A majority of Sliema councillors said today that they would write to the prime minister urging the government not to dissolve the council, as it had warned it would do because of long-standing problems.

The councillors, speaking after an emergency meeting, said the council was now working well and the problems that existed in the past were rooted in implementation, rather than decision-making. Some of them welcomed the fact that the executive secretary has been changed.

The councillors said they would submit to the government a work programme prepared for the council by Cyrus Engerer, as well as the minutes of today’s meeting.

Nationalist councillors Julian Galea and Edward Cuschieri disagreed with the majority and said the candidates should seek a fresh mandate after the problems the council had been through.

Mayor Johanna Gonzi (Nationalist)   abstained.   

The majority of the councillors praised new secretary Paul Gatt and also complained that they had never seen a report on Sliema council prepared by the Department of Local Government and mentioned by the government in its warning that the council could be dissolved.