ALARM BELLS!

KINGSTON, Jamaica—The Integrity Commission (IC) has found that Councillor Ian Bell (People's National Party, Beecher Town Division) participated in deliberations on his wife's application for space at the Ocho Rios Transportation Centre, while the commercial operation proceeded without the required permits and with no evidence of a lease agreement. The findings are contained in an IC report into allegations of conflict of interest and irregularities surrounding the rental or lease of space at the St Ann facility and the construction of a commercial building there. The investigation was launched in August 2023, after the complaint was referred to the director of investigation in July that year. According to the report, Bell's wife, Shirlyn Campbell-Bell, applied on March 31, 2023 to rent space at the transportation centre to place a 40-foot container from which she intended to operate a gaming lounge. The application, however, did not follow the municipal corporation's established process, the investigation found. The normal procedure required an applicant to submit a written application to the chief executive officer through the Registry Department, where it would be date-stamped and recorded before being referred through the relevant administrative channels to the Commercial Services Committee. The Integrity Commission found that Campbell-Bell's application had no registry date stamp and that she did not deliver it herself. She told investigators that she asked her husband to take it to the corporation. “The application was prepared by me with the help of my husband, Mr Ian Bell. As it relates to how the application was delivered to the St Ann Municipal Corporation, I asked my husband to drop it off for me. My husband goes to the corporation on a daily basis, so I gave him to drop off for me,” she said. The report also cited the account of Commercial Services Committee secretary Lasonya Williams, who recalled that the application was brought to the committee by Bell as a “supplemental” matter — meaning it was not listed on the meeting agenda beforehand. The commission noted, however, that Williams' account had to be treated with some caution because the meeting records showed her as absent from two of the three relevant meetings. It said her account was nevertheless materially consistent with the Registry records and Campbell-Bell's own admission. The corporation subsequently wrote to Campbell on May 1, 2023 informing her that her request to place the container at the transportation centre had been approved. But the Integrity Commission found that the letter did not amount to the building approval required under law. A second letter, dated May 10, outlined the requirements for mounting the container, including building plans, site plans, a location map and construction drawings. Campbell-Bell told investigators that she began preparations almost immediately after receiving the May 1 letter and said the container was mounted about May 3 or 4. She later submitted building and planning documents to the corporation in July 2023 — about two months after the structure had been erected. The commission found that, up to the date of the report, the building plans had not been approved or issued by the St Ann Municipal Corporation. The Building Act, 2018 requires a building permit before building work is carried out and, where applicable, a planning permit. The commission therefore concluded that the structure was erected and operated in breach of section 17(1)(a) of the Act. Importantly, the report also placed some responsibility on the municipal corporation, finding that the wording of its May 1 letter conveyed finality and could have led the applicant to believe she had received the necessary permission. The commission said the corporation had failed to communicate the requirements effectively and in a timely manner. The structure was also considerably larger than the standard shop space at the transportation centre. According to the report, the standard shop size is 10 feet by 10 feet, or 100 square feet, while Campbell-Bell's container/shop was approximately 648 square feet — more than six times the standard size. The investigation found another significant gap: there was no evidence of a rent or lease agreement between Campbell-Bell or Bell and the St Ann Municipal Corporation. There was also no evidence that the application had been referred to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development for the minister's approval, which the commission said was required because of the nature of the arrangement. And although the gaming lounge had been operating since 2023, the corporation had not collected user fees from the business. The commission said Campbell-Bell acknowledged that she did not pay a monthly fee and that she had never been approached by the corporation for payment. Its investigation also found that the corporation's chief financial officer confirmed that no payment had been received from the operators and that the officer responsible for collecting fees had never collected any from the container. The corporation's established fee structure for spaces at markets and transportation centres ranges from $1,000 to $2,600 weekly and from $14,460 to $32,250 monthly, depending on the applicable space and arrangement. The commission's investigation also focused on Bell's role as a member of the Commercial Services Committee, which considered his wife's application. The report said Bell was present when the application was considered and did not withdraw or recuse himself. There was conflicting evidence from councillors about whether Bell actually participated in the discussion after disclosing that Campbell-Bell was his wife. Some said he remained in the meeting but did not participate, while others said he took part in the discussion. Bell himself told the commission that he did not remember being asked to recuse himself and did not offer to leave the meeting. He said the responsibility rested with the chairman to direct him to withdraw. “The chairman has a responsibility having gone on the training, and from the minute I indicated that it is my wife, even if he never remember what the protocol says – I can’t walk out of a committee meeting unless I ask permission. I would not ask permission to leave because I thought if you are asked to lead you must lead,” Bell said. The director of investigation nevertheless concluded that Bell breached the conflict-of-interest standards set out in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development's Councillor's Handbook by failing to withdraw from meetings at which his wife's application was discussed. The report noted that Bell had been a member of the committee for 19 years and had previously served as its chairman from 2007 to 2016. It also found that he knew the proper procedure for handling conflicts of interest. The director of investigation said Bell admitted that he knew the correct procedure but did not intervene when the chairman failed to address the conflict. The report recommends a number of corrective measures, including that the St Ann Municipal Corporation retroactively refer Campbell-Bell's application to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development for consideration by the minister.