Just received the minutes from the meeting on 21st July set up to oppose this additional charge.
It seems we need an additional 150 signatories from the community of El Hacho to legally oppose it and fund our costs.
EL HACHO ACTION GROUP
MEETING SUMMARY
21ST JULY 2007
Attendees
Around 50 supporters attended the meeting and there were many apologies for absence received via email or verbally. The meeting appreciated the presence of the new lawyers: Rosa González Luzón & Oscar Bornico.
The Up to date situation was summarized as follows:
- Velasco Balbas will not act until we have 500 supporters. We have around 350 at the present time.
- The first action that we have to take before our case can be taken to court is the “via administrativa” which involves presentation of paperwork at the Ayuntamiento. The second action is the presentation of our case to a Judge.
- The Ayuntamiento have a 3 month period in which to respond to the “via administrativa”. The papers therefore need to be presented BEFORE August to ensure that the 3 month period finishes as quickly as possible and the second action can start.
- The EUC was formed in November 2006 – we want our case to be in front of the judge before the first year is completed.
- As Velasco Balbas will not act until they have 500 supporters, we have changed lawyers to Rosa González Luzón & Oscar Bornico who are prepared to act and who have already prepared the papers for presentation under the “via administrativa”. They explained that we needed to set up a “Plataforma de Vecinos de el Hacho” in order to unify our numbers and to simplify presentation of our case to the Judge. The Plataforma has been set up with the Notary under advice of Rosa & Oscar. This work has been undertaken by them without receiving any funding at all. They hope to have the papers at the Ayuntamiento the week commencing 23rd July.
- Anyone who has paid funds and signed the original support form to Velasco Balbas needs to sign the transfer form & inscription to the Plataforma – attached. This form should be sent to the fax number shown on the form and will be presented to Velasco Balbas for the transfer of all existing supporters & funds to the new Plataforma.
- All new supporters should send their support funds direct to the Plataforma bank account as detailed on the attached page & send their signed inscription to the fax number indicated.
- During the next 3 months we need to reach a total of 500 supporters (we have around 350 at the present time), so that when Rosa & Oscar present our case to the Judge, they can show that a large enough number of residents support the Plataforma. They believe that 500 is sufficient to present the case.
Payment of EUC invoices, if received.
Rosa Luzón confirmed the legal situation as summarized above and also advised that if invoices are sent out from the EUC within the next few months, we can either approach the Judge to open an “escrow” account, if the case is before the Judge OR we can approach the Notary to hold our funds pending our agreement with the EUC invoices. In this way we can avoid penalties for non payment. If the EUC does issue invoices, we shall ask Rosa & Oscar to give us details of how to proceed on this & we will update you immediately.
Questions from the floor:
Q: What is our objective when / if we win the court case?
A: We want to stop the entity completely as we feel that we pay Rates and Community fees which should be enough to cover maintenance of El Hacho. However, IF we have to have an Entity, then we want each and every owner to receive proper, written advice PRIOR to any meeting at which voting make take place and for each and every owner to have a voting right. Plus we want proper controls & accountability of the people elected to any position of power within any Entity.
Q: What are our chances of success in any court case?
A: We already have a 170 page report produced by Velasco Balbas showing that the EUC was illegally set-up and providing many reasons on which the EUC can be attacked. There are precedents showing other similar entities have been taken to court and the judge has ruled in favour of the plaintiffs ie. where an EUC has no termination period (which also applied to the El Hacho EUC). Rosa Luzón commented that whilst no-one can guarantee success in a court case, she would not take on a case where there was not chance or where she did not feel we have an opportunity of success.
Q: Have you approached the new Mayoress and what is her positon?
A: Yes, we had a meeting with her just after the elections & she was interested in knowing more about the situation. She said that whilst she cannot take any decisions without fully investigating the EUC herself, she fully understands our concerns. Although no definite response was obtained, we felt she was at least prepared to listen and will make every effort to look at the EUC from a new prospective. Of course, presentation of the “Via Administrativa” will bring the matter to her attention once again.
Many other questions were raised covering the best way to contact and attract new supporters. The main ones being:
Q: Where do we stand with contacting the local press to advertise the situation more effectively?
A: Contact with local press was put on hold whilst the new lawyers were appointed. Contact has now been made with The Resident & The Sur. We hope to have items included the next publications of these papers. The publication date for Andalucia Life magazine has bee missed for the August issue but we hope to have something included for September.
Q: The EUC has a web page. Do we?
A: Not yet but if anyone knows how this can be set up at a minimum cost – please let us know. (This has since been sorted out as Brian Rennie of Las Brisas has volunteered to set this up for us at no charge apart from the domain name charge).
Q: Why don’t we produce large full colour posters and publicity to attract more supporters?
A: Because the cost of the present publicity i.e. photocopies etc. is being funded solely by Carmen Quintano & Nicola Conway-Hann and there is a limit to the amount they are prepared to pay. They have also funded the initial legal report that was produced by Velasco Balbas. The total cost of the campaign to date is around €3,000.
Q: Why don’t we use the money received by the lawyers / Plataforma to cover the cost of publicity etc.?
A: Our original campaign asked for support for a legal case of €45 per property. To now use that money for other matters would involve asking permission from supporters, some of whom may not want to divert legal fees towards such items. It is felt that to contact everyone on this matter would be time consuming & create more discussion than solutions. We need the Plataforma funds to pay for the legal case.
Various Presidents of Communities and other interested parties suggested ways to contact clients etc. It was also noted that a poster will be produced for placing in local bars etc. to try to connect with as many people in the port as possible.
The meeting ended on a very positive note with Many Thanks being given to Rosa Luzón & Oscar Bornico for their work todate without payment. It should be noted that as the funds are transferred from Velasco Balbas and new supporters subscribe to the Plataforma, then payment will be made to Rosa & Oscar.
THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE IN SEPTEMBER – DATE TO BE ADVISED.