Opposition LGC Commissioners deny unanimous decision led to Town Clerk’s replacement

Aug 18, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Two opposition-nominated members of the Local Government Commission (LGC) have issued a joint statement refuting the claims made by the Chairman of the LGC, Julius Faerber, that the decision to replace Acting Town Clerk for the City of Georgetown, Sherry Jerrick, was a unanimous one.

Commissioner, Nicola Trotman

In their statement disseminated on Monday, Commissioners Nicola Trotman and Joan-Ann Romascindo, claimed that Faerber’s account contains a number of “factual inaccuracies, designed to create mischief and to misinform the media and the public.”
As such, the two LGC representatives outlined a number of issues, which they intend to correct and clarify. Among them is the claim of unanimous support by all seven LGC Commissioners present on the matter of Jerrick’s performance as Acting Town Clerk for the City of Georgetown.
The two Commissioners contended that this is simply not the case, as Commissioner Trotman did not vote. As such, they stressed that the vote was a majority, not unanimous. Further, with regard to the matter of the appointment of Candace Nelson as the Interim Town Clerk for the City of Georgetown, the Commissioners said that the matter was never raised or discussed at the statutory meeting.
“The assertion that it did is a bold face falsehood. The Chairman has admitted to having made a unilateral decision which has not been ratified by the Commission to date,” the Commissioners added in the statement.

Commissioner, Joan-Ann Romascindo.

According to them, “Commissioner Trotman raised the issue of who would act as Town Clerk should Ms. Jerrick be reverted to her substantive position and Commissioner Carvil Duncan vehemently interjected, stating that the matter of who would act was not tabled for discussion and consequently no such discussion should be entertained. The Chairman agreed with Commissioner Duncan and no discussion on the matter took place.”
As a result, Trotman and Romascindo noted that they are both unaware of when and at what meeting the Commission is purported to have made the decision to appoint Candace Nelson as Acting Town Clerk.
“We did not participate nor were we invited to any such meeting. We present these facts in an effort to allow for the truth to be known,” the two Commissioners said in their statement.
The statement follows days after Faerber explained the decision by the LGC to revert Acting Town Clerk, Sherry Jerrick, to her former position as Deputy Town Clerk, and appoint Candace Nelson to act as Interim Town Clerk of City Hall in keeping with the law.
Faerber, during a press conference held on August 3, said several meetings were held with Jerrick to clarify several redundancies that were occurring at City Hall. He said that the Commission subsequently came to the conclusion that Jerrick was not performing her duties up to par, and a unanimous vote was then made among the seven Commissioners to have Jerrick reverted to her previous position of Deputy Town Clerk.
Additionally, he noted that according to the Local Government Act, the Commission also has the authority to revert an employee from one position to another. This, he said, is evident in Act 12 of 1980. Faerber had quoted the Local Government Act 18: 2013, Article 30, stating that it enables the Chairman of the commission to unilaterally make decisions on behalf of the local government body.
However, in response City Mayor, Pandit Ubraj Narine, has protested the commission’s decision to revert Jerrick from her position as Acting Town Clerk. Mayor Narine said the former Town Clerk has proven herself to be competent to the councillors during her two years’ of service to City Hall.
The Mayor said, too, that the Council will not be honouring Nelson as the Interim Town Clerk, and has mounted a legal challenge to the Commission’s decision.