Email

Print

So, while the Mayor moves on from that mis-step, he has a different kind of headache coming his way. 

As we told you, an attorney for City Administrator Candice Miller has written a letter to the Mayor demanding that he retract the suspension he placed her on 3 weeks ago. 

The Mayor's issue is with a 6-thousand-dollar payment for food and beverages made by Joe Bradley, the former Mayor's father, and a former City Council employee. With council funds, he made payment for food and beverages from a restaurant across the street, and the payment was authorized by the City Administrator.

As we told you, Miller's attorney asserts that her suspension letter never specified what kind of "misconduct" or "neglect" she was being suspended for. All it said that it was for "authorizing payment for expenses incurred by an employee while not engaged in the business of the council".

Miller's attorney warned that if she did not hear from the mayor or the council by Monday, they would file a lawsuit against City Hall.  No response was forthcoming, so the suit is proceeding.  

So, we asked the Mayor about how he intends to handle this impending litigation. Here's what he had to say:

Daniel Ortiz
"Have you received the letter, have you seen it?"

Bernard Wagner - Belize City Mayor
"We have received the letter and we have forwarded it to our attorneys and our attorneys will look at it and we'll get back to them following our attorneys looking over that letter."

Daniel Ortiz
"It seems as it's on its way to court, the city administrator is going to sue you and the city council. Are you gearing up or preparing for that?"

Bernard Wagner
"We'll discuss that issue at a later date but the letter is in the hands of our attorneys and we'll take it from there."

Daniel Ortiz
"What's your position on her assertion that the suspension is unlawful? Do you maintain that you did everything - you followed the rules as you're supposed to in relation to how you handled this disciplinary action?"

Bernard Wagner
"Daniel I want to leave it at that. We have received her letter, that is in our attorneys hands now and we just leave it at that."

Reporter
"Would you say that the decision taken was based on the advice of legal councilors on your part initially?"

Bernard Wagner
"All our decision has legal implication, we followed our attorneys every step of the way."

Reporter
"Has this created untenable relationship between you and the second person in charge of Belize City? She's coming back at the end of the month, at the end of her suspension. What's that relationship going to be like between her and yourself?"

Bernard Wagner
"Well, like I said we received the letter, we have forwarded it to our attorneys, we'll seek their advice and we'll get back to her."