Catching up !!
Monday, November 10, 2008
I can't believe it's so long since I posted on my blog...............where does the time go ??  Just proves that I must have been a bit busy 
Anyway, on with the catching up.............
Finances.................the Community now has some money in the bank  .............we are spending nothing/nada/ zilch on anything at all, other than essential utility bills and paying off debts ! As the pool is closed, this has cut down even further on water and electricity bills. It's gonna be a long haul and I reckon it'll take us about 8 months to get completely straight, but it'll all be worth it in the long run !
Backlash................still nothing !!!
Community spirit................lots of volunteers beavering away with sweeping up, litter picking and garden weeding, bless 'em
Y la presidenta!!!???..............I have been busy personally with the Municipal Ordinances which I mentioned in my last post. This is a 33 page document which covers every nuisance known to man, including the dreaded dogs !! It took me nearly two weeks to translate it all !! I now have the most salient points published in both languages on the Community website together with an appeal to all to comply with the Ordinances and an encouragement to those still suffering to complain to the Ayuntamiento. If you're interested have a look at www.freewebs.com/villasdeartenara/presidentsnews.htm which also has a link to the full 33 page PDF document. (This document covers all the Canary Islands, but I'm sure there must be a similar document for the mainland)
I also thought it would be a good idea to have an advertisements page on the Community website, so I've done that as well. It's only been there a couple of days and there's one advert already.
On a practical note...................... I now know where everything is !! I altered the timer on the street-lights when the clocks altered without any problem, I know where all the valves are for the garden irrigation system. I know where all the fuse boards are and what controls what. I know where all the "Telefonica stuff" is. The swimming-pool pump-house now looks a bit less like Concorde's cockpit and more like something I will eventually understand now that I've translated all the Spanish labels in to English !!!
I think that's about it folks.....................back to plotting and scheming to see how we can somehow manage to get the pool re-opened for next summer !!!
Take care all 
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Third Week
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Well.........................I don't get this !!!
What's happened to all the back-lash, the complaints, the back-stabbing that I was expecting !!!??????? Cos there is absolutely none !! I don't believe it !!! Maybe it's too early !!!
In fact, the reverse is the case, I'm openly congratulated, smiled, waved and tooted at by people that I'm not actually sure who they are (!!) and Spanish ladies are hugging me in the street I've had several non-resident Brit owners arrive this week, they've all come to introduce themselves and one actually called me a heroine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only difference I've noticed is that the "Vice-President" who was never elected is not driving round the complex every day with his nose in the air as though he owns the place!!!!..............in fact, I've not seen hide nor hair of him !
Time will tell !!
I'm now updating the community website regularly with any news and encouraging people to ask questions, raise issues etc........................so that everyone knows what's going on and why .............they have the right !!!!
I've had Jose write a letter to the Town Hall complaining that the street lights on the perimeter road of our complex haven't been working for three months !!............which he not only wrote, but delivered personally and got a received stamp and a signature on it !!! I so like his style !!!
It gave me great pleasure to be able to sign a cheque for Jose personally to repay him all the money that he paid out of his own pocket during the handover period when things needed to be paid and he couldn't access community funds due to the deliberate delaying tactics of the previous administration !!!
I'm hot on the trail of two things that could be both very important and useful! Take note all !!..............one is an updated version of the Municipal Ordinances of Coexistence (Environmental) which is all about noise, nuisance, dogs, litter and every other annoyance known to man including throwing fag-ends !!.................the other is something new, a new law I believe, about building works and planning permission and all I've heard is that you need a Licence for anything and everything in the way of building, extensions or alterations !! That should be fun !!!!
So far so good...........................I am a bit concerned that this is too good to be true !!!!!
My Second Week
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A bit jumbly and in no particular order................
We have had four more volunteers to pay their Community fees a year in advance ..........making a total of eight !! I'm delighted about that because it's made a big difference to our financial situation which could only have been described as disastrous ! ...................and equally as important to me is that we must be doing something right for owners to display that much trust and confidence !!
Jose went through Septembers' accounts with me and wanted to make sure that I understood and was happy with everything !!!!! Which I did and was !! What a difference ! This man has to be heaven sent !!! He tells me that we shall go through the accounts together at the end of each month ..................ok boss !!!
I've now got the hang of looking at the Community's bank account on-line and can see exactly what's what at any time, and I didn't need the offered lesson from Jose on how to do it !!
As we have no money to spend, I've got hub turning the irrigation system on and off once a week voluntarily, and also some volunteers are keeping the communal gardens tidy.............also, nearly everyone is sweeping the bit of pavement/road outside their house themselves..............the exceptions are, of course, tenants rather than owners !!!!!!!
Very good for building up community spirit !!!! Hub's also done a few light bulb changes, bless him !
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My First Week
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Following my election on Friday 26th September.............this was how my first week went !
Saturday morning, maintenance man was fired !!! Yippee !!! 28,000 euros a year saved, just like that !! Jose had already negotiated a settlement with him, all I had to do was sign the dismissal letter. Long discussions with Jose about what we needed to do muy pronto !
Sunday..........enough...............hub and I went to the beach !!!
Monday...............turned off all the owners water supply for four hours........to check the main meter to see if it was moving, then we'd know if we still had a leak, since the pool is closed and the irrigations system was off ! After regular checks for four hours, joy oh joy, the meter hadn't moved !!! Owner's water turned back on ! Proof postive that we needed...............the only leak we have is from the swimming pool and we have already determined that this was coming from the underwater lights, cos the water level has not moved at all since it fell below the level of the lights !!!! Previous management were unable to sort this out in seven years, despite a two year pool closure in the past and a large extra payment for the repair !!!!! Jose's sorted it in three weeks !!! Previous management recently got quotes for the pool repair for 30,000 euros, basically digging it up and starting again !!!! Jose has a quote for complete waterproofing of lights and all pool surfaces for 5,000 euros !!!!!
Tuesday..............hauled off to the Community's bank by Jose to complete the necessary paperwork to be a signatory of the Community's bank account, also got all the access codes for internet banking The rest of the day flew by doing thank you emails to supporting proxy voters, to the year in advance fee payers, and helping Jose with the English translation of the minutes!
Wednesday...........got off light today.................only had to sign nine post-dated cheques for the water company, which ensures that our water supply will not be cut off as Jose has negotiated payments that we can afford, and sign the minutes of the 26th September meeting ready for Jose to send out to all the owners. ( Bear in mind that the previous administration used to take three months to get minutes out!)
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