothing
this year.

Reven ue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the
LTRO's revenue for the 2021/22 fiscal year can be
found on page B -327. The LTRO's projected income
for the fiscal year is $407,000. This estimate repr esents a decrease of $63,000 on the actual revenue o f
$470,000 received in fiscal year 2020/21.
It should be noted that from the date of its
opening, the LTRO registration fees were set on a
sliding scale, which relates to the value of the property
being registered. The LTRO fees have remained the
same so t hat the cost of registration does not have an
adverse effect on purchasers or first -time buyers who
have a lower income and are looking to acquire a
property.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the LTRO,
is a small multi- skilled department. I t has a total of
seven positions budgeted for this fiscal year. There is one vacant position within the LTRO at the moment.
The need for proper succession planning has been
recognised from the outset. Last year the LTRO we lcomed Kemliah Swan as the trainee land title legal
officer to their team. She is a young Bermudian who is the future of the Land Title Registry Office. It is also the intention to fill the vacant position with a trainee
land title officer. Employing and training Bermudians
will facilitate the department's sustainability and build
the organisational capacity as a priority. The depar tment will also be looking at ways to support staff wit hin the department in their continued professional d evelopment and training. The total budget for staff sal aries is $711,000 and represents 51 per cent of the
LTRO's budget.
Performance Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented
on pages B -329 of the Budget Book. The measures
are specific to the s ervices that are provided. Each
measure articulates the expected outcome to demonstrate the public value gained from the service while
ensuring accountability.
Madam Chairman, I would like to provide st atistics that may be of interest to Honourable Member s.
In fiscal year, 2020/21, the LTRO has r eceived 1,527 applications thus far. A further breakdown reveals the following:
• 414 land title applications were received and
they represent the following: conveyances on
sale; cautions against first registration; and
search applications.
• The deeds registry received 542 transfer notices.
• 401 mortgages were received.
• the remaining amount represents miscellaneous applications.

Plans for the Coming Year
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Land
Title Registry O ffice has a number of initiatives which
will be introduced over the next financial year, some of
which have already begun and will continue to be d eveloped and enhanced.
Madam Chairman, technology is the primary
driver of the Land Title Registry Office pr ocesses. As
such, they remain committed to upgrading their IT i nfrastructure and capacity in order to accommodate the various initiatives needed to move the LTRO forward
in achieving its objectives. This includes technological improvements and training. It will transform the customer experience through its digital services and i mproved use of technology, making transactions insta ntaneous where possible and simplifying the applic ation process.
The Land Title Registry Office plays an esse ntial role in the pro perty market, underpinning property
ownership, which it delivers for its customers and the wider economy. The Land Title Registry Office has an
open approach to its data. It will publish a wide variety
of datasets to enable it to be used by anyone interes ted in land registration information, supporting the
growing digital economy, and adding to Bermuda's
land and property geospatial intelligence.
The ambition of the Land Title Registry Office
means being brilliant at delivering the basic core
statutory regi stration services. The LTRO will make
dealing with them quick and simple by becoming even
more customer -focused and efficient while upholding
its values at all times.
The LTRO intends to register all the land and
property in Bermuda. To make conveyancing s impler


Bermuda House of Assembly and faster [it will move] from an unregistered system
of ownership based on privately held title deeds to full
registration of land.
The LTRO aims to continue to assist the go vernment in its vision to stop land fraud. One of the LTRO's primary duti es is to adjudicate land disputes.
Many homeowners are property rich but cash poor;
thus, they are unable to fight any disputes that they
may have with their neighbours . The LTRO provides a
service when a property is being registered. It will a djudicate on land disputes to ensure that the title is settled before it is registered. In this role, the LTRO acts
as an independent party and will hear disputes invol ving private landowners. However, any decision that
the LTRO makes on ownership of land is based en-tirely on the legislation and case law. The LTRO is a
department separate from other departments to en-sure that its role as a quasi -adjudicator is not affected
by outside influences. This gives members of the public a sense of security when bringing a claim concer ning their land.
In conclusion, Madam Chairman, I would like
to thank the dedicated members of staff in the D epartment of Land Title and Registration, including: Land Title Registrar, Debbie Reid and her team.
Madam Chairman, with this overview of t he
Ministry and its departments’ activities, I move that the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for Heads 93,
29, 32, 49, 79, 89, 97, Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters, the Registry General, the Departments of:
Planning, Land Valuation, Environment and Natural
Resources, Energy and Land Title and Registration,
respectively, be opened for debate.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Yes, so I was just thanking
the staff, the senior staff in the ministries for compr ehensively preparing the materials and briefing the Mi nister.
With that said, I would like to put some questions to the Minister as it relates to the Heads. I pr opose to move in the sequence of the Budget Book
page by page, starting with Head 93 all the way
through to Head 97. With your permission, Mad am
Chairman, I will commence that.

Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Madam Chairman, I am starting on page B -
298 with the department objectives for the Ministry of
Home Affairs, HQ, specifically the third department objective where the Minister said, to eliminate unfair
debt [collection ] practices. The Minister mentioned in
his brief that there is phase 2 of a project where the Ministry is regulating debt collection. I would ask the
Minister to give us more detail on how many debt co llectors have been licensed to date, and what, if an ything, they are required to do to be regulated.
I would also like the Honourable Minister, on
page B -299, under the same Head . . . I note there is
a 42 per cent reduction in pr ofessional services. Or,
rather, the requested allocation has dropped by 42 per
1222 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cent, that is , by $683,000. I would like the Honourable
Minister to explain what the professional services are
that are specifically being reduced, and how the department will perform without that additional support.
Madam Chairman, moving on, also in relation
to the debt collectors, I would pose an additional ques tion. Will they be hired by the Head, that is, the
Ministry of Home Affairs HQ, Head 93, or is the Mini ster otherwi se aware of how they will be hired by go vernment, or if they will be hired by government to collect outstanding A/R?
Madam Chairman, Head 93 again, page B -
301, specifically under Consumer Affairs business unit
103010, one of the performance objectives is that
there will be a legislative initiative. I would like the
Honourable Minister to specify what that legislative
initiative is that they will be bringing forward.
Further on that page under responding to cl ients within 48 hours, I note that they are setting full
time equivalents to that unit, and I was curious as to
why they were responding to clients within 48 hours 60 per cent of the time, given that there were quite a
few of them. So, with that, I would also ask the Mini ster is there something about the process which prohi bits a higher performance or are there too many com-plaints to respond to?
Further, my question is in the number of rent
inspections under performance measures. I note that there are 400 rent inspections targeted for this year of
2021/22, and I would like the Honourable Minister to
answer [what percentage] of the total units available
for rent in Bermuda does this 400 constitute, and how
are the units selected for inspection.
Also, the Minister mentioned under Consumer
Affairs that t here is a performance measurement for
conflict resolution. But I have not seen it in the Budget
Book. He mentioned that in his ministerial brief. Would
he be so good as to let us know which one of those
performance measures the conflict resolution speaks
to, and address that performance measurement
again?
I am moving on to Head 29, the Registry
General, Madam Chairman, specifically page B -303
on the subjective analysis of current account est imates. Specifically I am looking at professional ser-vices. The Mi nister spoke at length about the role of a
consultant and a consulting Anti-Money Laundering/Anti -Terrorist Financing expert. He was involved in
the design of the regulatory framework that oversees the non- profit sector, the non- profit organisation sector, that is , charities. I believe he said the expert is still
involved; however, what I see is an 83 per cent de-crease in the requested funds for professional services. So my question to the Honourable Minister, Is
that consultant still involved in assisting us with mai ntaining our compliance with international norms for
non-profit organisations?
Moving on, Madam Chairman, still on Head
29, Registry General, I am now under employee num-bers, under B -304. The Minister mentioned under
these employee numbers that there are some vaca ncies. So, my question to him would be, What are the
roles which are vacant, and what impact do those v acancies have on department service delivery?
Moving on to page B -305, Madam Chairman,
the performance measurements. I am looking at unit
39000, which is just under the employee numbers. The department is called “Administration” under Head
29, Registry General. There seems to be a difference
between the registration duties and the other business units. That is that the administration t eam undertakes
a number of registration duties that are different and
distinct from property and professional and organis ation registration business unit, as well as births, marriages and deaths. But that business unit 39000 does
not have any performance i ndicators, whereas the
others, property, professional and organisational registration and births, marriages and deaths do have
performance measurements. So, I was wondering
what the difference is. What are the performance
measures for 39000, especially since they have seven staff, whereas the other two units have five staff co mbined?
I note that in his brief on the Registry General,
the Minister spoke to the success of our Anti -Money
Laundering/Anti -Terrorist Financing compliance success in 2018, and he mentioned the ongoing work and that is how he had spoken about the AML/ATF consultant. He also mentioned that charities administered
by trust and corporate service providers will have additional work to do so he is going to see some policy amendments under t hat Head, that is the Registry
General. I was wondering if he could tell us what, if anything, he anticipates those trust and corporate service providers will have to do more than they do today
to qualify to continue to administer the non- profit organisati ons.
Madam Chairman, I am moving on to Head
32, the Department of Planning. I am on page B -307. I
note that the Minister said that the Department of
Planning would be relocating offices. My question is, I
believe they are in the Government Administration
Building now, where will they be moving to?
Also, as it relates to Head 32, under Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates, I note un-der professional services that there will be $56,000
requested. The Minister mentioned that the senior
planner pos ition is vacant. My question is : How do
they anticipate maintaining service delivery given that such a key role is vacant at this time?
Sorry, Madam President [sic], I am just going
through my notes here to find these.

I have a question for the
Minister on page B -308, still under Head 32, Depar tment of Planning. The Minister said in his Ministerial
[brief] that the backlog of tribunal hearings as it related
to the draft Bermuda Plan had been cleared, and that
the recommendations from those tribunal hearings
had been submitted to the Minister for review. My question is, Has the Minister had the opportunity to
review those submissions, and if so, does he antic ipate any impacts to the financial requirements of the
Planning Department’s spending on those?
Further to Head 32, Madam Chairman, I have
a question that relates to page B -309, the performance measures for the Department of Planning. I
note that the Minister said in his brief said that Planning had made some major accomplishments, such
as, shifting guidance notes online, and the Develo pment Applications Board now meets online, and there
has been no interruption to the planning process,
even that the BEDC had not met with the international
trust.
I feel like a bit of a broken record on this one,
Madam Chairman, the performance measures do not
say anything like that. So my question is why do the
performance measures not say these items? They are
easy wins. It is clearly a job well done, and they can
be contrasted year on year with any other initiatives.
But, again, we are being asked to approve the budget
based on the Budget Book which does not actually contain the full story of the performance measures of
these departments.
Further, Madam Chairman, I note under Head
32, still on page B -309, under the business unit General Administration, I am just going to note that we are missing the business unit numbers there. I found that
a bit odd given how detailed this particular ministerial brief was and how well planned out the Department of
Planning’s Budget Book submission was. So I just
found that a bit curious. I cannot cite the number there, but the business unit is General Administration,
obviously referred to in the above pages.
I have a question about the revised forecast
for 2020/21—

