Żabbar council is on the brink of being dissolved because of an internal feud between Labour councillors and their mayor, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.

The matter is being investigated by the Local Governance Board, which is also looking into claims involving funds as well as the fact that the council has not met since February.

The last set of minutes on the Local Government Department’s website are from February 11 when the council approved a number of payments.

There was a meeting on March 12 when the previous meeting’s minutes were approved but there are no minutes from this meeting.

Since the council is not in operation, council tenders have not been renewed and contractors are not being paid for their services.

Sources said the council tried to meet at least six times since February but these were called off as there was no quorum.

The sources said this was because a group of Labour councillors  who do not agree with the way mayor Quinton Scerri was leading the council  were refusing to attend.

The council has three Nationalist Party councillors and eight representing Labour.

The sources said only one councillor is backing Mr Scerri, and five are refusing to attend council meetings if he remained mayor.

Headed by lawyer Joe Mifsud and with 1980s Labour stalwart Ronnie Pellegrini as one of its members, the board was investigating claims there were no records of the revenue and expenditure for the council’s bid to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the longest dining table.

As the council is not in operation, tenders have not been renewed and contractors are not being paid

The event was organised by the council last July in Sanctuary Street, Żabbar. At 359.7 metres, it beat the previous record of 302 metres.

But councillors began to question the money spent on the initiative and the revenue generated.

The sources said the local council problems had been referred to Labour deputy leader Toni Abela and even Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Meetings were organised to try to iron out the differences, but the attempts failed.

Dr Muscat promised to remove Mr Scerri from his position but this never happened.

Sources said that the councillors were ordered by the party administration not to file a vote of no confidence against Mr Scerri and, in turn, he was ordered not to proceed against the councillors for failing to attend meetings.

Mr Scerri is very popular in Żabbar, garnering almost 5,000 first-count votes in the 2013 council election.

Sources said the party is waiting for a decision by the Local Governance Board, which will most probably order the council’s dissolution and an early election.

When contacted, Mr Scerri confirmed the investigation and the internal feud with some of the Labour councillors.

He said he had appeared before the board, which had called the councillors individually to testify as part of its inquiry.

Mr Scerri claimed the major issue was the executive secretary, before describing the matter as “a never-ending saga”.