Former Linden Mayor and current Member of Parliament Sharma Solomon is calling for a formal investigation into the conduct of Linden Town Clerk Lennox Gasper, accusing him of misrepresenting a decision of the Linden Mayor and Town Council in correspondence to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).
The call follows a letter dated August 14, 2026 to CH&PA from Gasper identifying himself as the Council’s representative to the CH&PA Planning Board. It states that “the Council at its Statutory Meeting held on August 5, 2026, has made a decision” for Gasper to serve as the representative to the Planning Board.
However, Solomon yesterday challenged this claim, saying the Council’s August 5 statutory meeting, its official minutes and other records show that no nomination, seconding or vote was taken to appoint Gasper.
Solomon has therefore described the correspondence as a “misrepresentation” of a Council decision that he says was never made. Gasper could not be reached by Kiskadee Watch yesterday for comment.
In a statement addressed to the Mayor and Councillors, Solomon said his concerns arose following engagements with the Chairman and Secretary of the CH&PA Board recently where he was informed that correspondence from the CH&PA dated July 8, which required the Council’s consideration, was instead answered by the Town Clerk without the matter first being brought before the elected Council.
According to Solomon, the process for selecting a Council representative to an external statutory body requires the nominee to be identified through the Council, properly nominated and seconded, and approved through a recorded vote. He argued that the Town Clerk’s role is to facilitate decisions made by the Council and not to create or make those decisions himself.
“The Town Clerk serves the Council; he does not constitute the Council,” Solomon said.
Solomon said the matter is particularly concerning because of the Town Clerk’s involvement in the administration of building, housing and development matters within Linden. He alleged that Gasper’s “many walk-outs” from committee meetings and failure to keep meetings have contributed to delays in the Council’s consideration of building plans.
He further said that the Town Clerk had previously forwarded matters to CH&PA before the Council had an opportunity to consider them. “These are serious questions about administrative accountability and the authority of elected councillors,” Solomon said.
Solomon further said that following his interventions, the CH&PA at its first meeting of the newly constituted Board withdrew Gasper’s August 14 correspondence and requested that the Linden Town Council undertake the proper process to identify its representative.
Solomon called for disciplinary action if an investigation establishes that the Town Clerk knowingly misrepresented a Council decision, acted outside his authority or deliberately circumvented the elected Council.
“Subject to the applicable municipal, employment and legal requirements, the Council should consider sanctions up to and including dismissal where the established facts and applicable rules warrant such action,” Solomon said.
He stressed that the issue should not be treated as a personal dispute but as a matter concerning the integrity of municipal administration and the authority of elected representatives.
The Town Clerk and the Linden council have clashed frequently.
Discussion