Since April 2011, the government has paid more than $560,000 to 10 people to act as “park rangers” for the Barkers National Park project in West Bay.
The Ministry of Tourism and Development (formerly headed by then-Premier McKeeva Bush) provided the records to the Caymanian Compass in response to a pair of Freedom of Information requests.
From April to June 2011, nearly $46,000 from the Nation Building Fund was spent on the Barkers project (including $43,000 to five rangers). Since July 2011, the money for the Barkers rangers has come directly from the ministry, with the payment amounts appearing on a list of expenses for consultants and advisers to the ministry. The average monthly pay for each ranger is about $3,500.
Barkers project
Minister of Tourism and Development Cline Glidden took the Cabinet post following the ouster of Mr. Bush in December 2012.
Mr. Glidden said the Barkers rangers perform a variety of tasks, including cleaning beaches, cultivating plants, setting up tours, putting up benches, placing signs and assisting people throughout the park.
He said the decision to hire the Barkers rangers was made before he was in charge of the ministry, but that their contracts run until June. Mr. Glidden said he thought there are nine Barkers rangers still under contract.
“I can say there is a need, and there is value being provided, and work is being done. But again, I would be wrong in trying to say if an assessment was made as to how many should be hired, and at what rate,” Mr. Glidden said.
The Compass sent an e-mail to the ministry’s chief officer Stran Bodden on Friday, 1 March, with inquiries about the Barkers project, the rangers and who in the ministry is responsible for overseeing the project and contract arrangements. On Wednesday, Mr. Bodden said he would respond as soon as he could. Mr. Glidden said the ministry receives monthly reports on projects the Barkers rangers are undertaking.
Rangers
A total of 10 people appear on the ministry’s list of rangers and consultants for the Barkers project. Of the eight who appear on the Cayman Islands Election Office list of electors, all are registered to vote in West Bay.
Here are the people listed as Barkers rangers and consultants, with the total amount of money they received from the ministry:
Chet Anglin, $23,100 (August 2012-January 2013)
Curtis Bush, $78,000 (April 2011-February 2013)
Floyd Bush, $79,300 (June 2011-February 2013)
Densel Connor, $23,100 (August 2012-February 2013)
Andre Jackson, $75,000 (May 2011-February 2013)
Sarah Louise Orrett, $79,900 (May 2011-February 2013)
Waldo Parchment, $75,020 (May 2011-February 2013)
Dominique Powell, $21,000 (December 2011-April 2012)
John John Edlee Rivers, $39,600 (March 2012-February 2013)
Miguel Smith, $66,000 (July 2011-February 2013)
The Compass was only able to locate a working telephone number for one of the Barkers rangers, Mr. Parchment, at Blue Water Marine, a fishing equipment supply and charter business. A person who identified herself as Mr. Parchment’s wife indicated that her husband did not wish to comment on the Barkers project.
She suggested that the Compass reporter go up to Barkers himself to see the work the rangers are doing, rather than asking people questions over the telephone in hopes they would give the Compass a story. Before hanging up the telephone, she said, “Don’t ever call here again.”
Parks, environment, trust
The entity typically associated with park maintenance is the government’s Recreation, Parks and Cemeteries Unit, which falls under the umbrella of the Ministry of Finance, District Administration, Works, Lands and Agriculture. As of June 2011, the unit had 24 employees (all Caymanian), according to the government’s annual HR Report 2010/2011.
The unit is responsible for managing, maintaining, developing and enhancing more than 100 public facilities in Grand Cayman, including 16 parks, 18 beaches, 26 beach accesses, 16 restrooms, 13 docks/ramps, 12 cemeteries and nine “beautification areas”, according to its website. Additionally, the unit is responsible for cleaning and maintaining the George Town central business district.
The parks unit’s ministry budgeted $1.6 million for “management of public recreational facilities and cemeteries” this year, according to the government’s 2012/13 Annual Plan and Estimates. As of June 2011, the Department of Environment had 33 employees. The Ministry of Health, Environment, Youth, Sports and Culture budgeted $2.4 million for “environmental services and research” for the current budget year.
The National Trust for the Cayman Islands has a staff of about eight, including one person charged with maintaining the Mastic Reserve (with volunteers’ assistance). The trust’s programme service expenses, for environmental preservation, historic preservation and educational programmes, was about $400,000 in the 2011/12 budget year, according to the organisation’s Annual Report 2012. Government earmarked about $214,000 for the trust for the current budget year.
Meanwhile, the government budgeted about $700,000 for the Tourism Attractions Board to manage the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park during the 2012/13 budget year.
Building a national park
The Department of Environment first came up with the idea of creating the Barkers National Park. However, in the absence of a National Conservation Law, there is no legal framework for protecting an area of land and designating it as a true national park. In 2011, the Ministry of Finance, Tourism and Development and the Premier’s Office took on the park project.
