In-house fighting continues at LM&TC

Councillors of the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LM&TC) have sought to set the record straight with regards to a recent exchange between Councillor Lennox Gasper and Mayor Carwyn Holland.

During recent exchanges Gasper accused the Mayor of wanting his friends to benefit from reduced tolls at the Kara Kara toll booth, while accusing the Council of disobeying the law and operating based on the orders of the Mayor.

Councillor Gasper also alluded that following the exchange at a recent statutory meeting, the Mayor had sought to have him removed and barred from speaking.

Speaking with regards to what occurred, councillors Neola Rogers and Derron John gave their version of what transpired. According to Rogers: Councillor Gasper’s statement is not true and correct and accurate…Councillor Gasper would have stood up and he made a very malicious statement about the Mayor and his friends wanting to benefit from this 25 per cent that these persons were asking for.

The entire Council went into some amount of argument on whether or not Councillor Gasper should retract. The Mayor, I think, asked Gasper to retract, to withdraw his statement and apologize to him. Councillor Gasper refused to apologize but after a while he said he will retract but he refuses to apologise.”

Rogers went on to state that the purpose of the Council is to conduct the business of the people, but in her opinion a lot of time is being wasted on personalities. As such, she said the Council is not getting ahead with the business of the people.

“I think we need to stop. Take a stock of where we are and be a bit more mature in our dealings…Councillor Gasper continues to always put himself out there as probably the only councillor that is working…All the constituency councillors were elected by the persons in their communities, and we’re constantly being sidetracked by Councillor Gasper’s remarks. As a Council we need to grow up. We need to be able to move ahead with the business of the people.”

She noted that the while the Mayor is not perfect, he has been doing his best in working tirelessly, adding that Councillor Gasper’s attacks on the Mayor and Council is becoming very tiresome, while calling for a better working relationship.

Meanwhile, Councillor John said while he respects Councillor Gasper it appears as though he wants to give the impression that he is the only councillor making representation on behalf of the town, which he noted to be untrue. He stated his belief that the difficulty arises since there is no opposition within the Council and as such Gasper is standing out and creating that opposition.

John explained that indeed Holland had asked for Gasper to be removed, but noted that the Mayor was acting in the confines of the law. Referring to Standing Order 27 of the Council, John quoted: “Mayor or the Presiding member may order any member or members whose conduct is grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the Council during the remainder of the day’s sitting and the Town Clerk shall act on such order…”

He said Gasper was asked by councillors to withdraw his statement because it was deemed malicious, noting that the Municipal Council Act, Chapter 28:01 gives the Mayor the power to act accordingly and the Town Clerk to act on his decision.

With that, he said the Mayor did speak to the Acting Town Clerk and based on her decision, Gasper was then approached by security officers of the Council.

According to both councillors, the rift between Gasper and Holland is getting in the way of the business of the LM&TC.