By Monique Hepburn, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE DISPUTE between Montego Bay's Mayor, Councillor Noel Donaldson and secretary/manager of the St. James Parish Council Christopher Powell, which has been simmering since late last year, is now over, thanks to a truce brokered by Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
The two Parish Council officials, who have not been seeing eye-to-eye on matters relating to the administration of the Council, recently met with Minister Simpson Miller in Kingston to discuss their differences. According to reports, at the end of the meeting, both men decided to bury the hatchet and work together in the best interest of the Parish Council.
IMPASSE
When contacted for a comment on the matter on Tuesday, Mr. Powell confirmed the meeting with Minister Simpson Miller but declined to disclose details. He told The Gleaner that he was not prepared to discuss the matter unless the Mayor did so first. When pressed as to whether or not the impasse is now over, he guardedly remarked: "We will have to wait and see."
Mayor Donaldson was less forthcoming when he was contacted. He told The Gleaner he was in the middle of a meeting and was not in a position to answer any of the questions asked of him. He offered to make himself available to answer the questions later but subsequent attempts to reach him on his mobile telephone prove futile as the instrument rang unanswered.
The impasse between the mayor and the secretary/manager, which came to the fore in the months immediately after last June's Local Government Elect-ions, came to head in October when details of the Bogue land probe, which pointed to impropriety and corruption on the part of the administrative arm of the Council, which is led by Mr. Powell, were made public.
The findings from Bogue land probe, which was conducted by Councillor Charles Sinclair, and subsequent statements on the matter by Mayor Donaldson angered Mr. Powell, who threatened to take legal action against the mayor. The treat of legal action by Mr Powell prompted a demonstration before the municipal building by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters, who demanded his removal as secretary/manager.
CO-OPERATION
To compound the matter, towards the end of the year, Mayor Donaldson declared that he was not getting the required co-operation from Mr. Powell and his staff and indicated that he intended to write to the offices of the Services Commission, requesting that Mr. Powell be removed from his position.
In response to the latest development, Mr. Powell said he was not at liberty to speak on the matter based on a commitment he said he gave to Minister Simpson Miller. However, he did admit that hostility of recent months had dissipated and the working relationship between himself and the mayor had improved.
"Yes we are having dialogue now," Mr. Powell told The Gleaner while declining to go into details. "Things have greatly improved when compared with before."
