Council suspends services until it gets an executive secretary

Birżebbuġa residents will be deprived of the services normally offered by their local council from Monday after a unanimous decision by the council to work behind closed doors until the Office of the Prime Minister approves the appointment of a new executive secretary.

The council selected a person to fill the post four months ago and requested approval for employment from the Local Councils Department two months ago. The acting secretary retired last week.

Mayor Joseph Farrugia told The Times that the council's clerks will be reporting for work as usual but they will not be answering phone calls and the doors of the council offices will be closed, meaning services will not be provided. People normally call at the offices to request or fill forms, pay fines and lodge complaints or requests for services.

The staff will answer e-mails and faxes.

Mr Farrugia said it was impossible for a council to operate without a council secretary. He has now written to the Director of the Local Government Department informing him of the council's decision.

Reacting to the decision by the Birżebbuġa local council, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said the Local Councils Department had requested the council to submit evidence that the person it had nominated had managerial experience as required in a legal notice regulating such appointments.

The department was still awaiting this reference letter to ensure that the person nominated by the council was suitably qualified to undertake the obligations which the post entailed.

Furthermore, until an executive secretary was appointed, the department was prepared to provide an acting executive secretary, as had been done in other cases.

"The council's decision to close its offices is not justified since the council has the full complement of other employees," the spokesman said.