@Django posted:Local gov’t chair defends unilateral appointment of city Town Clerk - ‘I am the Commission between meetings’
Julius Faerber
July 31, 2021 --- Source
-law says three-member quorum needed for binding decision
Chairman of the Local Government Commission (LGC) Julius Faerber is maintaining that he had the authority to unilaterally appoint junior staff member Candace Nelson to act as Town Clerk of Georgetown, although the law stipulates that any action taken by fewer than three members of the constitutional body is not binding.
“I am the Commission between meetings. I am the Chairman. I have that authority to make that decision between meetings. It’s stated in the Act,” Faerber told Stabroek News yesterday, following accusations by two opposition-nominated members of the LGC that he unilaterally appointed Nelson without consulting the other members of the body.
Asked to identify the section of the legislation which empowers him to act in such a manner, Faerber indicated that he was not in a position to do so since he did not have the Act with him.
Laws of Guyana -- Local Government Act -- Chapter 28:02
Power of chairman of local authority between meetings thereof. [25 of 1973]
38. (1) The chairman of the local authority of a village or country
district may, between any two meetings of the authority, exercise all
the executive powers of the local authority.
(2) All acts done by the chairman under subsection (1) shall be
reported to the local authority at the meeting next ensuing, and any act of the chairman of which the local authority disapproves shall be null and void.
(3) The deputy chairman of a village council shall have and may
exercise the powers, duties and functions of the chairman—
(a) during the period of a vacancy which is deemed, under
section 29(7), to have occurred in the office of chairman; or
(b) during any period while the chairman is temporarily absent from the village district.
Laws of Guyana -- Local Government Act -- Chapter 28:02 -- Source - https://mlgrd.gov.gy/wp-conten.../2014/05/cap2802.pdf