In other political news, on Friday we also asked Dangriga area representative Louis Zabaneh if he's been trying to mediate the conflict inside the Dangriga Town council.
As we've reported, the Mayor Robert Mariano and Town Administrator Austin Petillo are. Publicly at war.
It reached a boiling point last month when Petillo publicly posted about corruption at the council.
Since then, Petillo has been locked out of the council - even though he is the most senior employee.
On Friday, we asked the area rep whether they had to pay off Petillo:
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep., Dangriga
"We have to work these things through and I know the mayor and his team have been looking at various avenues to resolve the matter. The last when I spoke to the mayor about it, there was, his attorney was giving advice on how to move forward in a way that takes care of everybody's rights."
Jules Vasquez:
"Did you all have to pay off the town administrator?"
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep., Dangriga
"I think that's best placed to the mayor, who is also here, that you can you can ask him directly."
Jules Vasquez:
"But I heard that at one point you had to, the mayor wanted to hire Percy Lewis, a big UDP as the town administrator and you had to get involved."
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep., Dangriga
"Well, you know, we have internal things that are within the PUP family, there's no secret to that. But I'm not the only one that makes that decision. You know, we have our executive that comes to bear, the mayor has his team. And so we depend on the wisdom of a number of people to be able to guide us."
Jules Vasquez:
"I get the impression, though, that your executive meddles in the affairs of the town council that when certain town council decisions come, they say, well, PUP executives decide that the council should be autonomous and certainly free from overbearing political groups."
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep., Dangriga
"No, no, we come when we are invited to to the table. we we certainly don't meddle, but we, we as a family, you know, we share advice. And, you know, if I see that there's something that is occurring, I will respectfully share my view. But I will not, try to dictate anything because, you know, that will always result in, unfavorable outcome. So it's best to just share your thoughts and to see if the other parties, see any wisdom in it. And if that is helpful, then maybe some of that is taken into consideration."
