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Karl Schembri
The executive secretary of the Gozitan council of Sannat has refused to send the minutes and agenda for a council meeting on 21 November, forcing the council to abort the meeting, in what is deemed by the local councils department to be an illegal defiance of the mayor’s orders.
Secretary Arthur Bajada stands accused by Director of Local Government Natalino Attard of “breaking the law” in failing to inform council members of a meeting last week.
In an e-mail sent to mayor Carmel Camilleri on 24 November, Attard made it clear that Bajada failed in his duties as executive secretary and broke local council laws. He wrote that “this failure has to be discussed in the first council meeting so that the council will decide on the disciplinary action to take against the secretary if the same council is not satisfied with the reasons he gives.”
The local government director was reacting to a letter of complaint sent by the mayor, who informed him the meeting was aborted because the secretary filed to take his orders to inform council members of a meeting and send them the relevant documents. The mayor wrote that the secretary went on sick leave on the day of the meeting and until that date no agenda and minutes had reached the councillors.
In an internal e-mail sent to the secretary, the mayor chastised the secretary for ruining the meeting which was meant to discuss “urgent matters”.
“I expect my orders to be obeyed,” he wrote.
This is not the first time the Sannat secretary has sabotaged the council. Last July, the mayor was on the verge of resigning in the wake of what he called “threats and conspiracies” from his own Labour Party to approve the performance bonus of the executive secretary against his will.
Also, Nationalist councillor Emanuel Terribile is suing the executive secretary for withholding an official council document which went “missing”.
The secretary was already warned back in 1998 by then Labour local councils Minister Charles Mangion that he would face disciplinary action if he persisted with “behaviour in relation to the mayor” – who then was Roseanne Buttigieg.
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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