Pleno Drama

We held a Plenary session of the council today at Zurgena. Due to start at 12noon but as usual late starting at 12.30pm. It was attended by all 4 PSOE councillors, Ana as acting Mayoress, Sampo as deputy with all 4 PA councillors. As usual the meeting was opened by the Mayoress and the first point of order being the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. This at first drew an objection from PSOE regarding one point which Ana accepted and agreed to amend. Then Luis (PSOE) raised an issue regarding councillors rights to be respected and heard during Plenary meetings. It seemed to me that this had been explained by Ana (as the effective chair) of the meeting as to how many people from a political party could raise points etc during a Pleno.

We then moved onto Point 1 of the agenda, which was the approval of the Presupuesto General de Zurgena for 2011. Once this point was opened PSOE raised an objection through Maria Jose which related to Candido. He replied and as far as I could make out Ana was then asking Sampo to respond on behalf of PP however, Luis seemed to take exception to not being allowed to speak at that particular junction and, following a grandstanding display, he and the other PSOE councillors walked out at 12.43pm only 12 minutes into the meeting!

This left us to continue the Pleno without any PSOE councillors, which was as we are obliged to do. We then discussed a number of other points one of interest was the contract to take over the lands and buildings owned by ADIF (the railway authority). This is necessary for all councils in the valley to comply with the agreed Green Route  besides other financial concerns. This was obviously agreed. It was also interesting to note that the PSOE party had a motion tabled regarding reducing the fees chargeable by the Town Hall for market stall holders, but as they were no longer in the meeting Candido proposed it and we agreed it!

For information Andreas will be back to work this Friday but I guess he will be busy. I have already booked him so that I can clarify some matters so I suggest that if you business in the Town Hall that you prefer to resolve through Andreas you leave it until next week.

The meeting ended at 1.05pm.A bit earlier than of late!

Kids Day

Was asked if I would assist today at a kids event in the Town Hall and agreed.

It was quite interesting as the local primary school, sent along 50 kids with their teachers for a lesson on local government. The kids were addressed by Kiko, Candido and Ana who explained the workings of the Town Hall and the structure of government in Spain. The Polizia Local also were present and did a presentation on their roles. After questions from the kids, some quite difficult ones, they elected their own council and pretended to hold a plenary session with discussion and votes. They seemed to enjoy it. Or maybe it was because they all got a big bag of sweets after.

We apparently as a Town Hall have to entertain a meeting of all the Mayors and Deputy Mayors from all the Town Halls of the Mancomunidad of Almanzora on Friday. Hope I can make it but may be busy with the Post boxes if Matt and I cannot get the locks changed tomorrow which now seems unlikely.

I did pass the latest list of non functioning street lights to Candido.

Governing Councillors Meeting

Ana, who is standing in for Kiko whilst he is off injured, called a meeting today for the councillors of the coalition for 1.0pm today. I was already going to be in the office today due to a new list of random checks from the Padron list needing to be done. ( see below).

Our meeting started at 1.15pm and Ana had quite a list of issues for us to discuss. I was obviously hampered by not having Andreas with me, due to him being on paternity leave. It therefore made it very hard work for me to keep up in understanding what was being said. I managed for most of the meeting but towards the end when tempers and arguments became more heated and the speed of conversation increased I lost it. So I will have to catch up later. In the main we were in agreement with what to discuss and progress at the next Pleno but there was obvious disagreements about some of our projects towards the end, although I believe the mini golf (amongst other things) is going ahead. I left at just before 3.0pm.

Regarding the Padron list (this is a random list generated by the Junta every 6-12 months which each Town Hall is sent for verification that those named should still be on the Padron, for funding purposes) I have managed to contact most of the people on the list however, those named (surname first) below I was unable to contact, or I am unsure whether they will get my message. If you know of any of the people please ask them (if they still have a property here) to pop into the Town Hall with their NIE or passport to confirm that they should still be on the padron, when next they are passing.
Aldridge Pamela Mary,Arnold David John, Baber Karen Ann, Barr Natalie Helen, Bunting Adele, Calway Ann, Coxon Lee John, Chick Noel, Dodsworth Stephen John & Julie, Gillam Peter Anthony, Goulder Micheal Richard, Hartley Christopher John & Sarah, Hembery Anthony Michael& Jennifer, Hodgkiss Melvin George & Yvonne, Holmes Richard Anthony, Jeffcott Dorothy, Kerswell Peter John &Valerie, McCarthy Susan, McGrory Daniel, MacPherson Jamie Richard, Miller Beryl Anne & David, Morgan Deborah Jane & Keith, Neal Margaret Ellen & Robert, Payne Anthony Ronald & Sharon, Reld Peter Derrick, Senior Jack,&Cynthia, Scott Dawn Patricia & Paul, Thomas Donald Sean & Rachel, Trimby Joan & John. Apologies if these people have already been contacted (as I discovered whilst going through my list that 20% I had already contacted!)

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.

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.

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.

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.