The town clerk was accused of usurping her powers and taking on responsibilities that are not within her remit. According to Mayor Holland, the town clerk’s attitude gives the impression that she is above him and the council and cannot be given instructions, even though the organisational chart indicates that this is not so.

“You want us to believe that the council is answerable to the town clerk, the town clerk in this case… has to carry out our instructions. I don’t believe it is the other way around in which the clerk instructs the council… the council instructs the town clerk,” said the mayor.

He suggested that maybe the town clerk’s attitude was accepted during the previous council, but warned, “it won’t happen with us.”

Other allegations that were made against the town clerk included her alleged tardy response to instructions; not being regular and punctual at meetings; poor completion of minutes of meetings; wanting to take control of the entire council; and performing the roles and responsibilities of junior staff.

The town clerk in her defence to the numerous complaints made against her said that the allegations are alarming and untrue.

“There are things that have been said a few moments ago that are very alarming to me…. I make it a matter of duty every morning to check with the mayor’s office… for example yesterday I checked thrice before I got to see the mayor… every morning I check and 99 per cent of the times the mayor is not there,” explained Bowen.

LIMITED RESOURCES
She blamed the issue of the tardy completion of instructions, especially the completion of minutes and other correspondence on the limited resources available to her office.

These include stationery, a computer and printer which the staff is forced to use.

The town clerk also revealed that some staffers are working under uncomfortable circumstances, in some cases even without a fan.

As it relates to the allegations against her trying to take control of the council, Town Clerk Bowen quoted section 75 of the 28:01 which shows that she is the administrative head of the council.

“Section 75 of the law in terms of administrative duties are conferred upon me, mandated, based on the law…. The Clerk shall be the chief administrative officer of the council of which he is the Clerk and shall have the general responsibility of coordinating the whole work of the council,” she quoted.

She then accused the mayor of mixing up her roles and responsibilities and making spurious allegations.

“I am getting the feeling that we are again mixing up our responsibilities and roles based on policymakers and administrators,” she articulated.

Councillor Lennox Gasper, commenting on the issue, quoted from a local government book that says: “The mayor cannot direct his officers for they are responsible to the council only through the appropriate committees.”

He then posited that the quote should allow for persons to understand their roles and responsibilities. Councillor Gasper suggested that the steady in-house fighting and power struggle are stymieing progress when there is a lot of work for the council to do.

“If we are going to move forward, let us move forward as a unified body… we need to move forward right now, we are fighting internally rather than doing works externally… we have not been doing our work, but yet we want to show who got power, who got balls… let us understand our roles and responsibilities,” he urged.

Mayor Holland believes that the statements of the councillor were directed towards his office.

“I want to make it clear that you cannot be speaking to the mayor’s office, because I have not been doing anything out of my remit. I have been doing just what I was elected to do… so councillor, I think that you are out of order if that is your assertion,” he affirmed.