Called into the Town Hall today to see if we had had any response yet to the requests for Certificates of Exopediente and guess what! No we haven't! I asked if we could try and put some pressure on the solicitors to do them and they suggested we did so next week. Its always next week!
Also failed to get hold of Salvadore, just missed him, to do the final checks on the inventory again a job for next week.
I was also making enquiries on behalf of someone who is to lose some of his land for the new motorway. Not only that, but the road building company want to expropriate his land up to one meter from his swimming pool! It looks like little can be done except to try and obtain the best level of compensation. He has a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning with the company but there is nothing that the Town Hall can do in this regard.
We got back from visiting the Valencia Fallas fiesta on Friday evening. A great fiesta but you really cannot sleep in the city during the fiesta, due to the constant fireworks. If anyone does go in the future be very aware of the pickpockets, one of our friends had his wallet stolen on the first day when we were in one of the many very crowded areas.
I had to attend a Pleno today at 10.0am. Don't know why I rushed to get there as usual it didn't start until 10.40am!
The majority of the meeting was to discuss the awarding of the contracts for such things as the gymnasium and the application for various grants. It is these applications that are taking up most of the Town Hall staffs time at the moment and is also the reason why I am having to delay progressing issues which we need to deal with. I apologise for these delays but I will try and get them sorted in the next few weeks.
The award of the contract for the gymnasium went to Construcciones Zurano who scored more points than any of the other bidders and were also the cheapest. They have indicated in their quote that they will complete the work within 5 to 6 months of being awarded the contract. This may also help with the parking problem for the area. We also discussed the applications for other grants from the Junta to a) help the poorest in the area b) for education c) for more spaces in the graveyard and d) money for help to train people.
I asked Candido how his meeting had gone with Luis Caparros last Thursday and he said some good some not so good. They had discussed many of the grants which the Town Hall would be applying for including the money to help complete the inventory. Caparros agreed to help fund this work but did not agree how! He (Caparros) did indicate that he was now willing to incorporate areas where we could show that houses were in existence prior to 2002. They want aerial photos to prove this. Whilst that may not seem a big deal, as it really only supports the older houses, I am assured that this is another step forward from the Junta in their willingness to reach some sort of base line. I asked if he had any further thoughts on when we might see agreement on the PGOU and he then said that Caparros had not given any indication but that he had more meetings arranged in the next few weeks.
I asked when we could get back to resolving some of the issues affecting residents in the area and he said that once this hectic period of applying, gaining and allocating grants was out of the way. I was told these issues should be dealt with by the end of this month. I will be pushing again for the issues to be dealt with then. The main one from my point of view is the Polizia Local their working hours and method of working but I also have many others.
I called into the Town Hall today to try and see Candido as I would not be able to see him any other day this week.
He was involved in discussions with Francisco and Isabella regarding various issues around the granting of the works contracts for which decisions have to be made tomorrow. I apologised but said that I needed to get a few answers to feed back to people so he agreed to try and answer them. For that reason I only asked the most important ones.
Firstly I asked how the PGOU was progressing as it was two months since we had the meeting with the architect. He said that he has a meeting arranged for this coming Thursday with Louis Caparros in Almeria. I asked how optimistic he was that the basic plan would be agreed then and he said he thought it unlikely as the Junta was still being difficult so he saw this weeks meeting as just another step towards getting a plan agreed later in the year. He could not give mne a time frame but suggested he would know better after Thursdays meeting.
I then asked why none of the applications for expediente had yet been returned from the solicitors. He said that he had personally been down to their offices yesterday for that very thing but that all the solicitors were out at court. He is waiting for the return from court for a solicitor, called Fran, who is responsible for getting that work done. I said people were getting very fed up waiting months for these certificates and he apologised and said he would try and get them to deal with as soon as they could. It also impacted on my next question which was, at what stage is the inventory? I was told that Salvadore is almost finished it and the only thing he is waiting for is the same thing. A full list of ll those houses which still have a case outstanding. They ( the Junta) have apparently asked for that to be included in the inventory. I then spoke with Salvadore and asked if I could sit down with him next week to check off the remaining properties I have on my list and he agreed. So I will sort a day out to go and do that.
