Despite the procedural illegality of the no-confidence motion which led to Linden Town Clerk Jonellor Bowen being removed from her post, a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has recommended that she be permanently reassigned, since her temperament and attitude may lead to further stymieing of the work of the council.
One of the primary concerns of the CoI, according to the report seen by Stabroek News, was the manner in which the Town Clerk handled paperwork related to a European Union grant of over $115 million. Bowen failed to sign important documents needed by the bank in a timely manner and the council lost the grant, which had been earmarked for solid waste management.
The Linden Town Council on July 27, 2016 passed a no-confidence motion against Bowen. This was the third such motion brought against Bowen and the second by the current council.
However, Bowen remained on the job until October, 2016 when the Mayor Carwyn Holland sent her on administrative leave, pending the report of the CoI set up by Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan. The CoI was tasked with investigating all complaints and matters raised by the Mayor and Town Council (M&TC) regarding Bowen’s performance, as well as the no-confidence motion brought against her.
Bowen had argued that the motion was illegal since it did not conform to the conditions as set out in the Municipal and District Council’s Act. The council had accused Bowen of malicious attempts to stymie the development of the municipality and bring the council into disrepute.
After five hearings held between September 1 and 19, 2016 the commission, led by former regional chairman Mortimer Mingo, recommended that Bowen be reassigned to another post in the Ministry of Communities.
In presenting its findings the commission noted that “from the evidence presented it was clear that very little was being done at the time of the investigation in terms of serving the Linden community” because of the impasse between the Town Clerk and the council.
In responding to allegations that she had refused to sign the document necessary for the EU grant, Bowen claimed she did not understand the document because it was vague, but was prepared to sign it once Permanent Secretary Emile McGarrell explained it to her. She also stated that she was unaware of any time frames related to the signing. She did not, however, deny being informed by Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindel about the grant; that Arrindel had approached her on more than one occasion about the grant and that she had explained the document to her.
In light of this information the commission concluded that was clear that Bowen did not make an effort to do her part to ensure that the grant was obtained for the benefit of the community.
It also concluded that the manner in which she handled the gratuity, pensions and NIS remittances for council employees was concerning. Several retired workers of the council approached the Ministry of Social Protection after a delay in the payment of their entitlements, a matter which was not brought to the attention of the council and which was taken to the court.
Additionally though the NIS Inspector, a Miss Tappin had attempted to contact the Town Clerk to work out a schedule of payment, she was slow in addressing the matter and could give no date or time when she had met with the relevant parties to deal with the matters.
Further the CoI noted that the Town Clerk had not properly presented the council’s position on important issues especially when those issues were potentially contentious and involved the reputation of the council. One such issue was how the toll booth at Kara Kara would be operated. The distorted information presented by the Town Clerk, according to the M&TC, “caused members of the public to become irate with the council.”
Bowen was also found to have regularly provided to the council minutes which were of generally poor quality in terms of spelling, grammar, expression and which had several inaccuracies. She was also upbraided for releasing “confidential information to the public.”
In addition to Bowen’s transfer, the CoI also recommended that the Mayor, councillors and employees of the council receive consistent training to improve their work attitude and performance; that salaries be improved at the town council so that more suitably qualified persons can fill important jobs, that the salary of the position of Town Clerk be greatly improved so that suitably qualified persons will have an incentive to do the job, that new councillors receive special training to better understand their roles and functions, that each council department be assigned at least one computer and that a few affordable suitable recorders be obtained to assist in the accuracy of minutes.
The CoI comprised Mingo, former regional executive officer Basil Benn and attorney Leslyn Charles.
