–Mayor, Councillors clash over urgent business motion

By Vanessa Braithwaite

MAYOR of Linden Carwyn Holland and Councillors were caught in a heated discussion on Tuesday at an extraordinary statutory meeting after the Mayor granted Councillor Derron John the permission to move a motion of urgent public business.

Though the request was made at the start of the meeting and permission was given to move the motion at the end of the meeting, this was not favourably accepted by Councillor Lennox Gasper and Councillor Fern McKoy who, in their perusal of Chapter 28:01 of the laws governing the Council, aggressively argued that the Mayor is acting outside of the law.

Councillor Lennox Gasper, who read directly from the law, said an agenda was set for the Extraordinary Meeting and the Council must stick to the agenda. Gasper added that in the law’s provision for motions to be moved without notice, none was mention of urgent public business as requested by Councillor John.

“Mr Mayor, I submit that none of these are a motion for urgent public business, I reiterate that this is an extraordinary business and this business must stick to the agenda, if we deviate, I will ask to be excused from this because you are going in contravention of the law of this Council,” he contended.

Mayor Holland however contended that the Councillor must be given permission to speak as he was given permission earlier in the meeting to do so.

“We already gave him a commitment at the start and we got no-objection at the start and now we reach this point and we are looking to deny him that opportunity which I gave him at the start,” the Mayor said as he addressed the Council.

Councillor Fern Mckoy, who was a member of the previous Council, argued that the Council is drifting away from the conditions of the law and the habitual occurrence of doing so will bring serious consequences.

“Mr Mayor why can’t we follow the rules and the policies of this Council, we are drifting away from that and that is not supposed to happen. These things are going to backfire on us Mr Mayor; these things are not supposed to happen,” argued Councillor McKoy.

She added: “If we are talking about moving forward Mr Mayor, Madam Deputy this is not the way to go… Mr Mayor you are wrong… I am advising you sir, this is not the way to go,” said McKoy.

The veteran Councillor then accused the Mayor of usurping his powers, to which the Mayor denied doing.

Mayor Holland argued that any urgent public business is interest to him and it is in this interest that he will allow for the motion to be moved. Councillor Lennox Gasper then stormed out of the meeting mentioning that the Council is not operating under the law.

Town Clerk Janella Bowen advised that in accordance with the law, any motion passed that was not a part of the meeting’s agenda will be null and void.

“If we have issues that are raised, recommendations made, discussions made, more than likely the legal aspect will be that they will be null and void because of the structure of the meeting….giving advice, the Council can choose to do whatever.”

Councillor Derron John after listening to the deliberations argued that he should be given a chance to speak as the 28:01 is very clear on this issue. He read the law which stated that “Before the Council proceed to order a member may with the permission of the Mayor or the Deputy make a statement to the Council drawing attention to any alleged breach of privileges or may explain a matter affecting his personal conduct to a member of the Council. He however withdrew to move the motion.

Councillors and members of the public have been publicly complaining about the continuous in-fighting at the newly-elected Council which has been deemed a deterrent to progress.