But, when Jomarie Lanza interviewed him about it again yesterday - he had the answers ready. Here's what he told her:

The last time we spoke to the mayor - he told us he wasn't quite clear on the details of the contract to paint the council:

Reporter
"Was it put out to tender?"

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"No, not not that small amount. If I would put out our contract for, for ten, 20,000 for painting a building or a 30 to 40,000, I'm not quite clear on what the question is alluding to. But the point is that for a small contract size."

Reporter
"So how much was the contract?"

Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"I would believe it's a little bit over, over 100,000, I would believe."

But since that interview two weeks ago - the mayor has gotten his numbers straight. What he said was a bit over over a hundred thousand he now confirms is well over that - but he says it is well worth it -and almost finished.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
"That work is 80% complete my dear, that is 80% complete. It is only the front part that requires that BEL has to, we have to send in an application to BEL to take off power for a number of hours so that they could access because it is very close to the high tension wires and we don't want any injury. It's a huge task. It's a building that is 43,000 square foot. If you look at the value of the asset it is a 21 million dollar asset and so now when you do the math a 21 million dollar asset and I spend a 145k to maintain it is less than 1% of the value of the asset. And any one who knows about painting will tell you that $3.20 per square foot for a 43,000 square foot building inside and out with the, buy your own paint and with the labor, you have to pay labor, you have to find the scaffolding, the equipment, it's a very, to me a reasonable, reasonable price. And I have done my check in respect to that price and most of the people I have spoken to say that $3.20 per square foot for a 43,000 square foot building inside and out. So I believe only the front part of the building remains. They may have some other interior offices that they may have gotten to because people are working in those offices but that building is pretty close to completed."

Close to completion and the mayor says even though almost two hundred thousand to paint two buildings may seem high - it's part of regular maintenance:

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
"We don't pay for labor its part of our maintenance plan, maintenance within the budget that the prime minister gives us he signs what we call a warrant and he gives the mayor, not the mayor but the city administrator through the mayor that we are to expense, X amount of dollars in various line items and maintenance is one of those items."

We'll show you how it looks when the city hall is painted.