Which is 42000, MP Richardson. Mr. Jarion Richardson: Yes Ma’am.
And the question . . . rather, I should say, the
performance measure is that there i s engagement,
workshops and meetings with the Ministry’s partners,
contractors, architectural firms, on a quarterly basis. They hit 100 per cent of all of those meetings. I noted
that there were significant impacts in other depar tments for COVID -19, and I would like the Minister to
explain why we did not see similar impacts in the D epartment of Planning.
Further, still on the same page Madam
Chairman, B -309, I am looking at General Administr ation, business unit 42000, that there is a performance
measurement to conduct customer feedback satisfaction surveys annually. My question to the Minister is,
Given that there are only two performance measur ements for this business unit [with] a budget allocation
of $609,000, why is the standard for this performance
measurement only to conduct the survey? My question is, What happens after the survey is completed?
Who reads it? What do you do about it?
Madam Chairman, moving on to business unit
enforcement and searches, the number is 42050. The performance measure that I am querying is the percentage of enforcement cases that result in civil penalties being issued. This business unit is requesting
$306,000, and has a staff of three. I note that 40 per cent of the enforcement cases result in civil penalties. I would like the Honourable Minister to answer how
many enforcement cases were there last year, what
was the value of the civil penalties issued, and why
those funds are not reflected in the revenue summary.
Moving on to the ministerial [brief] , of which I
took notes , but otherwise referring to page B -309, I
note that the Minister said he was working with the
Corporation of St. George’s for governance. I would
like him to please specify what exactly that is. We are
mindful that there is a policy position. I am not sur e to
what extent we can talk about the policy position, but
the relationship between Government and its initiative
as it relates to the Corporation and Municipalities. So,
my question would be : Is your work with the Corpor ation of St. George’s connected to the policy position
as it relates to amending the municipa . . . municipa . .
. municipa . . .

Sorry, Madam Chairman.
Thank you, very much. The Municipalities Act.
Lastly, the Minister spoke to consultations on
major undersea planning, which he did speak to much
later on in his ministerial brief, but if he could explain that as this was mentioned in the Economic Recovery
Plan and then sprinkled throughout the rest of the
ministerial [brief]. Can the Minister speak to the consultation he has had on major undersea planning?
1224 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Moving on to the next page, B -310, Madam
Chairman, and this is in relation to the business unit
for inspections. I am looking for that number now.

Thank you, Madam Chai rman. The performance measure I am questioning is
the number of requested building and electrical i nspections received, and percentage conducted within 72 hours of request. It appears from these perfor-mance measures that inspections only appear to be
done when requested. I would ask the Honourable
Minister to please outline how and when inspections
are undertaken based on the department’s own initi ative.
Moving on from Head 32, Madam President, I
am moving on to—

I am on Head 49, page B -
312, Madam Chairman, I note that under Subjective
Analysis of Current Account Estimates, under professional services there is an 81 per cent reduction in the
requested funds to pay for professional services. It
has gone from $31,000 to $6,000. My question is , To
what extent will this impact operations or service delivery ?
The Minister spoke in his brief about not
need ing data inputters for the land valuation exercise
that was supposed to be conducted this year which
we, in the House, passed laws to offset. I believe that is also the reason why we ar e seeing a 50 per cent
reduction in materials and supplies. Could the Minister just confirm this?
Moving on to page B -13, Madam Chairman,
. . . I will skip that question . . . I am moving on to
Head 79, Madam Chairman, on page B -314, Depar tment Objectives . The third department objective is to
increase the Island’s food security and local food pr oduction. The Minister’s brief mentioned that he would consult with the Honourable Minister of Finance to
reduce fees for building local food production. Is this
in any way related to the vertical farming initiative?
Can the Minister speak to the plans, howsoever tent ative they are, for the reduction of fees for building of
local food production? Thank you.
Madam Chairman, still under Head 79, page
B-315, the questi on relates to business unit 7907, the
Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo. Earlier we report in the Budget Book that there is a $350,000
loss in revenue by the aquarium . . . or, sorry, they are
anticipating that much of a loss from not having as many touris t-related admissions. My question to the
Minister is, Is he aware of how the aquarium will manage such a significant loss in revenue?
On Head 79 still, Madam Chairman, page B -
316, I am looking at the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates, and t he line item is professional
services. I note there is a request for $144,000 for
professional services. I would be obliged if the Mini ster would please specify the use of those professional
services. What are we anticipating spending that
money on, specif ically within that category?
Still under Head 79, Environment and Natural
Resources, under employee numbers, fulltime equiv alents, specifically page B -318. I am looking at bus iness unit 89020, marine conservation. I believe in his
brief the Minister menti oned that they got rid of, or
downsized by , one marine conservation officer. I
would like the Honourable Minister to inform us i f that
is in fact what we are looking at under that business
unit, fulltime number, if that was the marine conserv ation officer. And also, was that the only one? Was that
our only marine conservation officer, or are there ot hers in that department or otherwise . . . sorry, in that
business unit or otherwise throughout the rest of the departments?
Still on Head 79, Madam Chairman, I am now
on page B -319 under Administration, performance
measures, business unit 89000, and it is described as
administration. I am looking at the performance
measure for number of feral animals removed. In the
brief the Minister did speak about the trappi ngs and
other exercises conducted by the Department of Env ironment and Natural Resources. My question is : Does
this number relate to the initiative where we licensed
persons to shoot or trap feral chickens? Is that initi ative still ongoing? And how much does it cost?
Madam Chairman, I am still on Head 79, D epartment of Environment and Natural Resources, page B -230, under performance measures for bus iness unit 89040, marine enforcement. I have a question as it relates to the targeted outcome for the performance measure, number of vessels searched at
sea to improve compliance with fisheries legislation.
My question to the Honourable Minister is, To what
extent does marine enforcement currently work with the coast guard and would he be able to give an example to what extent he anticipates marine enforc ement working with the coast guard on a going forward
basis as well?
I would like to thank the Honourable Minister,
for his ministerial brief, as well as the Honourable A ttorney General who was partnering here about the
PPE training had been given to fisheries and animal
wardens. I want to congratulate all involved. I am sure
this makes the process of enforcing these fisheries
laws a lot easier. My question in relation to that per-formance measurement, again under 89040 marine
enforcement, is on the number of case files submitted
for prosecution. I note that there are eight. Have any


