The mayor of Marsascala is planning to move a motion to remove the council’s executive secretary due to disagreement between them.

Mario Calleja confirmed he had proposed the motion to remove Joseph Caruana from his post of executive secretary.

A vote on the motion could be taken at a committee meeting today depending on whether there would be enough time on the busy agenda, explained Mr Calleja, who was elected on the Labour Party ticket.

“There are disagreements between us. We have not been on speaking terms for a long time and can’t work together,” Mr Calleja said yesterday, adding he did not wish to comment further because the motion had still to be discussed.

When contacted, Mr Caruana said the proposal for his removal was driven by the fact that he ensured everything was done by the book. “I’ve been executive secretary of this council for almost eight years... I always insisted things be carried out according to law. It seems he (the mayor) is interpreting this as a personal attack... It seems he does not like that I do things the right way,” Mr Caruana said.

He said Mr Calleja’s proposed motion was forwarded to him, as executive secretary, on October 20 after it was seconded by Nationalist Party councillor John Baptist Camilleri.

According to local council procedure, a motion has first to go through the executive secretary in order to include it on the agenda so that the councillors – nine in this case – can have their say.

The executive secretary is the executive, administrative and financial head of the council whose duties include preparing the agenda for the council meeting.