And in his last term, one of the mayor's most challenging projects has been the one to replace hundreds of broken manholes and drain covers. No two are the same size - but so far 402 manholes or drains have been covered. The mayor says it's urgent because they continue to get hit with lawsuits:
Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor
"Manholes are an ongoing project, we will never end with manholes. I was just coming along the street there and I saw a manhole that needs urgent repairs. It continues to cost us both from the point of having to replace them but also from the point of we are getting in a real society where people are suing the city and we continue to take a hit by lawsuits in respect to manhole and so our team has prioritized this sort of project in terms of manhole ensuring that we put in the necessary awareness in respect to if a manhole is missing we put the necessary tape there to warn the residents but we also have to call on the business owners in the city and the taxi drivers and the motorists not to drive a vehicle over manhole because it costs the city double either by through litigation or by through replacement."
