City councillors yesterday accused acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba of attempting to prevent the holding of a statutory meeting to avoid questions about the rental of spots for vending on Mashramani, a process they say she is trying to hijack.
Councillors were met with a locked council chamber when they gathered at City Hall yesterday. Although the entrance to the chamber was locked, the meeting went ahead after councillors resorted to entering the building through a rear entrance before the lock was eventually forced open.
The purpose for the meeting, according to Mayor Hamilton Green, was to address key issues, including the rental of spots for Mashramani Day celebrations.
Green said he received a memorandum from Sooba last Friday, informing him that no ink was available to print the agenda for the upcoming meeting and that it would be cancelled as a result.
Green noted that he responded, stating that the reason was not a valid one to choose to cancel the meeting.
He suggested that the reason that Sooba chose to avoid the meeting was because she did not want the exposure of her wrongdoing in seeking to administer the rental of vending spots.
Last week Sooba had announced plans for the rental of the spots, while members of the council’s Social Development Committee, who traditionally administered the activity until Sooba took control last year, also announced their own plans to allow the use of spots for free and to seek donations for the post-celebration clean-up. The councillors say Sooba has no authority to administer the rental of the spots.
Calls, which they claimed came from Sooba’s office, were also made early yesterday morning to councillors, informing them of the intention to cancel the meeting.
Since the councillors claimed that it was disrespectful and a slap in the face for the meeting to be cancelled without their knowledge, they refused to comply and showed up at the specified time.
At the meeting, which saw no one from the Town Clerk’s office present, councillors registered their displeasure at the actions of Sooba and those who are cooperating with her. It was also suggested that legal action be taken against Sooba.
