SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine – A Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor who reportedly migrated to the United States and missed six consecutive meetings of the St Catherine Parish Council (SCPC) is set to lose her council seat.

Natalie Campbell-Rodriques (Westchester division, Portmore, St Catherine), who the council say is absent without leave, last attended a council meeting in May this year.

According to SCPC secretary/manager Michael Morris, Campbell-Rodriques’ name has not appeared in the register of councillors attending SCPC monthly general meetings. Therefore, under section 104 of the Parish Council Act, she has automatically vacated her seat.

Dr Andrew Wheatley, SCPC chairman and mayor of Spanish Town, will declare the Westchester seat vacant at January’s monthly meeting.

At the December council meeting, PNP councillors called on the JLP-controlled council to declare Campbell-Rodriques’ seat vacant. But Morris informed the councillors that this month would be six months since Campbell-Rodriques had been absent without leave, and that the seat could not be declared vacant until the minutes recorded that she had been absent from six consecutive meetings.

Section 104 of the law says “the seat of an elected councillor of a parish council shall not be deemed to have been vacated, or to have become vacant until such vacancy shall have been entered on the minutes of such council, or until the Supreme Court shall have declared the seat to be vacant as hereinafter provided…”

But councillors rejected Morris’ explanation, arguing that since Campbell-Rodriques had been absent since May, it would be six months inclusive.

However, Morris explained that August would not be included, as the council was on recess. But he pointed out that if the councillor was absent from the December meeting, she would have been deemed to have vacated her seat under the law.

But when the December 14 meeting adjourned at 3:00 pm, Campbell-Rodriques was a no-show. Wheatley will therefore declare the seat vacant at the next meeting.

The 40-member SCPC is unique in that it is controlled by the JLP, with 22 seats to the PNP’s 18. It is, however, divided into two councils – the Portmore Municipality and the Spanish Town-based St Catherine Parish Council.

The Portmore Municipality is controlled by the PNP, with six councillors to the JLP’s five. It is headed by Mayor George Lee, while the Spanish Town council has 16 JLP councillors to the PNP’s 13.

Morris said that attendance at the Spanish Town council was mandatory for all councillors, as the SCPC did not recognise the municipality’s meeting.