Myles assumes duties as new deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar
Published:Friday | July 28, 2023 | 4:47 PM
Deputy Mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Ian Myles says he is ready to tackle his duties.
Myles today took control of his office at the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation.
He met with councillors to discuss activities.
Mayor Bertel Moore was not involved in the meeting.
Moore and Myles, however, met briefly this morning ahead of those talks.
Moore has distance himself, citing a court action seeking to bar Myles from taking office.
Myles says he is not bothered by the injunction application filed with the Supreme Court and that he will continue to carry out his duties.
"The mayor goes off on a break for one month this Saturday, and as it is by law, the deputy mayor assumes the position as acting mayor, and I am prepared to take up those responsibilities," Myles said.
Yesterday, attorney-at-law Catherine Minto wrote to the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation indicating that she, along with Ravi Golding, of Lyn-Cook Golding and Company, who are representing Delancy, had filed an urgent application in the Supreme Court seeking injunctive relief to stop the municipality from administering the oath of office to Myles.
Myles, who won the Little London division on a People's National Party (PNP) ticket, and his colleague councillors Garfield James of the Sheffield division and Layton McKenzie of the Grange Hill division, who were also PNP representatives, recently broke ranks with the party to become independent councillors after they took objection with Ian Hayles being elected to represent the party in Westmoreland Western.
After severing ties with the PNP, Myles, James, and McKenzie sided with the four Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillors to file a successful 'no-confidence motion against Delancy, who had been occupying the deputy mayor's chair for 12 years.
On hearing of the injunction to be filed by Delancy's legal team, Myles brushed it aside, describing it as a delay tactic that had no merit.
The injection is seeking to quash what Delancy calls the unlawful decision made on July 13 to remove him as Deputy Mayor and to appoint Myles.
- Albert Ferguson
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.