GROUP
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
Municipal Corporations Chap. 25:04
12. (1) Save for the requirement that Councillors be residents or owners of property within a Municipality,Aldermen shall be persons who qualify to be Councillors and who possess demonstrated knowledge, expertise or experience in professional or vocational occupations suitable to the development focus of the Municipality. (2) The number of Aldermen to be elected to the Council of each Corporation shall be as set out in the Third Schedule, or in the Order made pursuant to section 5(2); but the number of Aldermen to be elected to the Council of each Corporation referred to in the Second Part of the Second Schedule shall be two in number. (3) In the case of a Municipal Corporation other than a City or Borough, at least one Alderman shall be elected from qualified persons who are members of a Village or Community Council functioning within the Municipality. (4) Aldermen shall be elected by the Councillors, so however, that a person who has been elected as a Councillor shall not be elected as an Alderman. (5) The term of office of Aldermen shall be three years and they shall retire together on the last day of every triennial period, the first of which shall be deemed to have begun on the day on which the Councillors were elected to office. (6) An Alderman who is elected to fill a vacancy shall hold office until the time when the Alderman whose vacant seat he filled would have gone out of office through effluxion of time. 13. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the election of Aldermen shall be held at a meeting of the Council convened for that purpose no more than ten days after the day on which the Councillors were elected to office and at this meeting of which the Chief Executive Officer shall be the Chairman, the business to be transacted shall be—
(a) firstly, the production to the Chief Executive Officer by each Councillor of the copy of the declaration of his election as a Councillor delivered to him by the Returning Officer in accordance with the Election Rules made under the Representation of the People Act; 25 Number, qualification and term of office of Aldermen. Third Schedule. Second Schedule.
UNOFFICIAL VERSION UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2012 Election of Aldermen. [13of2003]. Ch. 2:01. L.R.O. MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
26 Method of election.
Chap. 25:04
(2)
Municipal Corporations Ch. 2:01.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
(b) (c) (a) a Councillor may vote for any number of persons not exceeding the number of vacancies by filing in, signing and personally delivering to the Chief Executive Officer, a voting paper containing the surnames and other names and the place of abode and descriptions of the persons for whom he votes; .
(b) the Chief Executive Officer, as soon as all the voting papers have been handed to him, shall openly produce and read them or cause them to be read, and, after declaring the result of the election, shall keep them for twelve months in a sealed envelope and at the end of that time he shall destroy them;
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(c) the persons, not exceeding the number of vacancies, who are found to have the most votes, shall be declared to be, and shall thereupon be elected Aldermen of the Corporation;
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(d) in the case of an equality of votes, the meeting shall determine by lot which of the persons obtaining such equal votes shall be elected as Aldermen.
secondly,the taking of the oath of office by those Councillors who have made and subscribed the declaration of acceptance of office and are in attendance at the meeting; thirdly, the election of Aldermen. At the election of Aldermen the following shall apply:
(3) not be rendered void by reason of the fact that any Councillor present and voting in an election held under either of these sections is later held under the Representation of the People Act not to have been elected to office as such Councillor or to be otherwise disqualified. (4) Where a vacancy occurs in the office ofAlderman,the Council shall, within thirty days of the occurrence of the vacancy being reported to it in writing by the Chief Executive Officer, hold a meeting for the purpose of electing a person to fill the vacancy. UNOFFICIAL VERSION UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2012
An election under this section or under section 15 shall LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
Municipal Corporations Chap. 25:04
(5) At any election under subsection (4), the provisions of subsection (2) shall apply, except that— .
(a) in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2), the reference to the Chief Executive Officer shall be construed as a reference to the Mayor or Deputy Mayor, as the case may be; and
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(b) in paragraph (b) there shall be substituted for the words beginning with “keep them” to the end of that paragraph, the words “deliver them to the Chief Executive Officer to be kept for twelve months in a sealed envelope and at the end of that time the Chief Executive Officer shall destroy them”.
14. (1) The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of a Corporation shall be elected from among the Aldermen and the Councillors of that Corporation. (2) The election of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor of a Corporation shall be held at a meeting of the Council convened for that purpose on the third day next following that on which the election of Aldermen has been held and, save for the taking of the oath of office by any Aldermen elected
under section 13 and by any newly elected Councillors who have not done so previously, no business other than the election of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor and the appointment of the Standing and other Committees of the Council shall be transacted on that day. (3) The election of the Mayor and of the Deputy Mayor shall be by motion duly seconded and shall be presided over by a Councillor or an Alderman who is not a candidate for the office of Mayor or Deputy Mayor. 15. (1) The Mayor shall hold office for a term which shall be the same as that of the Councillors and Aldermen. (2) unless the Mayor resigns or ceases to be qualified or becomes disqualified or is removed from office in accordance with this Act, he shall continue in office until his successor in office has accepted office and has made and subscribed the appropriate declaration. 27 UNOFFICIAL VERSION UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2012 Term of office and honorarium of Mayor.
