Dear Editor,
Unhappily the statutory meeting of the Mayor and City Council on April 11 ended in disorder. Recall after Councillor Jordan’s petition supported by legal opinion that Ms Pluck-Cort discontinue functioning as Town Clerk (ag), I was careful to explain that earlier I was in receipt of advice from the council’s legal firm Luckhoo and Luckhoo to the effect that the injunction document read by Councillor Jordan did not require the Town Clerk (ag) Ms Yonnette Pluck-Cort to cease functioning as Town Clerk (ag).
Further, that issue will be determined when the matter would come up for hearing on May 16, 2011. After being accused of bias because I simply stated a fact, I ask where is the bias?
After a few exchanges, what followed was a display of unacceptable and unparliamentarily behaviour, which forced me to adjourn the meeting. I shall return to this anon; suffice it to remind us that the law whether it be constitutional, criminal or corporate is characterized by differing opinions on single issues.
Councillor Jordan at approximately 1.45pm yesterday [April 11], delivered a copy of a legal opinion from the Hughes, Fields and Stoby law firm to my personal assistant; it was at that time I became aware of the document.
Different interpretations of any law or otherwise by the most brilliant of minds are what has given the legal profession its vibrancy and charm. Likewise a judicial order or what is purported to be such, is also often subject to different and varying interpretations. It is therefore the height of myopia when either of us can become obsessed with a single opinion or viewpoint. It is this which appeared to have caused the rumpus at the meeting.
Attached is the legal opinion which was my guide at the meeting; of course, any of us may seek a third or fourth opinion.
But what followed was a disgraceful display by certain councillors, certainly not a proud moment for us all. May I say this: in all of my public life, most times, I have tried to avoid a spontaneous reaction, even under severe provocation, invective, snide remarks, and as happened on Monday, hostile finger-pointing which constituted an assault. Added to this, not for the first time there were personal threats. May I remind those who loudly issue threats, not to be confused by my desire for peace and harmony.
No one who sits around the horseshoe table can wage war with greater intensity than one who has passed through the crucible of ‘fire’ and a bellicose environment for five decades. I remained calm because my experience is that strong capable individuals do not issue direct or veiled threats. On this issue I have no automatic bias – you all know the concerns I’ve expressed and documented over time in relation to the performance of several senior offices. The law is the law.
This is not a time for puerile tantrums or irrational outbursts based on mere suspicion or rancour.
We have greater matters to deal with; for the sake of us all, let us pray that the great philosopher Butler was wrong when he quipped “fools are known by looking wise and making noise.” Let us await the ruling of the judiciary while at the same time urging the Minister to bring closure to this issue, which has now unfortunately taken on the aura of divisiveness and hostility.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
Mayor
