Western showdown
Injunction threatens to stall Myles becoming Westmoreland deputy mayor
Published:Friday | July 28, 2023 | 12:10 AMAdrian Frater/News Editor
Western Bureau
Independent councillor Ian Myles, who was selected to replace the ousted Danree Delancy as the new deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, is poised to face a legal hurdle to determine if he should be seated.
Yesterday, attorney-at-law Catherine Minto wrote to the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) 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 WMC from administering the oath of office to Myles.
“We have today filed an urgent application in the Supreme Court against the Council of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (including the mayor) and the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, seeking: (1) Injunctive Relief to bar the council from administering the Oath of Office of Deputy Mayor to Ian Miles; (2) To quash the unlawful decision by which the council purported to remove Danree Delancy as deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar; (3)Declaratory Relief that the purported Motion and Resolution of July 13, 2023, is in fact in breach of the bylaws of the Westmoreland Parish Council, now Municipal Corporation,” Minto stated in her letter.
“It is our position that there is a savings clause in the Local Governance Act by which the bylaws and all regulations concerning the Westmoreland Parish Council have been preserved, notwithstanding that the Parish Councils Act has been repealed. See Section 54 of the Local Governance Act and the Interpretation Act of Jamaica, which clearly states that the “regulations” preserved by Section 54, do, in fact, include bylaws.”
In further seeking to contest the legality of the action against Delancy, Minto stated that it had come to their attention that the WMC would be seeking to administer the Oath of Office to Ian Myles, but they are asking for a stay, pending the determination of the matter in court.
Myles, who won the Little London division in the WMC 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 and would not prevent him from taking over the deputy mayor’s chair tomorrow if he wakes “feeling that way”.
“This letter is not from the Supreme Court. It is from an attorney, so that in itself cannot stop the swearing-in,” Myles told The Gleaner. “It is just a way of buying time or trying to prevent the inevitable.”
As it relates to his swearing-in, Myles said while no date had been set, he saw no obstacle to stop the process as he was elevated to the position legally.
“No date has been set for the swearing-in. I have been advised that advice is being sorted from the Ministry of Local Government on how to proceed, but that means nothing. By having the support of the majority of the councillors in the WMC, the matter is already settled. I am the deputy mayor,” said Myles.