Hamilton Mayor Sutherland Madeiros used his power of veto last September and again in January this year — despite issuing a statement last week saying that no Mayor had ever done so.

Mr. Madeiros made his claim in a press statement last Wednesday — the day The Royal Gazette revealed that he voted behind closed doors on December 11 in favour of evicting Bermuda Society of Arts (BoSA) from City Hall, before publicly distancing himself from the decision.

The elected Mayor could have used his power of veto on that date to scupper the Corporation of Hamilton plan to force BoSA to leave City Hall after almost 50 years but chose not to do so.

In his press statement of January 30 — issued by public relations firm Troncossi — he said: "I had the choice of vetoing the proposal, something no other Mayor has ever done before, or acquiescing to the proposal.

"I chose the latter option, which in retrospect was a mistake."

The Royal Gazette has been asking Mr. Madeiros to clarify whether he has ever used the veto since last Thursday.

He failed to reply to emails and telephone messages and eventually Troncossi contacted us to say he would not be responding.

Last night we reached him by telephone, told him that we had uncovered evidence of him vetoing resolutions and asked him to explain his earlier statement.

He said: "At the moment you have caught me in a social situation. I'm really sorry, I don't think I can really comment right now. I can't really speak."

This newspaper has been shown Corporation minutes revealing that Mr. Madeiros vetoed a resolution last month, just weeks before saying no Mayor had ever done so.

He did the same thing to quash a resolution reprimanding him last autumn, three months before he voted on the BoSA plan.

He is believed to be the first Mayor to have ever used the veto, a power set out in the Municipalities Act 1923.

The Act, which governs the Corporation, states: "No act or resolution of a Corporation shall be valid unless it is assented to by not less than two aldermen and by the Mayor."

Mr. Madeiros used his power of veto on a third occasion but was persuaded by his aldermen to back down and it was never recorded in the Corporation minutes. The Royal Gazette's A Right to Know: Giving People Power campaign calls for publicly funded bodies such as the Corporation to open up their meetings to the public and publish minutes so elected officials can be held to account for their decisions.

According to the minutes seen by this newspaper, the first time the Mayor used the veto was at a meeting on September 18 last year.

A resolution was proposed that the members "deplore" a decision by him to send a letter which contradicted an earlier resolution.

Three councillors supported the resolution, as did aldermen David Dunkley and Courtland Boyle.

Councillor George Grundmuller abstained and the Mayor and Deputy Mayor William Black, also an alderman, voted against. At a meeting on January 8 this year, a proposal was put forward regarding a staffing issue.

It was supported by aldermen Dunkley and Boyle and councillors Graeme Outerbridge and Kathryn Gibbons. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor again voted against. The third example of him using the veto happened last autumn and involved a resolution about the appointment of auditors for the Corporation.

Members asked him to reconsider and after consultation with his aldermen he rescinded the veto.