Ist Pleno - Interesting!

Well today was the inaugural Plenary session of the new Administration for Zurgena and what an attendance there was. Given that, for the past 4 years, the average attendance of the public has averaged 1-2 persons, todays attendance of over 80 was quite an event. I was pleased to see a couple of expats there to! Andreas was a bit concerned at such a large crowd, but it worked out okay.

We had, as usual, a short pre meeting during which all points of the meeting were explained to me, to ensure that I was in agreement with our stance. This is the way we have worked for the past 4 years and I am glad we did.

Before the meeting started one of our opposition members, from PSOE, Luiz, approached and explained that there were no hard feelings about things which happened before and during the elections as it was only politics. I agreed and shook hands saying that that I understood and bore no bad feelings.

We worked through the agenda and agreed various positions etc The main ones of those being Hacienda - Salvadore, Galasa- Sampo, Public Works - Candido etc. The main purpose was to assign the roles for those bodies which are legally required and left the others to be dealt with by full Pleno meetings. It was also agreed that the full Council would sit at a minimum of once every 3 months. I will post a full list of roles and responsibilities later.

It was agreed that the role of Tesorero (eg the 3rd signature for all cheques etc for the Town Hall) would be Salvadore, (our No 2).

The opposition questioned whether Kiko was going to conduct a full Town Hall audit, as promised by PP prior to the election. Kiko responded by saying that he had found the Town Hall accounts to be in fine order and he did not think the Town Hall could afford the 30,000 euros it would cost to do something which, having seen the accounts, he felt was worthwhile.

During the meeting Maria Jose of PSOE, supported by Luiz, complained that, due to my lack of understanding of Spanish, I would be incompetent for holding any role within the Council and also that I could not understand any statements they (PSOE) were making during Plenary sessions. I suspect that she, and they, feel that I will be biased towards the expat community in any role I have. This could not be further from the truth of my intentions and hopefully I can disprove this attitude, during the next few months. The latter point I could see value in, but I doubt that they would entertain the only option I could suggest, which would be that they provide me, in advance, any issues they wish to be considered.

This suggestion , of my incompetence, was robustly refuted by Candido who, pleasingly for me, stated how much he had been impressed by my ability and effort over the past 4 years. That was nice. It does appear that I shall have a support role for security and a main role for the 3rd Age. In relation to the latter I will post separately some action I believe we need to take to balance things between expat elderly and local elderly.

Apart from the attack on my competence there was little that the opposition made any point on.

I thought Kiko did a good job of managing and controlling his first Pleno meeting.

After the meeting we (PP and PA) adjourned to the bar and I had the usual opportunity to get some particular points answered. Most of these points are particular to individuals so will not waste space here but contact the individuals directly.

I did however tell Candido that I would be compiling a list of street lights not working. He explained that there was a problem with the contracted maintenance company for the lights and he and Kiko need to discuss but if I supplied him with a list he would see what could be done. So those of you with a problem with lighting (except Calle Malta already noted) , please email me and I will let him have the details. Once I had done that he said that he would return the favour by asking me about things to do with the 3rd age.

Candido did ask that I mention the fact that there are activity classes at the municipal pool between 9am and 2.0pm and 8.0pm and 10pm each weekday for residents.

I also discovered that Candido is not taking any salary from the Town Hall, in his role as councillor for Public Services, and is now signing on at the employment office

I have been asked by the owner of the building, currently used as the Supermarket Bonillo, in the centre of Zurgena, to advertise the fact that this, 150 sq metres building premises, will soon be available for rent for any type of business. If anyone is interested please contact me and I can put them in touch with the appropriate person.