My email jiminysimpson@gmail.com

My email jiminysimpson@gmail.com

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Andreas' Baby Next Pleno

Some good news Andreas' wife is back home from hospital with their new baby 'Lucy' born last Friday and weighing in at 3.2kgs. Both mother and baby well.

Spent a bit of time this morning with Ana and Candido covering issues to put on the agenda for the next Pleno. Items to be dealt with include the Budget for 2011 and the approval of the accounts for 2009. Also an agreement to cover Candido's role.

We also agreed to hold regular meetings of all councillors each Friday at 5.0pm. There is to be an event which will be published on Facebook at the Theatre in Zurgena on 4th December at 6.0pm and an beneficial dance in the Renfe on the 16th December time not yet decided. Will post more when known.



Thursday, November 24, 2011

Contracts

Just to let you know that the contracts which we are currently awaiting sign off for which include the tarmac surfacing of Avenida Poetas and the tarmac surfacing of the road between Los Llanos and Almajalejo only require signing by the mayor and forwarding to the Diputacion. Unfortunately due tot he mess that PSOE made of the accounts there is no money left in this years budget for these to be done before next year but they should be the first to receive authorisation in the new year.

There has been a hiccup with the Wifi in the past couple of days. They are working on the problem.

The contractors who have been doing the infrastructure for the bowling green were due to meet the Candido regarding the sign of for the completion of this stage today. As they have not done some other things we specified within the contract. Once that is completed the Town Hall will consider when and how to approve the next stage of the work.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

New Post Boxes

Just to keep you up to date (in case I have missed you off the email lists) the next 3 banks of post boxes for Los Menchones, Los Llanos del Peral and the extended one for Cuesta de los Pinos, are due to be delivered today. I will endeavour to have them all installed tomorrow or at the latest over the weekend. I will be outside La Vida to issue the keys for the Cuesta de los Pinos and Los Llanos ones from 11.0am until 1.0 or 2.0pm on Saturday 19th. Los Menchones will be sorted by Phil over there.

When I issue the keys I will give you a slip with the address for the box (it is just like having a postal box and they have been working well for the existing owners) and a note of what to put on a sticker inside your box to assist the post staff.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Council Communications

Our new Mayor has decided to run a regular column in the local press regarding TH activities and I think this is a great idea which should help us all. I have not yet and, due to his accident, may not for some time be able to discuss with him the best way to ensure that we don't duplicate or worse give differing versions of activities etc within the Town Hall. We are also working on making the Town Hall website much more informative.

In order that we don't stand on each others toes I will continue to act as your councillor and raise issues that are of importance with the appropriate councillor/s. I will also feed back, through this site, information which I feel is worthwhile communicating. This will be in addition to any information which Kiko wishes to communicate.

To that end (and only because someone outside of the council took the time to tell me, thats another issue) I can let you know that there is a meeting organised for Friday evening 18th November at the Town Hall at 4.0pm entitled  Learn your rights as a utilities consumer. To learn more about various issues relating to water, electricity & gas services. I understand that this has been organised by Sampo and John Hare. I do not have any more information on this but if you have any queries regarding this let me know and I will pass on to Sampo or John.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Mayor Update

Attended the Remembrance day service at the church in Zurgena yesterday. Felt sorry for Mick Gardiner and his team as the priest could not attend, due to an emergency, but they managed very well. There was a good turnout and I attended with Candido (representing PA) and Sampo (representing PP). Received an update on Kiko's state of treatment. He has had to have 3 titanium plates inserted in his arm and shoulders, which shows the severity of the injuries he sustained.

I have been contacting a number of people whose names were sent by the Junta to confirm they are still owners of or residents of property entitled to be on the padron. A few who I was unable to speak to directly I left messages on their phones. So if you get a garbled message from me it was probably just asking you to call into the Town Hall with passprot or NIE to confirm that you should still be on the padron. One name I was unable to contact was Leonard Mason of Calle Narciso. If you know Mr Mason please ask him to pop into the TH.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Mayors Accident

I am indebted to Linda and Dave Lewis for the following information. I have confirmed the following with the Town Hall
Apparently late yesterday morning our Mayor, Kiko, together with another worker, were using a cherry picker to deal with signage and as they were working at some height, the cherry picker basket itself became detached from the crane and fell to the ground. both Kiko and Anthonio (a PP member) were seriously injured and an air ambulance attended the scene. It was there for 45 minutes before lifting them to Almeria Hospital where they are both said to be comfortable. Kiko has numerous cuts to his head it is suspected that he has broken both his arms. They have had to operate on his elbow. Anthonio has a badly broken ankle.
Will keep you posted on how he is doing.

Dirty Dog (owners)

I and the Town Hall are receiving an increasing number of complaints regarding people walking their dogs and allowing them to defecate in areas close to private houses. There is in existence in Spain a bye law which means that anyone found allowing their dog to do so attracts a fine of between €50 and €150.
It is not that we do not have enough problems with feral dogs but, for individuals to fail to pick up their dogs mess, is exceedingly thoughtless and of course also give rise to potential health issues.

Please, if you walk your dogs in or near any houses,  pick up any mess your dog makes and dispose of it in the basuras. It is not asking much and enhances our areas of residence.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Lights and bits

Candido is (as councillor for Public Works) working his way through the list of street lights not working and a few areas have already been completed. In some cases it is down to the installing company and others the T.H. but there are still some areas not yet formally adopted which are in the responsibility of the original builder.
Whilst I was in the Town Hall doing some work on Thursday I discovered that the fist of the acceptance letters (for IBI) from the Diputacion have been received by some residents. This is earlier than we had thought but it is good to know that they are now processing the files.
I am now aware that Partido Populare have appointed two coordinators to act as liaison between the expat community and our new Mayor and there party. They are John Hare 697255644 and Nicola Blade 666023776. I assume that their role will be to facilitate issues between the expat community and PP and our new Mayor.
I will continue to report as a council member and assist in the same way as the past 4 years but you may feel that certain issues are better directed to the PP coordinators. To assist you in deciding who best to contact it may help if I list the roles performed by PA in the coalition, we hold the offices responsible for Public Works (Candido) Social and Sports etc (Noelia) 3rd Age (myself) and Salvadore (having completed the work on compiling the IBI files) is now responsible for one of the most important roles. He has to sign off payments with the Mayor.
All other issues eg Galasa, Planning etc are the responsibility of PP councillors.
As usual any queries just let me know.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Cuesta de los Pinos Court Case

Anthonio of New Horizons was keen for me to call into his office today to collect a copy of the court ruling from the Appeal Court in Granada.


The court ruling is one I have referred to before but, I think Anthonio wanted me to publicise the fact that the case, regarding the 63 building licences granted by the Town Hall of Zurgena on 16.02.07, 28.10.04, 3.02.05, 10.2.05, 30.4.05, 7.10.05 and 18.2.06 were won by the Town Hall for various reasons. Additionally the costs of the appeal were awarded against the Junta de Andalucia. I have a copy of the court ruling if anyone wishes to view it. No appeal is known to have been lodged against this ruling and as it was in June time has expired for such an action.