P.G. Mayor upset over councillors’ advances on stipends

Municipal elections for towns and city councils are about a month and a half away on March fourth and the political sparring is well underway. All the way from the southern most district, Carlos “Obeah” Galvez, Mayor of Punta Gorda, visited our studios loaded with documents to bolster his point of alleged wrongdoings. The P.G. council is split, Mayor Galvez is from the People’s United Party and the rest of the Council is from the United Democratic Party. The mayor says that some councilors, including the deputy mayor, acted illegally when they got advances of their stipend without his authority. The Mayor sat down with News Five’s Jose Sanchez to explain why those advances in his words, are contrary to the town council act and illegal.

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez, Mayor, P.G.
“On the nineteenth of December Deputy Mayor Rene’ Pennil disbursed to himself two cheques in the amount of twenty-two hundred dollars. Deputy Mayor stipend and councilor stipend are due at the end of the month. However—and his stipend due is eleven hundred per month—he has gone ahead, disbursed to himself twenty-two hundred dollars and the twenty-fourth of December disbursed another twelve hundred dollars to himself, a total of three thousand four hundred in six days. This is mismanagement, this is no accountability, there’s no transparency.”

Jose Sanchez
“That stipend money, when would it have been due by if it’s the last payment? When would have been the last payment be due, to the end of February?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“The first stipend is disbursed December nineteenth; the stipend is due at the end of December.”

Jose Sanchez
“So in all it totaled to the end of February.”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“Yes, when the council dissolve on the twenty-eighth of February.”

Jose Sanchez
“He referred to the money as an advance so that he did not take any money that would have been coming to him. Did he?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“No, no, the point is the funds have been disbursed illegally.”

Jose Sanchez
“Why illegally? Who signs these cheques?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“The accounting regulation, section thirty-two, is stipulating that the accounting officer is the mayor, the mayor must approve all vouchers thereafter any two of the three named individuals particularly, the mayor, administrator, or the deputy mayor then signs the cheques.”

Jose Sanchez
“Who signed the vouchers?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“The vouchers are being signed by the deputy mayor, Rene Penil.”

Jose Sanchez
“He’s not allowed to do it?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“He is not authorized to do it unless the mayor is sick or on leave. That is according to the town council act.”

Jose Sanchez
“So you are saying the deputy mayor is going against your wishes?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“He is not going against my wishes, but he is also going against the accounting regulation that governs the Town Council and against the act that we must abide by.”

Jose Sanchez
“But you do concede it’s not stealing of money, its money that would eventually come to them by the end of February.”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“Yes, but the fact of the matter is that it has been done illegally. There’s another case where on the fifth of September…”

Jose Sanchez
“As the mayor don’t you think people will hold you accountable for the doings of your council, if they are taking their pay in advance?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“No, the deputy mayor signs himself and the administrator signs.”

Jose Sanchez
“So you got two of the three. If you have two of the three signatures how can you say it is illegal when you have the correct signatures on the document?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“It is illegal because the stipend is due at the end of the month.”

Jose Sanchez
“Are you running for reelections?”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“Certainly I’m running for reelection.”

Jose Sanchez
“If you are running for reelection, then don’t you think that it’s showing that you don’t have control over the council and it’s your council? You are the mayor.”

Carlos “Obeah” Galvez
“What is good to know and this is a fact, that the issues explained to the public now… previously when we took office, this is a reoccurrence more of the same.”

Galvez also spoke about a former councilor whose signature was not removed from the Council’s Bank account and he cited irregularities he found in the disbursement of fuel. It is known that an audit has not been done of the town council accounts since 1989.