 [8 of 1992]. L.R.O. Election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
28 Removal of Mayor as Chairman. Honoraria and allowances. Convenor. Regulations prescribing allowances payable to holders of corporate office. Transitional holders of corporate office to continue to hold office until election. Mayor and Deputy Mayor to be Justices of the Peace.
 [8 of 1992].
Chap. 25:04 Municipal Corporations
16. A Mayor shall be removed as Chairman of a Council upon the resolution passed by the Council and supported by the votes of not less than three-fourths of all the members of the Council. 17. (1) The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors shall receive such honoraria as may be prescribed out of the ordinary revenues of the Corporation in equal monthly instalments at the end of each month. (2) The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of a Corporation shall be paid out of the ordinary revenues of the Corporation such allowance as may be prescribed. (3) The Chairman-Convenor of a committee of the Council of a Corporation shall be paid out of the ordinary revenues of the Corporation such allowance as may be prescribed in respect of the performance of his duties as such. 18. The President may, subject to negative resolution of Parliament, make Regulations for the purposes of section 17. 19. (1) Each Alderman or Councillor elected before and holding office in a Corporation at the commencement of this Act shall, so long as he continues to be qualified to hold such office under this Act, hold office in that Corporation until the date when he would have ceased to hold office if this Act had not been passed. (2) Each Mayor or Deputy Mayor, elected before and holding office in a Corporation at the commencement of this Act shall continue to hold the respective office in that Corporation until the date when he would have ceased to hold such office if this Act had not been passed. 20. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of a Corporation shall by virtue of their offices be Justices of the Peace for the Municipality and shall, unless disqualified for re-election to their respective offices, continue to be Justices of the Peace during the year next after they cease to be Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively. UNOFFICIAL VERSION UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2012
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
Municipal Corporations Chap. 25:04
21. (1) The Deputy Mayor of a Corporation shall hold office during the term of office of the Mayor, and, in case of absence or illness of the Mayor, shall have authority to exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties vested in and imposed upon the Mayor under and by virtue of this Act; and all things done, exercised, or suffered by the Deputy Mayor as aforesaid shall be as valid and effectual in all respects as if they had been done, exercised, or suffered by the Mayor. (2) Whenever the Deputy Mayor discharges the duties of the Mayor for seven consecutive days or more, he shall, during that period, be entitled to be paid the honorarium and the allowances relating to the office of Mayor. (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), there shall be no abatement of the honorarium and allowances payable to the Mayor during his absence from office where such absence does not exceed a period of thirty days in the aggregate during any term of one year. (4) In the event of the death, resignation, removal or disqualification of the Mayor for any cause, the Deputy Mayor shall forthwith succeed to the office of Mayor, and shall continue in such office until the date when the Mayor would have gone out of office by effluxion of time. (5) In the event of the Deputy Mayor succeeding to the office of Mayor under subsection (4) or, in the event of the death, resignation or disqualification of the Deputy Mayor for any cause, the Council may appoint to the office of Deputy Mayor an Alderman or Councillor who shall hold such office until the date when the Deputy Mayor whom he succeeded would have gone out of office by effluxion of time. (6) If the Mayor is dead or absent or otherwise in capable of acting in the exercise of his powers and duties under this Act or any other written law, and the Deputy Mayor is also incapable of acting for any of the reasons herein before specified, the Council shall forthwith elect an Alderman or Councillor to exercise those powers and duties in place of the Mayor for such term not exceeding the period after which the Mayor would have gone out of office by effluxion of time, as the Council may, by resolution, determine. 29
DeputyMayor to act for Mayor.
UNOFFICIAL VERSION UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2012 L.R.O.
LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS www.legalaffairs.gov.tt
30 Penalty refusing to accept office. Ch. 28:02.
Chap. 25:04 Municipal Corporations
22. (1) Every qualified person elected to a corporate office, unless exempt under this section or otherwise by law, either shall accept the office by making and subscribing the declaration required by this Act within five days after notice of election, or shall, in lieu thereof, be liable to pay to the Corporation to which he has been elected, a fine of four thousand dollars. (2) The persons exempt under this section are: .
(a) any person who is mentally ill within the meaning of the Mental Health Act or who is deaf, blind or suffering from some other permanent infirmity of body; and
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(b) any person who, being above the age of sixty-five years, before the day of his election, either served in a corporate office or paid a fine for non- acceptance thereof, or having served in a corporate office or in different corporate offices for an aggregate period of six years, claims exemption within five days after notice of his election.
23. A fine payable to a Corporation under section 22 is recoverable as a civil debt. 24. (1) A person elected to a corporate office shall not act in that office until he makes a declaration before two members of the Council or the Chief Executive Officer in the form set out in the Fourth Schedule.
(2) The Council may, by resolution, require any person holding a corporate office under the Corporation to make a declaration in the form in the Fourth Schedule that he continues to be qualified to be a Councillor of the Corporation but no person shall be required to make such a declaration unless a period of at least six months has elapsed since his election as a Councillor or Alderman or since his last declaration under this section. 25. (1) A person elected to a corporate office may, at any time by writing signed by him and delivered to the Chief Executive Officer, resign the office on payment of the fine provided for non-acceptance of office.