Calm returns to the territorial council

As they reconvened, the Territorial Council's elected representatives calmly discussed the ten items on the agenda. Nine were adopted, while the one concerning the revision of the code governing foreigners' access to employment was postponed until the next meeting.

A territorial council meeting without a peep, a perfidious little reflection or any other noisy controversy. Not an uncommon occurrence since the start of the mandate in March 2022. Nevertheless, agitated sessions have become frequent. Particularly after the break-up of the alliance between President Xavier Lédée's group (Unis pour Saint-Barthélemy) and that of his first Vice-President, Marie-Hélène Bernier (Action-Équilibre). Nevertheless, exchanges remained courteous throughout the meeting on Thursday September 18. The ten items on the agenda were discussed and voted on in a calm atmosphere. Only one item came in for some criticism, and was postponed until the next meeting.

The code on access to employment for foreigners will wait
The deliberation proposed modifications to the code governing foreigners' access to employment. As the Collectivité felt that the time required to submit and process applications did not always meet the needs of certain employers, it was proposed that the elected representatives vote on a new code.The Collectivité believes that the time taken to submit and process applications does not always meet the needs of certain employers. The aim was to provide employers with a faster response in certain predetermined cases. The difficulty is that several elected representatives felt that the text presented was flawed. The deliberation as presented is not solid enough," remarks Senator Micheline Jacques (Saint-Barth d'Abord). What jobs are in short supply? What criteria are we going to use? "Maxime Desouches (Action-Equilibre) agrees, adding: "The code as a whole needs to be reviewed. There are inconsistencies, including in today's proposal. "

A slowdown in the fight against substandard housing
The former vice-president then points to an equally worrying problem on the island: substandard housing. I invite people, foreigners or not, to check the conditions in which they are housed," he says. "He also invites them to report any abuses by landlords to the Collectivité's services. In addition, he points out that the housing conditions of some of the foreign workforce are a "sample" of "certain unacceptable practices" in terms of housing, which do not comply with the provisions of the Construction and Housing Code.
For the record, a Pôle territorial de lutte contre l'habitat indigne à Saint-Barthélemy was created in November 2023. This mechanism brings together the Collectivité, the Prefecture and the relevant government departments, the Agence régionale de santéthe Caisse prévoyance de santé, the association départementale pour l'information sur le logement de Guadeloupe, the gendarmerie and the public prosecutor's office. Alerts have since been registered and procedures applied, but the lack of resources, particularly in terms of qualified staff, means that the system is not operating as smoothly as hoped.
In any case, the deliberation on the revision of the code of access to work for foreigners has been postponed to a future meeting of the territorial council.

Unanimous or majority votes
The third item on the agenda concerned a modification to the regulations governing the collective sanitation service and a proposal to increase the fee for non-compliant connections to the network. The idea was to vote a fee increase of up to 400% in the event of a breach of the regulations in force. Such as unauthorized connections. A point adopted unanimously.
The next point concerned an adjustment to the personalized autonomy allowance. The aim was to enable the local authority to create an extra-legal aid scheme designed to exempt recipients of the allowance from any financial contribution. While all the elected representatives seem to be in agreement with this measure, some are voicing concerns. Like Senator Micheline Jacques: "I don't think this deliberation is properly framed. We don't know what public policy it fits into. There's no long-term vision. "Reassured by the explanations provided by Cécile Tessier, elected representative in charge of social affairs, the elected representatives unanimously adopted this item.
On a modification to be made to the hotel classification procedure, which concerns changes linked to the control of payment of the CFAE and the waste removal tax, clarification of the deregistration procedureprocedure, as well as simplifying the reference to Atout France's "referential", the elected members of the Action-Équilibrequilibre group expressed reservations about the classification system, which they considered "ill-suited to the island's reality". The eight elected members abstained from the vote, but the item was adopted by a majority.
Three other items were adopted, without the slightest debate: the rates for Temporary Occupancy Permits on the public domain, the signature of a lease for storage premises in Lorient for the technical services and the signature of an amendment to the agreement for the management and provision of accommodation for the Irénée de Bruyn hospital.

Sylvère Gréaux joins the council

The territorial councillors welcomed a new colleague at the start of the meeting on Thursday September 18. He is Sylvère Gréaux, for the Saint-Barth d'Abord group. He replaces Sandra Baptiste, who resigned a few weeks ago. Sylvère, 31, is married with children and works as a villa concierge. A child of Saint-Barthélemy born in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe, he obtained a master's degree in hotel management and tourism at the end of his studies in France. "I came back after Irma and worked for a year in the Collectivité's urban planning department," explains the newly elected official. The session was quieter than you'd expect," he smiled. Being a territorial councillor is an important responsibility, and I'll be making sure that the dossiers in hand move forward. "

Twinning with Saint-Thomas: a meeting to set up an association
The elected representatives authorized the President of the Collectivité territoriale to sign a twinning agreement with Saint-Thomas
(Virgin Islands). This commitment will enable the organization of cultural events, educational, sporting and linguistic exchanges, as well as economic exchanges. In the meantime, residents of Saint-Barth wishing to create an association to forge ties of friendship and promote the development of relations between
Saint-Thomas and Saint-Barth.
Interested parties are invited to meet on Saturday September 27 at 3.30pm at the Koh Lanta hut in Cul-de-Sac.