The world could descend into anarchy, but chances are that newly appointed director of planning Rudolph "Buddy'' Hollis would still go to work and think of how to solve Hamilton's traffic problem.

"I love my job,'' said Mr. Hollis, confidently and contentedly, and he says he could talk planning all day.

Mr. Hollis spoke with The Royal Gazette and shared some of his early experiences and visions for the future of the department and how it fits into our increasingly crowded Island.

"When I started at the department in 1973, I had no idea that I would end up as director,'' said Mr. Hollis. He said at that time he was just happy to have a well-paying job but said he was somewhat intimidated to be young and black and involved a career which not too many people knew anything about. When he first worked in the department, it was ex-patriate- dominated and the clerical people were mostly Bermudians.

However, Mr. Hollis was motivated by Bermudians who were proud and excited that he had a good Government job. The department now has a staff of 32, of which 28 are Bermudian.

Before starting at the department, Mr. Hollis worked for Bermuda Caribbean Engineering Consultants but a job in the planning department was advertised, and co-workers encouraged him to apply and before he knew it, he was hired.

Mr. Hollis said: "At that time, they were just looking for a technical person who could do minor technical tasks,'' but because of his interest in plan details and committee presentations, he wanted to become a planner.

However, he was not qualified for a planners position as he only had a few GCEs. So somewhat reluctantly at first, Mr. Hollis completed a four year course in Urban and Community Planning at the University of the District of Columbia and received an Associates degree and a Bachelors degree.

In order to get the planners position, Mr. Hollis was advised that he needed to gain membership in a planning institution, either The American Certified Planners, The Royal Town Planning Institute in the UK, or the Canadian Institute of planners.

This proved to be one of his greatest challenges as he had to qualify, and so was required to have four years of professional planning experience, and sit exams.

He said his break came because of his experience in the department, and he was offered a planners job subject to becoming a member of one of the institutes.

After discussions with the Canadian and British Institutes, the Royal Town Planning Institute established a special category of membership, based on academic qualifications and ten years of work experience, and Mr. Hollis became the first Bermudian to become a member.

And he has never looked back.

Mr. Hollis said that the department is divided up into three sections, the forward planning, development control, and building control. He said that forward planners were responsible for producing documents such as the Bermuda Plan, and the new city of Hamilton plan. He said these plans are then passed onto the development control section who have the responsibility of administering that plan, and ensuring that development conforms and then once approval has been granted by the development and applications board (DAB), it is then passed on to the building control section who are regulators and have the responsibility of ensuring that what was approved was built and is structurally sound.

He still is very much hands on, and said: "At the present time I am still deeply involved with several development applications, primarily as I am trying to clear my backlog.'' Mr. Hollis explained that as director, he has the final say concerning developments, but said: "I have alot of confidence in my staff, and I have an open door policy.'' However, Mr. Hollis said: "Technically the buck stops with me, but above me is the Permanent Secretary, and above him is the Minister (of the Environment), Terry Lister.'' When asked if the Minister had the right to overrule any development decision, Mr. Hollis clarified that the Minister has the power to make decisions on appeal.

He said: "So any person who feels they have been aggrieved by their application has the right of appeal and this is referred to the inspectorate, who makes a recommendation to the minister, and he can either accept this or make his own decision.'' Although Mr. Hollis will no longer handle development applications personally, he said he sees himself as a "fix it type of person'' and said he deals with all kinds of complaints.

He also enjoys getting involved in major projects at the pre-application stage such as those being carried out by Bermuda Properties Limited, and the possible redevelopment of the Club Med Property in St. George's.

Senators last week heard that there had been a 72 percent increase, to 224, last year of complaints about illegal development.

Mr. Hollis said that one of the problems was that people will see just how much they can get away with.

He did not think there had been a significant increase in illegal development, but updated computer systems and keeping a more precise record of illegal development meant that logistical information is much better than it was two years ago.

Mr. Hollis has several areas he wishes to work and one of his goals is to improve enforcement. He said there was currently quite an extensive process before action was taken, and he intended to get this process working better.

Mr. Hollis also aims to improve the morale of the department, which suffered when the department had a phase when most of the senior posts were vacant, morale of the staff was low, and they were in the midst of major friction with the Institute of Bermuda Architects.

However, Mr. Hollis said that over the last year morale had improved and he wanted it to continue by providing training for individuals and empowering his staff.

However, Mr. Hollis has a challenging job and said the department could be likened to the Police. He said: "You only want the planning department to come when your neighbour is doing something illegal, but you don't want us to say anything to you when you want to do something, you feel that you should be able to go ahead and do it.'' Mr. Hollis said he strongly believed the department needed to tie in areas of social planning, environmental planning, and transportation planning, and by meshing these areas together the Island's "sustainable'' ideal may come closer to fruition.

Mr. Hollis also said that his goal was to make Bermudians more aware of planning as a career.

He has spoken about planning at high schools, prisons, church groups, and said that each time people got really excited to learn about this new profession.

Mr. Hollis had too many people to thank for his successful career, but he gave thanks and praise to God and made special mention of his wife and family.