I was able to make progress for a lady who has been trying to sell her house for years and because the Town Hall had not issued a certificate of expedient she was never going to get to sell it. The circumstances of this house are different from many others as this particular house is, although a new build, a reform of an old cortijo. I think that this may also be the case for a few other people. But again it will have to be checked against the definitive list from the solicitors of what houses still have open court cases.
I will not now be seeing any of the Town Hall staff until next week due to other meetings and appointments. I am sorry that other issues could not be answered but I am sure you will appreciate that some things take precedence and it is very busy at the moment with so few staff.
I had my second surgery today and managed to see 4 couples and hopefully help them. I will not be holding one next Thursday as we are going up to Valencia for the Fallas fiesta.
I did not get chance to speak with Candido or Manolo today as they were both engaged in meetings and I do not know whether we will have our usual Thursday evening meeting as I have arranged a meeting for the AUAN with Candido. If I do not see him today I will be trying again tomorrow and then again next week as my list is getting longer again.
It was quite a busy day yesterday. Firstly I had my first morning surgery in the Town Hall and met two groups of people. One had made n appointment the other was just on the off chance. I had to use one of the offices upstairs which I hope to rectify soon.
As a result of the issues from one of these meetings I got a rough understanding about the process by which the road construction companies operate. As you may know the new motorway from the E15 to the Albox bypass is under construction and, unfortunately for some, the company building this road need to expropriate some people's land. A list was posted onto the wall of the Town Hall some weeks ago, but I was unaware of its significance. It listed in the region of 40 names and addresses and these are the people who will lose land or buildings. That was then followed by letters being sent to each of the individuals so affected informing them of when they will be meeting with the representatives of the construction company when any compensation will be agreed. I have examined this list and to my knowledge this is only going to affect one ex pat.. That individual will be meeting with the company's rep. on the 31st March to agree compensation. From what I have been told by locals they will not be paying out a high price for the land and I expect that he will lose money on the deal compared top what he paid for the land. People in such a situation cannot now object to the route in any way. The only time for that was years ago when the route was first published.
These meetings were immediately followed by a Pleno meeting which started after 1.0pm and lasted until nearly 3.0pm. The first lengthy discussion point was about the requirements to provide our contracts to companies who can show that they are employing local unemployed people. That was a lengthy and animated discussion and it was followed by a discussion about how we should manage the awarding of these contracts. Given the total lack of employment opportunities in the area I could see why these issues were important. We had to try and agree whether each contract award should be decided by the whole Pleno or by a Mesa de Contratacion (basically a small group of Town Hall employees or councillors). I could see that there was obvious reluctance for people to volunteer to sit on this table and I suppose they were thinking that if someone they knew was working for a company who tendered for, but failed to get, a contract, they may blame that individual. However it was agreed that a table be established to manage this.
As a result of such a long Pleno I was told there would be no Thursday evening meeting. So again I will have to wait to try and get them to agree the numbering of the new streets and the way we manage the Police.
I called into the Town Hall this morning to chase up what the situation was regarding a number of previous applications for the Cert of Expediency.
I went upstairs to talk with Isabella as she keeps the folder for such applications. I checked all the forms and saw that the Town Hall had submitted each and every application through to the solicitors office within a couple of days of receiving them, however, as is usual with solicitors in Spain he had not replied to any of them. I asked when we would be chasing them up and I was informed that they have spoken with the solicitor this week about the delays in getting replies and he has said he will respond by next week. I will try and remember to chase up next week.
It seems that they want me to start doing my suggested surgery on Thursday mornings between 10.0am and midday. Andreas has opened a book for appointments for each Thursday so that I know what to expect. I had suggested that they provide a table and chairs on the ground floor so that people would not need to climb the flight of stairs but they have been unable to sort that out yet. I will not make any further announcement regarding this surgery until I can ensure that a) I have the right facilities and b) that I can get answers to issues or questions posed. Once that is in place I will make it more public.
We have another Pleno tomorrow but I don't know the purpose yet.
I have had a few people ask for a definition of the above referred to in the previous post so thought I had better clarify what it is.
The Certificate of Expediency is basically a form signed by the Town Hall to confirm that there are no outstanding legal issues in repsect of a property at the date of its completion. It is, as a result of all the court actions taken by the Junta, a form which almost all estate agents and solicitors are now asking for in the event that you are looking to sell your property.