In summer 2011, a Compass reporter spent the day at Barkers with the park rangers. At the time, the rangers were spending their days clearing dead underbrush, invasive plants and debris from copses of indigenous trees and plants.
For example, the rangers were eradicating the invasive Scaevola sericea from the coastal areas of the park, and were saving plants such as silver thatch palm, washwood, Jennifer, buttonwood, plopnut and broadleaf trees, as well as mangroves, glasswort and sea-pulsey. The last two plants are essential to the survival of the endemic subspecies of Pygmy Blue butterfly.
The rangers were also working to remove debris washed in by storm surge and high tides, as well as litter left by visitors. At the time, Ranger Orrett said, “This would be the ideal place for our young people to learn more about their heritage and their culture all tied into one, because at this time a lot of them are into their Game Boys and Nintendos, but a little nature hike would do them a world of good.”
Journalist Hannah Reid contributed to this report.
Related Videos
The Freedom of Information Act , what a great tool for the common man. Tony Blair who helped implement the act described the Act as one of the greatest mistakes of his time in office. But let’s not forget he was a politician.
Editors — any chance of clarifying if the ‘rangers’ named Bush are of any relation to the former Premier?
Also, can you please do a follow-up to see if any of these people have other jobs (your article makes it seem like Mr Parchment might be employed at Blue Water Marine)? For a salary of CI40,000/year I would hope this is a full-time job.
I’d also be curious as to whether there was a hiring/application process for these jobs. Were the positions listed in the paper and did they have a general application process to find the best candidates available?
Floyd Bush, is that Pilar Bush’s dad? See if the compass can find out if the government bought her moms house, then tore it down.
10 seems like an awful lot of rangers for such a small piece of bush. Does anyone know what the average park ranger per sq mile for parks in the US is? Also what are the rangers protecting in this park? Why don’t we have rangers in North Side to protect our blue iguanas?
This just looks like more vote buying to me.
I do support the Barkers Park. It is a good thing, however I would say that the salary is pretty high for Park Rangers. West Bay has gotten it all under the Premier Bush. Everything for tourist and visitor attraction is along west bay road and in West Bay. They have nothing to complain about.
Take for instance the Capital GEORGE TOWN. What is there to entertain the tourist and visitor except, fast food restaurants and bars. There is nothing. Now let us move to the Eastern District, where culture is. There is absolutely NO PROMOTION FROM THE TOURIST ATTRACTION BOARD OR THE MINISTRY.
THE GO EAST INITATIVE WAS A JOKE, NOW A JOKE AND WILL ALWAYS BE A JOKE. Waste of Government money for political purposes. After you leave George Town coming East , what is there to see beside Pedro Castle. Another waste of Government money. It need to closedown because there is nothing attractive about it. After Pedro Castle there are three Districts of culture, BODDEN TOWN, EAST END AND NORTH SIDE. Is the Tourist attraction Board or the Ministry in charge seeing to it that Tour Buses, visitors and tourist are asked to travel to the Eastern districts on daily tours? NO.All concentration is on the West Bay road and district area. However the Tourist Attraction Board and the Government Tourism Minister would thing that people from the Eastern District are not paying attention to this. Well they are wrong, because they are. I support the Barkers Project with some fine tuning and I same Shame on you all for not promoting the Eastern districts.
We all wonder sometimes when this twilight zone nightmare is going to end! Park Rangers I can see. We have tourists driving all over without an earthly clue to what they are seeing or experiencing! Great! But….10 Rangers? Seems an awful lot of people being well paid and for what? Who organises what? My….my! Again!
So they have ten rangers employed, making good money. They could easily be organized as a supervised venue for alternative sentencing for some of the youth of Cayman. A small office to report to, with the rangers acting as field supervisors over seeing planned projects. A probation officer could train them up on the daily reports required . Multitasking equal value for money.
I think all of these names for Park Rangers should be REPLACED or placed again in a shortlisting process of employment.
The jobs should be advertised publicly. I have nothing against the selected 10, but I highly suspect there is party politricks involved here.
Have the 10 shortlisted, and resubmit their CVs in a competitive setting so the public will know that they truly earn their post by merit and via politricks.
Also, have a review of their salaries. Making over 70,000 dollars to upkeep a park, I think is way too much when you have teachers getting paid less that amount.
Mr. Editor, please correct, I meant to say – by merit and NOT via politricks
Thank you
Caymanian-on-guard! You have an idea there! Good luck with trying to get that through though! We only know how to spend money but not wisely! Alternative sentencing should be used to teach people who can’t find employment after their Police Record won’t be clean anymore (clearly a prerequisite now to any job) some new job skills. The roadsides in Cayman are so awful. For what we are trying to promote…a top class tourist destination…junk and garbage everywhere. Maybe a time for some changes in a lot of departments! How to spend Government’s money and get better results!
