Church accused of squatting

WESTERN BUREAU:

Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels is accusing a church in the Hanover capital of squatting, saying the building it is occupying is owned by the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), which needs it to establish a tourism training centre.

“Right now, the building is captured by a church, and we need that building because we have plans for the youth within the parish. We are to put in place there a training centre in collaboration with the Grand Palladium Hotel and HEART/NSTA Trust,” Samuels said at Thursday’s HMC monthly meeting.

The mayor alleged that the property was first captured by an employee of the HMC.

“I do not know if he has leased it out to the church, but something happened, and a church is there occupying the building,” said Samuels.

The mayor said the tourism training centre would be pivotal to equipping youngsters with the stills to take up employment in the tourism sector via an annual programme that Grand Palladium Hotel and HEART/NSTA Trust execute in the parish.

According to Samuels, the training centre is to be developed as a major hotel training facility for the Grand Palladium Hotel.

“This corporation just needs to get back the building, and then Grand Palladium is going to fix it for continued training,” said Samuels.

FOUR YEARS AT THE LOCATION

When The Gleaner visited the church, a member, who identified herself as a missionary, said the church has been in operation at the location for more than four years.

“We got that place to use from [name redacted], who told us he is responsible for the building, and we made an arrangement through him for us to use the place,” she stated. “We were not aware that the building belongs to the HMC, and no one from the HMC has been in touch with us about vacating the building.”

She said the church has invested thousands of dollars in repairing the building after the passage of Hurricane Melissa in addition to other upgrades to the building.

She said the church will be seeking dialogue with the HMC to settle the matter amicably.

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