The ex-deputy mayor of St Paul's Bay, Carlos Zarb, has gone to social media to say that the St Paul's Bay Local Council has missed its 15 December deadline to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) as instructed by law. As a result, he has reported this to the Director General for Local Government.

"It's barely been a year since the council changed in St Paul's Bay and we've already started breaking the law," Zarb wrote.

The youth politician stated that according to Maltese legislation - more specifically, Article 70(1) of the Local Government Act (Chapter 363) - local councils are obliged to call an Annual General Meeting by not later than 15 December.

Zarb described that during local council AGMs, financial estimates for the following year are presented and residents have an opportunity to make their voices heard and share any complaints they may have.

The former Labour Party councillor said that the locality's present mayor, PN mayor Ċensu Galea, definitely knows about this deadline, stating that "in the past, he would have been the first to take the opportunity, as it was within his right to criticize the council."

"The difference is that during that time, there was a Labour majority, but now the tables have turned and so the right he used to exercise must be denied to others," he said.

The ex-vice mayor highlighted the irony in the principles of transparency and good governance that were promoted during the local council election campaign and remarked that he has "no doubt" that "this fair criticism will somehow attempt to be justified or will be labelled an attack against him."

Zarb concluded his statement by saying that "the law is there to be observed" and that he has already informed the Director General for Local Government, Emil Vassallo, on this issue.

Zarb decided not to re-contest this past June's local council elections, publicizing this decision three months prior to the elections in early March. Zarb, who was voted in as St Paul's Bay's vice-mayor in 2019 at just 17 years old (making him the first person to be elected in the Maltese islands under the age of 18), cited ambitions to continue pursuing his career in the legal field and potentially even explore career opportunities abroad following the end of his studies at the University of Malta.

‘We wasted weeks finding a secretary,’ Director General was informed in advance – St. Paul’s Bay mayor Ċensu Galea

St. Paul’s Bay’s mayor, Ċensu Galea, has told The Malta Independent that the main issue behind the local council’s delays were inadvertently caused by their struggles to find an Executive Secretary to work for the local council.

The PN mayor also said that the Director General was told about the council’s situation at least four days before the stipulated deadline on December 15.

Mayor Galea stated that the local council was left without a working secretary as the previous one, who was of pensionable age, stepped down from his role due to his physical condition. As a result of his exit, the local council wasted many weeks until they found a replacement, the mayor told this newsroom.

Mayor Galea also told this newsroom that correspondence with the Director General had already been opened on this situation prior to Zarb’s actions as described earlier on Wednesday morning.

Reportedly, the former mayor of St. Paul’s Bay, now-PL-councillor Alfred Grima, informed the Director General via e-mail around a week before the stipulated deadline that the AGM had not yet been organised. The entire local council was copied in this e-mail thread.

Following this, mayor Galea explained the situation to the Director General in advance, at least four days before the stipulated 15 December deadline to hold the AGM.

Galea also told this newsroom that in this communication with DG Vassallo, it was agreed that the AGM will be held late, on 26 January 2025. The AGM’s details are yet to be publicly disclosed in full to the locality’s residents.