Bermuda College Board of Governors has "cut out the fat" at the Island's only tertiary education institution by putting an end to deadwood staff and practices such as senior staff members selling personal items on the campus, ruling party Senator Raymond Tannock said yesterday.

In a strong defence of the much criticised Bermuda College, Sen. Tannock, who is chairman of the College's Board of Governors, stressed that the College was an accountable institution and will continue to make tough decisions.

His speech was greeted with empathy and understanding by the Upper Chamber's independent and ruling party Senators, and silence from the Opposition Senators.

But Sen. Tannock also received a brief lesson in public and media relations from Senate president Alf Oughton.

Sen. Tannock started off by telling his colleagues that the Board was confident in its selection process for senior staff. He stressed that the College was accountable and will continue to make decisions to correct wrong practices of previous administrations.

"I can speak strong, long and loud as it relates to the Bermuda College and its accountability," he said, adding that the College's Chief Financial Officer had been working closely with the auditor to ensure that they were in compliance with his recommendations.

"We've made it our business to cut out the fat at the Bermuda College. We've had lecturers who are doing practically nothing and are being paid a full time salary. We have had people working 40 hours and then putting in 40 hours overtime. That's finished."

He added that some staff had even been selling their personal items at the College and "we've had heads of departments sending flowers to their senior people and charging it to the College's account. That's finished. That's nonsense. We've had people who have said this is the way it's done in Bermuda to their superiors. That's finished. That behaviour will not be tolerated because we are accountable."

Sen. Tannock added that he had been advised to "pay someone off to keep them quiet". Without elaborating he said. "But we are right. If we are right why should we pay ? Why should I spend Government's money to keep him quiet when we are right ? We are accountable.

"We have had people who have been hired and doing nothing. That's finished at the Bermuda College. We are asking all of our people to be accountable."

He said that while the College was not perfect, it was improving every day and the staff was committed to improve.

And he said that the Board was "tired of the unnecessary bashing of the Bermuda College in the press".

"It is damaging to us and our young people. We are an excellent institution. We are not perfect but we are an excellent institution and ready and willing to serve our community. But we cannot serve the community by ourselves."

He said that the Board considered its alumni base its best resource and was working on a campaign to maximise its potential for the College's development.

Sen. Tannock added : "We are going to continue to be accountable and we are going to continue to make those hard decisions."

Independent Sen. Walwyn Hughes said that he had been impressed by Sen. Tannock's comments and he doubted whether the media would "pick up on" some of his remarks.

"But if there are things that are untoward, the media would pick those up whether we like it or not. And the only thing to do is to sort those things out which you seem to be doing, which is admirable."

Government Sen. Reginald Burrows said Bermuda was fortunate to have a facility like the College which provided an affordable tertiary education and could point to many graduates who had achieved "significant success" here and overseas.

"We are not perfect but we are trying," he said before calling on the press to avoid negative coverage and focus on the positive "and help to make sure the facility is a first class facility".

But Senate President Alf Oughton urged Sen. Tannock to be pro-active with its public and media relations efforts.

"The College should take a good hard look at its public relations. The College should take an interest in the media and get them on board. Get them on board and help them to take the good news out there," Sen. Oughton said.

He advised Sen. Tannock to disseminate such messages to the media "at the same time as you are dispensing it elsewhere. and you will be amazed at how these guys respond. Take them on board - they are not always your enemies and I think you will be surprised."

Asked after the meeting whether the advice resonated with him, Sen. Tannock said : "Yes it did. And we do have a campaign out to put a positive spin on the College and you will always see an ad on the College on what we are doing."

He added that he had no problem with the suggestion that the College be more pro-active with the media.

"We're not critical of the media, we're just looking for a balance," he continued.

The Senator also elaborated on the College's development efforts with its alumni, saying that it had already launched its "Buy a Brick" programme which enlists financial support from the alumni population, starting with its past presidents.

He could not immediately say the total financial cost of having had deadwood lecturers on the College staff, but stressed that the problem had been taken care of.

"We cannot allow that sort of thing to continue to happen."

And on his statement of charging flowers to the College, he said that the accounting department had reported one incident where someone sent flowers to his superior and charged it to the College.

The College has been under the media spotlight in recent months because of concerns over its personnel practices.