Sliema Mayor Johanna Gonzi said this afternoon that she will convene a meeting of the council probably on Monday to discuss and reply to a formal notice issued by the prime minister warning that the council would be dissolved unless long-standing problems were resolved.
Reacting to comments given earlier to timesofmalta.com by councillor Cyrus Engerer, Dr Gonzi regretted that he had tried to give the impression that she was somewhat unreachable or hiding.
"I was in contact with the council secretary yesterday evening and this morning. I received just one phone call from councillor Sandra Aquilina late yesterday, which I did not answer because the phone was silent, and two calls in quick succession from Mr Engerer this morning at around 10.38 which I could not answer because I was in theatre," Dr Gonzi said.
"I am certainly not hiding, I am in Malta and I am working," Dr Gonzi said.
Earlier , Mr Engerer said Sliema councillors and the council's executive secretary have been unable to contact the Mayor since the prime minister's dissolution warning yesterday, and they have now taken it upon themselves to convene an urgent meeting.
He said today that he and other councillors, as well as the secretary, had made various efforts to contact the Mayor, by phone and e-mail, in order to ask her to convene the meeting.
Once there was no reply, five of the councillors, in terms of the law, wrote to the executive secretary asking him to call the meeting instead.
Mr Engerer said that as far as he knew, the Mayor is in Malta.
In the formal notice yesterday, the council was given 10 days to iron out long-standing issues or face dissolution.
Mr Engerer said he could not understand why this warning was issued now, when the council was starting to function properly, and not a year ago, when the problems were at their height.
He suspected there could be other motives, especially as it would be more convenient for the Nationalist Party to have the election in Sliema held now, giving it back its majority ahead of the general election.
The PN lost its comfortable majority as several of its councillors turned independent amid various allegations and court cases. The council, however, is still presided by a Nationalist Mayor Gonzi, who succeeded Niki Dimech.
Mr Engerer said it was only ethical that the prime minister's notice was acted upon by the council with urgency, hence the need for the meeting, which is likely to be held tomorrow.
He said that most of the councillors agreed on the holding of the urgent meeting. The letter was signed by himself, Nicolai Gauci (PL) Marianna Aquilina (PL) , Sandra Camilleri, independent former PN and Patrick Pace, independent former PN, because they were available to quickly sign the request.
The acting executive secretary of the Sliema council, Paul Gatt, categorically denied he made various efforts to contact the mayor.
"Today I did not send any emails to the mayor except for the notice of the meeting to be held on Monday 9th.
"There was also just one unsuccessful telephone call from my end to the mayor following the receipt of the request for the urgent meeting. I do realise that, the nature of the mayor’s profession does not always make it possible for her to answer the telephone calls immediately and, therefore, I sent her an SMS to call me later which she did within a few minutes."