Bermuda House of Assembly of the licences involved in breaches of fisheries legi slation been revoked or suspended?
My next question still under this Head 79 on
page B -320, Madam Chairman, is under the animal
control business unit 89070. I note that the number of
dogs licensed was quite a problem and the Minister
brought this up in his ministerial brief. My question will
relate to the second performance measurement,
which is the number of dogs licensed as a percentage
of the eligible population. The Minister mentioned hi ring an additional dog warden to combat the declining
or the extended non- compliance we see in licensing
dogs on the Island. My question is, Did w e not actually
cut the communications and advertising budget for this Head, because he said he would be using more outreach to convince persons to comply with this set
of laws ?
Still on page B -320, Madam Chairman, under
business unit 89080 plant protection . Again it is me
beating the drum about why these performance
measures do not report some of the great successes.
The Minister mentioned that carpenter ants were
caught in the shipment of Christmas trees and mealy
bugs on bananas, which obviously resulted in that
shortfall in the Ministry. And yet, you would not know
that from here. So, my question is why do we not see
those items in the Budget Book? Moving on to the next page, Madam Chai rman, still on the same Head 79, Department of Env ironment and Natur al Resources, now on page B -321.
My question relates to the consultation with the local
farmers association for business unit 89090, agronomy. The Honourable Minister said he would be reac hing out to the local farmers association to consult on
the legislat ion. He intends on working with the F inance Minister to reduce fees and paperwork for far ming development applications. When does he antic ipate coming back to the House with the results of that consultation?
Still on page B -321 on the Department of E nvironment and Natural Resources, Madam Chairman,
in his ministerial brief, the Minister spoke to the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme, or project. My
question is, Has the fisheries plant in the economic
recovery plan stemmed from this Bermuda Ocean
Prosperit y budget ? Or, if it has not come out of this
Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme, what do the
stakeholders in the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity budget
think about the fisheries plant ? I have not seen the
correlation between the two. So, would the Honour able Mini ster speak to that?
Moving on to the next Head, Head 89, D epartment of Energy, specifically page B -323. The first
department objective is to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports while balancing the security, sustainabi lity, and affordability of energy in Bermuda. I would like
the Honourable Minister to answer to what extent has the reliance on fossil fuel imports been reduced this
year. He did speak to 121 kilowatts solar PV in his brief and if could just let us know . . . actually , I will
add a further bit of information in the question. He also spoke to a 6 megawatt contribution to our power sy stem from the Finger. My question to him is very much quantitative. How much of our total energy capacity, which does vary based on season, do these accomplishments this year contribute or constitute? In other
words, have we gained the ability to generate 2 per
cent more power in Bermuda? Three per cent, 4 per
cent, 5 per cent, something like that?
Also, as it relates to the department’s objectives, my question is : When will solar generation on
the Finger go online? And further, how much will
BELCO charge those power generators out on the
Finger to transmit that energy on their distribution
network?
The third bullet point in the objectives, D epartment of Energy, page B -323, is to facilitate the
growth of industry and businesses in Bermuda
through supporting the development and maintenance
of robust space, satellite, telecommunications, and
energy infrastructure. My question to the Honourable House is : What developments took place in regard to
our space and satellite infrastructure this year ? He did
speak to the Challenger Learning Centre and that the European Space Agency (ESA) brought personnel to
Bermuda to monitor a satellite launch. I believe those are the only t wo items he spoke to in the development
to facilitate growth of industry and business in Berm uda supporting the development and maintenance of
robust space and satellite infrastructure. I would like
him to speak to that.
Moving on, Madam Chairman, under He ad
89, Department of Energy, page B -324, I am looking
at the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Est imates. Under line item professional services, we see
$320,000 requested for professional services in this
budget year. My question is, What will the Dep artment
