The Linden Town Council is asking Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan to remove the Town Clerk Janella Bowen “forthwith,” while accusing her of malicious attempts to stymie the development of the municipality and bring the council into disrepute.
The council is currently seeking Bowen’s removal through a “no-confidence” motion, which was passed by a majority of the councillors on July 27, 2016. This is the third such motion brought against Bowen and the second by the current council.
Speaking at a press conference, held at the Herdmanston Lodge yesterday, Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland told reporters that the council found Bowen’s actions “very suspect.”
“Nothing good that we are doing is being advanced. Everything is being stymied,” Holland said, while adding that he is particularly concerned about the dissemination of “misleading” information to the public.
One such piece of misinformation, according to the mayor, is the claim that he and Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindell had over the last four months spent in excess of half a million dollars on fuel.
Noting that he was absent from the meeting at which the no-confidence motion was passed, Holland explained that councillors moved the motion as a result of the Town Clerk trying to “stitch in a fast one” about mayor and deputy spending over half a million.
At a meeting of the council’s Finance Committee, Bowen had expressed concerns over the fuel bill of the mayor and deputy mayor.
“The previous council’s fuel bill would have amounted to $48,000 for the IMC chairman, if considered in the said period,” she had said.
Holland has, however, challenged this claim, while stating that the sum quoted by Bowen was a gross exaggeration.
He said yesterday that the actual sum spent was almost half the $500,000.
Councillor Darren John, acting chair of the Finance Committee, later explained that the actual sum spent by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor was $255,464.
“They would’ve spent $306,161. Outside the subsistence of $50,697 given to them, the total they would’ve spent on travelling was $255,464,” he explained.
For Holland, Bowen’s claims that he and the deputy mayor spent in excess of $500,000, which was “peddled” in the municipality, is a “clear attempt to incriminate and bring the mayor’s office into disrepute.”
According to Holland, the accusation was first raised by a reporter, then by a concerned member of the public at a public consultation held by the council. It was later raised at an administrative meeting, then at a Finance Committee Meeting and finally at a statutory meeting, at which point councillor John said he had had enough and called for the no-confidence motion.
Stabroek News contacted the town clerk in an attempt to have her address these accusations but was unable to secure a comment. When first contacted, Bowen requested that questions be posed at a later time. However when she was called at that time she did not answer the phone. Repeated attempts to contact her via phone calls and messaging failed.
A distraction
The councillors further charged that the town clerk is in the habit of “doctoring” the minutes of meetings.
“This information was corrected yet the minutes don’t reflect that. Important things mentioned in the meetings are consistently left out of minutes. Minutes are not a true reflection of what happens at the meeting, rather they are being doctored to suit the town clerk,” Holland charged.
“These allegations are a distraction. Back and forth bickering will not move our town forward, it will only be a distraction,” he stressed, while noting that he is considering bringing legal action against Bowen unless she issues a public apology.
“This idea that I am using the council as my own personal piggy bank is not true. I have no direct access to the council’s funds. Everything spent by the council has to be approved by the town clerk. Further, how can I spend the municipality’s money, when we don’t have any?” Holland asked.
He maintained that in many instances he has spent his own money to conduct the council’s business.
According to Holland, the issues
currently being brought before the public to discredit him and his council are not the important issues for him. “The public needs to know why we are in $200 million debt and why persons can’t get pension and gratuity. The public needs to know why a certain set of contractors are given contracts and young contractors in Linden are being ignored. The public needs to know why garbage is not being picked up and why bins donated by the ministry are left in Georgetown,” he said.
He accused Bowen of misguiding the council from the beginning of its tenure.
“Linden is having poor garbage collection. Why is that? Is it because the council is not doing their job or is it the administrators who are not doing their job? The people of Linden need to know that the mayor and councillors are just policymakers. It is up to the town clerk and her officers to implement the policies we make,” Holland explained.
He called for the town clerk to focus on doing her job, “instead of trying to make the mayor look bad.”
