the city council

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An extraordinary meeting at City Hall yesterday intended to identify replacement officers to fill the positions of Town Clerk and City Treasurer came to a bizarre end as confusion reigned among some members of the council.The impromptu meeting was instigated by Acting City Mayor Robert Williams who in a bid to bring order among councillors, said that the meeting follows on the heels of a letter from the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development.According to Williams, the city council, based on the Minister’s approval, has the opportunity to ask the Minister to take action, either recommend resignation or dismissal for the two officers. The bottom line is that they are to remain off the job thus the need to find replacement officers.At the commencement of the meeting, Williams announced that the meeting stemmed from the recommendations within the Commission of Inquiry report that was circulated among council members.He noted that it was proposed by the Minister that at the level of council consideration of recommendations on procedures and systems be instituted in order to replace the two officers, Beulah Williams and Roderick Edinboro, with others possessing appropriate skills. The officers in question were sent on administrative leave more than a year ago to facilitate an audit by the Auditor General, a process that was followed up by the inquiry which concluded just a few months.Having heard the Acting Mayor’s introduction, Councillor Patricia Chase-Green hastily interjected. According to her she is unable to participate in a forum to identify replacement for officers who she is not aware have been dismissed.“I don’t know that they have been officially dismissed from this council so based on that I am at a loss to come and find a replacement. There are procedures which have to take place before we can reach this stage.”Chase-Green speculated that the forthcoming communication would be that the Minister has dismissed the two officers even as she noted that as a councillor she is not aware that this is the case. She noted that there were such recommendations levelled through the Commission of Inquiry Report adding that if there is a letter in which the Minister has acknowledged such information it must be communicated to councillors.“I don’t know if other councillors have been preview to that information. I, as a councillor, have not been…so I cannot sit to replace officers who are still in the employ of the council…So I would like us to go step by step…and find out what has been the response of the Minister.”Kamla Devi Ross, another Councillor, emphatically made the point that the substantive Town Clerk still requires approval from the council to proceed on leave out of the jurisdiction thus underlining the fact that she remains within the municipality’s employ. “She is still the Town Clerk on administrative leave,” Ross emphasised.At the height of her observations the vocal councillor was interrupted by Williams who at this point queried of Acting Town Clerk, Yonette Pluck-Cort, why copies of a memorandum were not circulated among councillors.This prompted the Town Clerk to immediately order that copies of a document which upon receipt by some councillors were described as irrelevant to the ongoing discussion. “Town Clerk this is the wrong brief that is being circulated,” chided Williams.Councillor Junior Garrett proposed that the meeting be postponed to a later date allowing councillors to properly read the appropriate document pertaining to the two officers on administrative leave. Garrett disclosed that he was informed of yesterday’s meeting at 20:30 hours Wednesday, adding that such an important decision should not be simply “rushed through.”But according to Pluck an extraordinary meeting could be called at any instance once matters of importance are being considered.Councillor Ranwell Jordan stressed the fact that it is an unfortunate situation that when councillors meet to discuss serious matters they are not completed oftentimes. He said that a special meeting was called to discuss the report of the commission and the Minister’s letter.Recommendations were made in terms of certain aspect of the report. “What we failed to do was to deal with these two matters here which should have been dealt with then…” According to Jordan he is of the belief that the matter should be postponed to a later date when all of the relevant documentations are available. It was subsequent to other concerns being raised by councillors, among them Councillor Hector Stoute who attempted to ascertain whether the officers were simply being replaced or dismissed.The meeting has been postponed to a later date.