of Energy do with that funding for professional services? Can he specify what they will be using those
funds for?
My next question is on the Revenue Summaries, still on the same page under Head 79, Depar tment of Energy, so page B -324. I am looking at item
8434, spectrum band fees. We see a 261 per cent
increase in anticipated revenue. I would like the Mini ster to explain why we are anticipating 261 per cent
increase in revenue for spectrum band fees.
Also, a question on the Revenue Summary as
it relates to electricity, 8655. We are anticipating 103, I
believe (my Budget Book is marked up, I believe it is
103) . . . we are expecting $103,000 in revenue, those
are regulatory fees for electricity regulation or electric ity licensing. And my question is t hat this is a drop of
some 50 per cent, or 49 per cent from the previous
year. I did not realise we were using less electricity,
Madam Chairman. So can the Honourable Minister
explain if we are, in fact, using less electricity in Bermuda? And if that is no t the case why do we antic i1226 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly pate receiving les s money from the regulation of electricity.
Madam Chairman, still on the Revenue Summary, under item 8885, quango profits. I note that in
2020/21 zero dollars were expected and yet we r eceived $693,000. And yet again we are anticipating in
2021/22, this upcoming fiscal year, we are again expecting zero. If last year we expected zero and we got
$693,000, my question is can the Minister explain that
$693,000 and why we would not expect that again this
year?
Moving on to the next page Madam Chai rman, page B -325, still under Head 89, Department of
Energy, I note that in the Minister’s brief he mentioned that there is an initiative to have a regulatory sandbox to pilot new energy technologies in Bermuda. Can the
Minis ter tell us if a risk assessment has been conducted to determine the extent of risk to Bermuda for novel or innovative energy projects in such a small
place?
Also, the Minister’s brief spoke to providing
free training on the installation of solar panels. But I
do not see it mentioned anywhere in the Budget Book,
nor do I see a cost allocated to it. So, can the Honourable Minister let us know the details of this training
and, especially its cost, Madam Chairman?
Still on page B -325, the Honourable Minister
spoke on bringing a fuel Bill to the House under this Head. Given that BELCO already publishes the rates
and the Regulatory Authority already regulates those
rates, my question is, Will the fuel Bill supplement the
current framework , or will it in fact re place the current
method for valuing, regulating and paying for electric ity in Bermuda?
Moving on to the last Head, Madam Chai rman, Head 97, Land Title and Registration, page B -
326. Actually, I am going to go straight to B -327, u nder the Subjective Analys is of Current Account Est imates. Again, under professional services, I note that
the department is requesting $354,000 for professional services. My question to the Minister, Is this for
Landfolio software and the consultants that were hired
to bring that online? Another question for that line item
is: Does this include the $35,000 for the software
maintenance that was published in the Royal Gazette
by way of a PATI disclosure?
Another question for the Minister is coming
from page B -327. Earlier in the Bud get Book and in
his ministerial brief he mentioned an upsurge in property transactions determined by searches. There were
222 Planning searches, up 16 per cent from last year.
And yet, we are seeing a substantial decrease in the
revenue summary. So that is on page B -327, Madam
Chairman. In one way we are seeing indications of
strong real estate transactions and a strong real estate sector, or at least vibrant. And yet we are antic ipating getting less money from the regulatory fees for
overseeing and governi ng that sector. So my question
to the Minister is, Can he explain why we would have a vibrant market and yet we are getting less fees from
it?
I think that is the extent of my first set of questions. I have supplementals . . . one last question,
Madam Chairman. And that relates to Ministry of
Home Affairs, Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, but on page C -21. There is a line item at
the very bottom of page C -21 which is 7006, BIOS –
Air/Water Quality study. In the earlier section of the Budget B ook, specifically under pollution control,
89100 on page B -391, there is money being spent on
pollution control and I would like to understand the difference between this study 7006 BIOS, $230,000.
What is the difference between that and the money
that we are spending in the pollution control space,
which is under 89100?
Those are all my questions at this time, Madam Chairman. Thank you for your patience and gui dance.

