Today, former City Council Human Resources Manager Christine Perriott went to what was once her office at the Belize City Council not to report to work but to pick up her personal belongings - but as expected getting into the building this morning was not as quick and easy as her termination. When 7NEWS arrived on the scene Christine Perriott had already been escorted into the building by the security manager and a supervisor and was reportedly collecting her personal possessions. She finally emerged some forty minutes later and when she did, she spoke with 7NEWS. Perriott says firstly there was no reason for the poor reception she received and secondly she is not in agreement with the termination letter and the reasons given as to why she was fired.
Christine Perriott,
“I had a little issue with the security manager. He was adamant that he had to be around even though the Mayor is asking him to move out of the office so I can deal with my stuff personally with the financial supervisor and he did not want and he insisted that I was already terminated and I needed to go and using his usual language and slammed the door when he walked out because she asked him to go. I called her and tell her that this is my personal stuff, I do not need any security in here.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What now becomes of Christine Perriott?
Christine Perriott,
“Well, I am going to review my letter because as how I look at it, there was no council meeting. I was appointed by resolution and there was no council meeting to do a resolution. She said that nobody voted in my favour. There were three councillors who voted for me not to go and that was like at a caucus meeting.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
She did say yesterday that it was a unanimous decision.
Christine Perriott,
“But she is lying which is not new to everybody. It is known to everybody what she does. So those are some things that I am looking at. I am also looking at the wording of the letter. First of all the statutory entitlements were wrong. I mean they have my letter on file and whoever did the calculations apparently could not calculate properly because I guess they were hurrying and the content of it, it is a far cry from what she was saying. I knew she could not use that petition because a petition is a scheme set up and so that is not there.
They are talking about insubordination because I did not get two things done. Whoever wrote the letter does not know what insubordination is and they are talking about because my letter went on the media, I breached confidentiality, trust….. ah …..this is so amusing. Other than that I am good. This is not the end of my life. I have been there before. Everything just look the same like when Ashcroft dealt with me with BTL. All the actions just look the same. So to me it is nothing different. I just have another paragraph to add to my resume.”
On Wednesday Mayor Zenaida Moya told the media that the decision to fire Perriott was made by the council during a meeting held that afternoon. Moya told the press that the decision was unanimous and that Christine Perriott’s appearance on the local news the night before had definitely impacted the decision. Multiple reports from the council have reported to us that the vote was not at all unanimous and as many as three councillors voted to keep Perriott.
According to Moya, Perriot was asked to resign because there were mounting pressures brought on by a majority of workers who felt that they could not work with her and that she was not working with them and would in the Mayor’s words and we quote “treat them like animals.”
