The Plenary approved on Wednesday 25th the draft of the Organic Municipal and Plenary Regulations (ROM).  This is an essential tool which aims to regulate the political and administrative organisation of the Town Hall and its corporation, as well as the functioning of its governing and control bodies.

According to the mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), “all municipalities with a large population, including ours since 2012, must have this tool, so it is an obligation that we had to face and that the comptroller has been requiring year after year”.

The text includes sections related to the political organisation of the corporation, establishing the duties, obligations and responsibilities of the councillors. For its drafting, the government team emphasised, contributions from all parties have been taken into account, such as that of Cs Mijas on the number of requests and questions that can be presented in the plenary session by each municipal group, depending on the number of councillors they have. “For minority groups of between one and three councillors, and also for non-attached councillors, we propose to allow a maximum of 8 questions.  In the case of groups with 4 to 6 councillors, this would increase to 12 questions, and for groups with more than 6 councillors, a maximum of 16 questions would be allowed”, explained the spokesperson for Cs, José Carlos Martín.

Likewise, in order to facilitate the development of plenary sessions, the regulations limit the speaking time of the councillors. In this respect, the socialist councillor Josele González assured that “when we were in the government team, we did not want to put a clock on the opposition, because we understood that it had to be done in a consensual way”.

In response, the councillor for Internal Regulations, Juan José Torres Trella (PP), “when drafting this ROM we have reviewed the regulations of other municipalities such as Fuengirola, Nerja and Málaga, and the times indicated are the same and, in some cases, even lower”. The mayoress also stressed that “this section does not seek to restrict the freedom of expression of the opposition or to set clocks, it only adapts to what the regulations establish, but there will be exceptional cases such as the approval of the Budget in which there will be more time for debate”.

Municipal organisation

On the other hand, the ROM reflects the essential levels of the municipal organisation, defining the areas of government, their delegations, as well as new coordinations and general directorates.  Regarding the creation of the figure of the director and general coordinator, the spokesman of the Municipal Socialist Group, Roy Pérez, finally and after the considerations of the opposition, the regulation determines that these positions can only be occupied by civil servants of level 1, “so we avoid handpicking, because from the PSOE we are not in favour of creating these political gravy trains, like the ones in the Malaga Town Hall and in the Junta, where the general directorates are occupied by politicians”.

 Finally, the document also includes new working bodies, including one on economic administrative complaints, which, according to a report by the Town Hall’s comptroller, Francisco Javier Pérez, will entail a cost that has not yet been budgeted for. 

The ROM was initially approved by all parties, except the PSOE, which voted against it, considering that there are aspects of the ROM that have not been agreed and that it should begin to be applied in the next term of office. “It is clear that you have your own pace, different from this government team, which wants to work on today in order to make progress, always within the legal framework”, said Mata.

Change in the PP spokesperson

In other matters, during the plenary session it was announced that Daniel Gómez Teruel will no longer be spokesman for the Popular Municipal Group, replacing him as councillor Mario Bravo.

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