Minister, please—

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, Madam Chairman, I am
here. I am just getting myself back online.
Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you
for the questions that have been posed so far.
I will go through a number of them . . . as it i s I
thought there would have been more interest in so
many wonderf ul departments under our Ministry. But I
will go through all that I have acquired thus far. Star ting with Consumer Affairs, Madam Chairman—

Minister, before you begin to answer,
please remind your officers that the only person I
should hear speaking is you. So if they have any r esponses they can submit them to you in writing.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, Madam Chairman.
Thank you for your direction, Madam Chairman, it’s
always very helpful. Thank you so much.
I will start with Consumer Affair s and the
questions that were presented in relation to that b ecause that is under the Ministry Head. How many debt
collector entities have been licensed, was the first
question. Three licences have been issued and two
are currently pending.
Another questi on was : debt collection . . . I
think the Honourable Member may have been a little bit confused. He seemed to think the debt collection


Bermuda House of Assembly agency was collecting government debt. They are not
involved with the collection of government debt; this is
debt in the private sector, of which the Act is about.
And so that is what the debt collection pertains to, pr ivate debt between private parties. It does not pertain to government debt. The interaction between the debt
collection agencies and persons who unfortunatel y
find themselves perhaps being [contacted] by a debt
collector agency, they are one of the agencies that is
licensed.
The Honourable Member asked about legisl ation in relation to landlord and tenant for the upcoming year. The legislative objectives are as follows for this
year for the Consumer Affairs Department: updating
the Landlord and Tenant Act 1974. This was outlined partially in my brief, but I am happy to repeat it for the
benefit of the Member and the public, Landlord and
Tenant Act 1974 and the Rent Increases (Domestic
Premises) Control Act 1978, in order to reflect today’s
market. I know that I did discuss that in my brief. And
just to give further information to the Honourable Member and the listening public, the landlord and te nant relationship continues to, I guess I would say, de-teriorate. And it is the belief of the Consumer Affairs
business unit that the complaint volume would decline
if all of this legislation was properly consolidated and
up-dated. That is what the purpose will be, to ha ve the
rental legislation reflect the modern environment. As
we can see by their dates they are quite old and do
not reflect the current rental market. So that is our desire. We will consolidate and revise and bring forth
new legislation that will reflect what the current reality
of the rental market is.
The Honourable Member raised some points
about performance measures and why is the r esponse within 48 hours just at 60 per cent and not
higher. Well, it has to do with the sheer number of cl ients that the d epartment actually deals with on a daily
basis. They deal with quite a few clients. But they
have been the subject of a review by Management
Services and that review has been done. The report
said that they do need additional support in staff, particularly in the enforcement side. Plus, added work,
such as . . . they are doing work in a number of other
areas. Persons should not be deceived by the title “Consumer Affairs Department.” They do a variety of tasks, including dealing with issues, such as all of t he
vacation rentals that are within rent control registered
with this particular department. So, they deal with all
of the rental, all of the issues between landlord and
tenant; they deal with the vacation rentals, and they
oversee those relationships. So they do quite a bit of
work. They do not just deal with consumer protection,
from the standpoint of products; they deal with all of
the rental issues. So they have been the subject of a
review and due to the volume of activity, clearly they would benefit f rom some re- organisation, of which we
intend in the long term to reshape this particular de-partment. A question was raised about rental inspections. They are done when landlords submit certain forms, particularly when they want to increase their
rent if th eir property is under rent control. And before
increases are denied or granted, the property inspection must determine that they are fit for purpose and
that they meet the requirements that they can be considered for a rental uplift. Often people may do ren ovations and other things and they want to see the rent
increased. If it’s under rent control, those inspections
have to happen by the inspectors in order to ensure that they fit the criteria.
An issue was queried concerning the performance numbers around conflict resolution. Conflict
resolution is an everyday occurrence when it comes to
this department as we all know. And what we have
been clear about is that in the rental market often rel ationships can be volatile. And I think one would appr eciate that during the past year under COVID -19 there
were quite a few challenged rental relationships b etween people not having jobs and losing jobs, and perhaps not being able to satisfy the rental obligation. And, of course the landlords were impacted negatively
as well because they also had obligations. So, this
department often had to be the arbiter of these rel ationships and provide guidance and direction to both
landlord and tenant on how they could manage their
relationship. So, conflict resolution is an ongoing everyday activity of this department. I hope that provides
some . . . and they do try and solve things so that they
do not have to go through the courts, as well. So that
is part of what they try and do and try and bring res olution to conflicts between landlords and tenants in
these matters.
Moving on, under Head 49, Land Valuation, a
question was asked concerning why there was an 81
per cent reduction in professional services. This pr imarily had to do with . . . having postponed the eval uation of the ARV of the land valuation, that meant that
those services did not need . . . as you will recall, we
brought a Bill to postpone the quinquennial, or fiveyear, valuation of the actual ARV. So that meant that
those services were not required to support that, and
that meant a reduction.
There was also a query on page B -312, a 50
per cent reduction in material supply. Having not done
that [valuation] review it did not have to be printed.
That meant a reduction in materials and supplies. So
because of that delay, th ere was less expenditure in
that area.
I will just briefly go back to a question that
came up under . . . it might have been on the Ministry
around a reduction. What makes up professional services that were reduced by 42 per cent? I think that
was under the Ministry. Professional service is made
up of local and overseas consultants at a cost of
$306,800, and also legal services as well. So that is the mix of professional services under the Ministry
Head.
1228 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I will now move on to some other questions. I
believ e some were on energy. There were some
questions brought up by the Honourable Member in
relation to risk assessment for . . . as it relates to the
regulatory sandbox, which is designed to attract innovative energy projects within the renewable space to
move away from us just being tied to proven and tes ted technology, particularly such, as I guess was arti culated, during the time when we were only relying on fossil fuels. But now as one would know the global
market has a lot of innovation in the energy sect or,
and we want to attract that.
Assessments, such as risk assessments, will
be done with any proper submission to the Regulatory Authority, not to the Government, because we are designing the legislation around the sandbox. So, we
are not the ones who ar e going to handling the tec hnical aspects of assessing any applications. That will be done by the regulators. So, they will do any assessments, whether it be environmental assessment,
technical assessment, as it relates to any of those specific application s under the sandbox.
There was a question concerning the Fuel Bill.
I believe the question was around . . . I think there
was an implication that BELCO sets the fuel rates.
That is not actually true. The rates or cost of fuel is set
by the distributors. That being Sol and RUBiS. Obv iously there is fuel surcharge which is on the bill. But
this Fuel Bill will actually provide a framework for ensuring safety and quality of fuels and will also affect
ensuring that the whole chain of fuel from delivery
right to the end- user is properly priced as well and
done on a system of which there is no regulatory
framework now. So that Bill will deal with a lot of i ssues other than price. It will deal with the whole chain
from the through- put from when the ship docks up in
the harbour and the cost of pumping that fuel to the storage, from the storage to whether it be BELCO or
to even the independent gas stations or even other
people who provide kerosene or provide other forms
of fuel. All of those issues that relate to cost and
transport and handling will be properly assessed and
priced so that the end- user is getting fair value. So the
Fuel Bill deals with all of that. I hope this has been
informative.
There was a question in relation to spectrum
fees. Why making increase is based on . . . is based
on market performance . . . I believe the question had
to do with spectrum band fees.

Okay, it was why did they
make an increase? Was that th e question?

