Myles takes deputy mayor’s chair, but Moore refuses to swear him in
Published:Saturday | July 29, 2023 | 12:43 AMAdrian Frater and Albert Ferguson/Gleaner Writers -
Western Bureau:
Independent Councillor Ian Myles has decided not to await any official swearing in or possible court action and has assumed the role of deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, taking over the office of Dandree Delancy, who was ousted from the post during the last monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC).
Myles, who was elected councillor of the Little London division on a People’s National Party (PNP) ticket but recently broke ranks with the party, is poised to be ushered into the role of acting mayor as Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Bertel Moore will be going off on a one-month vacation break, starting today.
“The mayor goes off on vacation tomorrow (today) for one month and so it is part of my responsibility to assume the role of acting mayor while he is off,” said Myles. “On the 13th of July, I was elected deputy mayor by a majority at the council meeting on that same day. I have been here working in support of the mayor but today I am making it official, so I have taken control of my office.”
On Thursday, attorney-at-law Catherine Minto wrote to the WMC stating that she was part of a legal team representing Delancy and indicated that they had filed an urgent application in the Supreme Court seeking injunctive relief to stop the WMC from administering the oath of office to Myles.
Yesterday, Myles said while he is yet to receive any documentation from the Supreme Court, he was shown a copy of a document that was sent to the mayor. He noted that while he had the highest regard for the Supreme Court, he has serious concerns about the document.
According to him, given the many errors he saw in the document, he has instructed his legal team to examine it to ascertain if it is authentic.
“We met with a situation this morning (Friday), one that has caused me to question the legitimacy of that document – a document purportedly served by the court,” said Myles. “This document, which is said to be an injunction from the Supreme Court, has a lot of errors on it, a lot of grammatical errors and misspelt names. I do not even know if this is about me because my name is not spelt correctly on this document.
“I am seeing Ian Hayles (the man whose elevation to the chairmanship of Westmoreland Western caused Myles to step away from the PNP) on the document as the deputy mayor, not Ian Myles,” said the newly minted deputy. “I do not know where that came from. The resolution that made me deputy mayor was duly constituted and based on the laws, according to the three strategic laws and the Local Government Act of 2016, it would have superseded all the bylaws to which this document is making mention.”
However, yesterday Moore, who admitted to being served a copy of a court injunction filed in the Supreme Court, naming him as a respondent, said he would not be administering the oath to Myles, as he would be respecting the injunction that was filed in the Supreme Court.
“I am going with what the injunction tells me. I am going to abide by it until further advice,” said Moore. “There is nothing that I can do at this time. I must respect the court.”
On Thursday, Myles made it clear that, with or without being sworn in, he considers himself the legitimate holder of the office and has taken on the role.