Mr. Auditor General please look into whether putting the Barkers Rangers on the government books as consultants and advisers complies with accepted accounting rules. If it does not then please let both the Director of Public Prosecutions and the rest of us know. This nonsense has to end.
In image 1 of 4 I cannot tell which person is the Park Ranger. Don’t they have uniforms? How is a visitor able to tell who the Park Rangers are at Barkers? This hare-brained scheme was clearly not well thought out. At a minimum, the Park Rangers should be identifiable to the public and granted a little dignity by having a uniform.
That type of work should and can be done by non violent criminals or people sentenced to community service if that even exists in Cayman.. With all the potential hard worker sitting in northside doing nothing on cayman dime you would think the roads and beachs of Cayman could be cleaned every morning at the crack of dawn..
Accountabiilty is what definitely seems to be lacking here.
I am not surprised that McKeeva would direct more than half-a-million dollars of our money to West Bay voters, nor am I surprised that the interim government with two members from West Bay would continue the payments.
However, I am surprised at the number of people, who when caught at the free-feeding trough, show no shame or remorse when their actions are exposed.
Where will the next generation of Caymanians look for moral guidance? The church? Oops. Looks like the old bulwarks of church and elders are no longer up to the task. Thank God for TV and the Internet, they might yet learn something there.
Thats 10 Caymanians with jobs. Whats the problem. thats more than i see working anywhere else. In a workforce dominated by foreiners what sthe problem with having 10 Caymanians working in a Cayman national park? From what i have seen they are doing a good job. Barkers is allot cleaner and the beach area is allot nicer since they have been there. What do you you want to see 10 foreigners working there that know nothing about Cayman? I guess that would be the norm huh? I remember when these jobs were being advertised. If you didnt see that dont say they werent until you find out all the right info. Keep up the good work guys.
Yes! A uniform is central to recognition and reflects authority.. With a smokey the bear hats (drill sergeant) At least they will look the part. A park ranger with a smokey the bear hat waiting at the gate, I would be looking for directions and a site briefing. What was accepted norms in the past is no longer acceptable, the AG should have made that clear to government by now. And, if anyone doubt that he is not following the dictate and guidance of the recent UK white paper, as it related to sustainability, accountability, and value for money, they are sadly mistaken. The wheat is being separated from the shaft very methodically, with freedom of information as the standards bearer. No falling on the sword for king and country with this one.
But again 10 is needed if 2 each will be working on 12 hour shifts. My problem really is the salary. It is so high. John Rivers salary – 39,600, seem like a decent amount. Anywhere in the range of 30,000 to 40,000 annually seem decent. But I dont understand how you have Curtis Bush, Floyd Bush (notice Bush people) and 4 others making over 66,000 per year. That is quite alot of money… the public will have to pay 560,000 dollars a year, half a million dollars to pay these guys.
Could they not be responsible for the public beach and other parks, because if its just this one, they are getting paid really too-good-to-be-true salaries. Think of it – 560,000 dollars per year can help maintain unemployed people who need social welfare, can send many kids to UCCI college, and can help people who need emergency help.
I am sure somewhere during the past governments, we have lost our priorities. Money going to churches, money going to the wrong places, and yet so many Caymanians with no jobs and people needing help. We have lost it, Cayman.
Shameful
The interesting thing about these rangers are that they were hidden in the accounts as consultants and advisers so begs the question are these people directly employed by the CI government or are they subcontractors and then how were they appointed? Next if they are subcontractors do they have trade and business licenses, pensions and medical or not. And were these contracts advertised in the paper?
Either way who in the Cayman Islands Government employed them and under those instruction. These thing don’t just happen somebody must authorize their employment/ subcontract contracts. It is this that we the tax payer needs to find WHO is employing these people and they the CI Government is breaking it own laws when it comes to procurement! Time and Time again we hear or find out that the Government is disobeying the very laws of this country that it is here to enforce and nobody is ever found guilty for these breaches.
Misappropriation of taxpayer funds continues. Is everyone clear now on why the government audits fell years behind?
Not bad work if you can get it in Cayman…
The average yearly salary for Park Ranger is 31,450. If you are just beginning to work as a Park Ranger, you could expect a starting pay of 25,900. As is true for most careers, you can expect your payrate to increase the longer you are employed. You could make an income of around 37,000 after some time.
http://parkrangersalary.net/ USA
In 2011, the Ministry of Finance, Tourism and Development and the Premier’s Office took on the park project.
So that would be;-
Minister of Finance, McKeeva Bush
Minister of Tourism and Development McKeeva Bush
and
Premier McKeeva Bush
I too can offer my services as a consultant for 100k a year and write a report on who might be responsible for wasting government monies (see first draft above).
With appologies to Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoon…
I like to Con people… and I like to Insult People… If I combine the two, that would be Consult!