[Inaudible]
Hon. Walter H. Roban: It is based on market performance, and the increased number of participants. As
you would perhaps know we had some new entrants
into the marketplace this past year. So those new
market participants mean that there are new alloc ations for spectrum. That spectrum is issued at a cost.
So, that would mean that there is, potentially, a higher
potential revenue to come from that because there are
more active players which will be receiving spectrum
allocation. So th at has something to do with that. O bviously, we cannot know exactly what the revenue will
be, but clearly new participants mean more spectrum,
high volume of activities.
There was a question in relation to electricity
fees. Oh yes, I know that we spoke about the fact that there was a decrease in kilowattage and that has
something to do with electricity fees that would be charged to the utility. I think in the context of what has
been the experience last year . . . the Island shut
down. People left. Many large companies and large operators were not using power. So, clearly . . . and
also let’s not forget that many people were not able to
pay their bills. So that meant that there was less ear nings overall by the utilities on the kilowattage that they
would ha ve been producing. Obviously, they would
have been producing less, if you just look in the context of the last year.
So, based on the kilowattage that they were
generating, those electricity fees are based on that. All fess on the regulatory space are ty pically based on
earnings of the licensed provider or the demand upon
which they are producing their service. So those are different ways that fees are evaluated. So that is likely
why you would have found those numbers like they
are.
I know there was a m atter pertaining to qua ngo profits, which you mentioned. That was also in the
energy section I believe, that you spoke about, Ho nourable Member. On page B -324, the quango profits.
You noted that there was $693,000 figure that was up. Again, that is based o n what would be the profits of
the RA. We can only estimate that because that is
based on what they make after everything else. That
is what comes back. So we cannot kind of know what
that is going to look like at the end of the day. But that is based on t he regulatory performance around their
own activity. Okay?
Questions were asked about space and satellite and what developments took place. As you would
perhaps know (it has been reported in the media),
there were a number of launches by SpaceX, and they were contracted by NASA. There were a few
launches by SpaceX. The ESA as well had increased
activity, as I reported in my brief. So, in the space and
satellite space the likelihood is that there is going to
be more going forward as you hear more about the
activities of SpaceX, NASA and the process of co mmercialisation of those activities. [With] the success of
those launches there is likely to be more activity by


Bermuda House of Assembly ESA, by NASA, and others in Bermuda. So that is our
expectation over the year.
And just as a r eminder to the public and yourself, NASA has returned to Bermuda with a perm anent presence now, back to what it was pre- 1996. So
they are going to be here for their activities like Antares which has to do with Mars and beyond, and their
deep space missions into the solar system. Bermuda
is a place where they are now positioning themselves
for all of those missions going forward.
There are also other activities that we are
looking at as well. And that may be the more deep space activities that are made to s pace and satellite.
But there are other activities expanding in the space
and satellite areas of low orbit. You would have r ecently heard about Tesla and SpaceX launching a
smaller rocket that they put up, a constellation . . .
these are low orbit constell ations that are to expand
broadband and certain levels of telecommunications.
Those are the things that are happening now through
the commercialisation that we are actually positioning ourselves, Bermuda, to be involved with.
So not just the old legacy satellites, but the
new generation of Cubesats and smaller low -orbit
satellites. Bermuda is positioning herself to be i nvolved with those services as well. So we expect the activity to increase. We are just positioning ourselves to take advantage of that. I hope that is helpful.
There was a question under the same energy
Head around professional services. We use consul tants for most of our work in the space and satellite
area. Our view is that they are a great value for the
money. They have assisted us in developing this area in the way that it has. The fact that Bermuda has r esumed its relationship with NASA, ESA and others
who have come here to set up space and satellite
companies is because of the work we are doing with
the consultants who are here.
But I will not just say that we are totally depending on consultants long term. One of the things
you would have heard me speak to in my brief was
Bermudians being trained in the space and satellite
area. There were some discussions with ESA about, because of C OVID -19 and not knowing about the long
term impacts that they had discussed possibly training Bermudians to be monitoring their satellite launches. So we are exerting ourselves to get Bermudians
trained directly in this area so that they can actually
participate in the long term in the industry. That is
some of what is going on now. Those are in the formative stages at this point. But there have always
been Bermudians working for NASA, but we are looking to take it to another level as we go forward with
some of the new innovations that are happening in the
global space industry.
I will go through the questions pertaining to
the environment. There was a question around the
number of dog licences. Oh, I see there was a question raised about the fact that the c ommunication budget was reduced. As we spoke about having more
public education around the responsibility of dog ow ners, the department will be using the government portal more. Perhaps pre COVID -19 we used much more
traditional forms of media in producing material to i nform people. That was always an added cost. Now, clearly, the reality is that we are using more online
platforms and social media to educate people.
As you would know, they have to be more
economical. In many cases advertising budgets have
been cut because we can transfer some of the more
tangible ways of promotion to digital, which is always
a lot [less expensive]. And we are pushing forth with
our education around the Dogs Act and as we impl ement more of the provisions in the Dogs Act a br ochure is being developed online that will be released
shortly.
Moving on, Madam Chairman, I just want to
get through all of the questions. I know there is not
much time.

