|
Karl Schembri
The Vittoriosa local council is about to get rid of its executive secretary, Romain Galea following months of serious clashes with mayor John Boxall about the way the council managed its finances and resources.
Tension between Boxall and Galea has been escalating since March last year, with the mayor allegedly hurling abuse and at times physically threatening the executive secretary during council meetings.
The decision to remove Galea was taken a month after the Department of Local Government sent a stern letter to the council, calling on it to “urgently address” problems faced by the council.
Among the problems listed in the letter, sent by the Director of the Department for Local Government, Natalino Attard, are the council’s finances, the management of workers assigned to the council by the government, and the distinction between the council’s political and executive roles.
While explaining that the letter was being written after “the attempts of several quarters” to get the council to solve its problems, the director said that his was “a letter of warning,” meaning that unless the council abided by the directions laid out by the department, Attard would “have no other alternative other than to give advice to the Minister for Local Government (Tonio Borg) to take the measures which the law empowers him to take”.
Government sources said such a letter is usually sent by the government as a final warning before dissolving the council, as former local government minister Austin Gatt had done with the Sannat and Paola councils.
The department noted that while the council had improved its finances over last year’s, it was “not satisfied about the council’s way of taking certain decisions regarding expenditure.”
“In every decision involving expenditure, it has to be ensured that the council has the money budgeted for such spending,” the director warned, adding that every expenditure was ruled by the councils’ financial regulations and procedures.
Referring to the drydocks’ workers who were redeployed with the Vittoriosa council, the director warned that while it was up to the council to decide how to utilise them, the council was bound to observe their working conditions laid out in department circulars.
“I have to add that despite the diverse reports I received about the mismanagement of these workers (such as about conflicting orders given to them, as well as about their working time), I resisted the most natural alternative to take these workers back and redeploy them to other councils,” the director wrote. He said he did this to show he was really committed to see the council improve its financial situation by saving on labour costs.
The most emphatic part of the letter regards the distinction between the political and executive functions of the council. The director said he was explaining “for the last time” the role of the council members and that of the council’s executive staff.
“First of all, there must be reciprocal respect between the elected members and the executive,” the director wrote. “At no point can one part assume the role of the other.”
The director went on to give “a clear direction that has to be followed by the interested parties,” after several failed attempts to get the councillors and the executive staff to agree on how to work together.
The director said that neither councillors nor executive staff should ever send correspondence to third parties which sheds bad light on any council member. None of the elected councillors can do administrative, financial or executive work, and all the council’s assets should be listed in an inventory.
He also wrote that while the council premises should be accessible to all councillors, they should not make use of the “documentation or equipment” of the executive secretary and council employees. After office hours, the mayor and executive secretary should have access to all the council premises, apart from the administrative part which falls under the executive secretary’s responsibility. Also, the executive secretary should be informed about any movement of assets from the council’s stores “so that the council’s assets are under control and every movement is registered in the inventory.”
Asked whether the government ensured that the council had heeded the department’s warnings, a spokesman for local government minister Tonio Borg said that the problems were “about to be solved” as the council was expected to reach an agreement with the executive secretary to terminate his employment with the council. Pressed with further questions, the spokesman said he would only answer written questions, with the minister’s approval. Questions sent by this newspaper last Thursday remained unanswered.
The Vittoriosa mayor said the executive secretary had “stopped working here” and that all the problems listed by the department were solved.
“We couldn’t work with him,” Boxall said. “We had some problems about the council’s deficit and administration with him, but now it’s over.”
Executive Secretary Romain Galea declined to comment. Government sources however asked whether this was another way of discouraging executive secretaries from doing their job.
In one of the several police reports Galea filed in connection with the mayor’s alleged aggressions, Galea reported last February that from the way Boxall had reacted after having heard the deficit figures, “it was clear that the financial problems facing the council were not music to his ears.”
In the same month, Union Haddiema Maghqudin also directed Galea not to accept orders from Boxall in view of the mayor’s behaviour. Galea was also certified by Labour MP Dr Michael Farrugia as “suffering from anxiety state due to stress at the place of work.”
Galea last reported Boxall to the police on 7 May, saying that he was again verbally threatened during the council meeting of 5 May.
Council sources said that the popular mayor of Vittoriosa – who enjoys the support of all the other councillors – was at loggerheads with the executive secretary because of his unorthodox methods of running the council, in contrast with Galea’s rigid administration methods.
karl@newsworksltd.com
|