And I might remind you to save a few
seconds to move all of your Heads.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Oh yes. Thank you for your
guidance, Madam Chairman. You are so helpful. I r eally do appreciate that, all your guidance and direction.
A question on the environment as well was :
What does the Ocean Prosperity Programme think
about the pr oposed shoreside facility project. Well, the
reality around that is that . . . as you will recall from my
brief, I spoke about how the BEDC is the leading developer of that initiative. They are also a part of the
steering committee of BOPP, another with a number
of other stakeholders. So, there isn’t any space between the communications around these initiatives. BOPP is involved, as was said, with tourism, the blue
economy, and the renewable energies. These are all
the topics that BOPP is discussing and dev eloping
with stakeholders.
As you know, we have included the public in
these interactions with the Ocean Survey which was
just put out there. So, not only are there obviously
stakeholders on the steering committee, but the public
has been solicited to get their feedback. So, the r eports that you will see come out as they are made
public will have all of those elements in them from the
steering committee and all of the stakeholders, includ-ing the general public. So I hope that is helpful to you
on that point.
1230 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly There were a few [questions] on Planning. I
will try to get through these questions. Where is Planning moving from? They are currently in the Dame Lois Browne- Evans Building. I am not sure whether
that has been totally settled yet. That is a matter for
Public Works. They give us direction as to where our offices will be. So I will leave that there. That is the
only answer I can give you at this point.
[The post] of planning officer is vacant, how
has service been affected. This is a very versatile office as you would have noted from my presentation.
They were working all through the pandemic, and even through the shelter in place to still interact and
facilitate applications that were being made and to be
responsive to industry. That is why coming out of shel-ter in place development has continued and if you note the statistics, planning development has not dropped. It has actually steadily increased over the past year. And that is because the Planning Depar tment kept working, obviously following the appr opriate
guidelines, but keeping it so that once we came out of shelter in place development was still able to go on. There was no stop.
I think you will find that this is one reason why
the real estate market is still looking very promising because of the activities, like we saw with the Ri ddell’s Bay Development. That was all going on through the same period. We worked down on Front Street at the new building done by the . . . hotel —

It has been moved that Heads 93, 29,
32, 49, 79, 89 and 97 be approved as printed.
Are there any objections?
There being no objections, agreed to.
Thank you.
[
Motion carried: The Ministry of Home Affairs, Heads
93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89 and 97, were approved and
stand part of the Estimates of Revenue and Expend iture for the year 2021/22.]
Hon. Walter H. Roban: And, Madam Chairman, I
move that the Committee rise and report progress and
ask for leave to sit again.

Are there any objections.
There being no objections, continue Minister.
[
Motion carried: The Estimates of Revenue and E xpenditure for the Financial Year 2021/22 were consi dered by a Committee of the whole House and passed.]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Madam Chairman, I move
that the approval of the Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2021/22 be reported to the House.

Thank you.
Members, are there any objections to that?
No objections. It has been reported to the
House.
Minister of Finance, that means that you have
a piece that you do. The report that the Chairman just
did was that it was reported back to the House. There
was no objection. It is now in the House, so, Minis ter,
will you now present this stage in the House?

BILL

FIRST READING

APPROPRIATION ACT 2021

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I introducing
a Bill entitled the Appropriation Act 2021 with the
Governor’s recommendation signified.

Are there any objections to the Bill ent itled the Appropriati on Act 2021 being read a second
time in the House?
There are none, c ontinue Minister.

[Motion carried: The Appropriation Act 2021 was read
a second time.]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move
clauses 1 thr ough 6, inclusive, together with the
Schedules A, B, and C as printed.

Minister, continue with your further
message.



1232 22 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly MESSAGE TO THE SENATE

APPROPRIATION ACT 2021

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that
the following message be sent to the Senate:
To the Honourable President and Members of
the Senate: The House of Assembly has the honour to
forward herewith the undernoted Bill for the concurrence of your House: The Appropriation Act 2021.
Copies of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for 2021/22 are also forwarded for the information of
your House.

Thank you, Minister.
Members, that brings us to the total concl usion of the Budget Debate for 2021/22. I trust that all
are comfortable with their participation and the answers to their questions put forward. We will now
move on.
The next item on the Order Paper I believe is
item 5, which will be done this evening, if I am correct,
Minister, the Marine and Ports Authority (Port Dues)
Amendment Regulations 2021.

Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: That is correct, Mr. Speaker

Okay. Thank you.
Members, the next item is consideration of the
Marine and Ports Authority (Port Dues) A mend ment
Regulations 2021, in the name of the Minister of
Transport.
Minister, would you like to put your matter at
this moment?
Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With the Governor’s recommendations and in
accordance with section 36(3) of the Bermuda Const itution, I move that consideration be given to the Draft
Regulations entitled, the Marine and Ports Authority
(Port Dues) Amendment Regulations 2021, proposed
to be made by the Minister responsible for Marine and
Port Services in exercise of the power conferred by
section 76 of the Marine Board Act 1962.

Are there any objections?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.

DRAFT REGULATIONS

MARINE AND PORTS AUTHORITY (PORT DUES)
AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2021
Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased
to introduce the
Marine and Ports Authority (Port
Dues) Amendment Regulations 2021 . The passing of
the regulations will result in a 5 per cent increase in the fee charged for ships up to 100 metres in length, an increase from $588.00 to $617.00, while ships over
100 metres in length will now be charged $14.33 per
metre. Port dues payable in respect of any vessel
shall not be less than $400.00. This is up from $375.00. The increases will take effect on 1 April
2021.
Such port dues are historically collected to
help fund port infrastructure and repair work that al-lows us to safely berth ships alongside in port. Infr astructure items of note include the physical dock structure, fenders and mooring bollards for ships’ lines, as
well as security measures, such as fencing, lighting,
and security screening equipment required under i nternational security rules similar to an airport.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.