Our Motions for Council Meeting - March 2012

We promised to let you know the date and time of the next Bedar town hall plenary meeting.  It will take place on Wednesday, March 28 at 8pm. 

The Independent/PP group will be presenting three Urgent Motions at the meeting. There is one related to the Employment Workshop that we wrote about in the last blog for which we are asking for clarifications over the selection procedure.  Another deals with a proposed geological study project from the Henri Poincaré University in Nancy, France, which would involve annual two-month stays in Bedar for a group of students and professors. The third relates to preservation of the fresco wall paintings at the 10^th to 12^th century Moorish water tank near Basalta which is considered to be Bedar´s oldest historical remain.  

Below please find summaries of the three motions.  Council meetings are open to the public and, although the Mayor has not allowed the use of interpreters, we encourage you to come to see how the town council deals with these and other issues.  

I.  French University geological studies project
For several years now, scientists from the Henri Poincaré University in Nancy, France, have been carrying out a series of studies related to the geological formation of our municipality.  The group, directed by Christian Hibsch, a specialist in seismotectonic relations and sedimentation at the Faculty of Science and Technology, are designing a project whereby students and faculty members could come to Bedar every year.  The proposed start-up date is some time in 2014.

Besides the enormous geological interest of our area and its proximity to other important areas of interest such as the Sierra Almagrera, Bedar has also been chosen because accommodation and other costs are reasonable.  The project would require accommodation for about 16 students and professors for a period of two months each year during low season so that the presence of tourists and ramblers does not hinder their work.  They will also require an office equipped with wifi broadband access, tables and computers.

We believe this project will be enormously beneficial to Bedar for several reasons.  First, local accommodation during low season will be occupied for a period of two months.  Secondly, their findings can be used for the promotion and development of tourism in the area.  Finally, the project is quite innovative and the interest shown by the French scientists confirms the enormous potential of this area.  Certainly we will be able to suscitate interest from the local press. 

Although 2014 may seem far away, the Town Hall needs to start taking steps immediately to help make this plan a reality.  They should begin looking at the possibility of requesting subsidies to finance part of the costs.  They could also support the project by ensuring, for example, that restaurants and rural accommodation offer special prices to the study group participants who should be encouraged to do their shopping locally.  The Town Hall should certainly offer the equipped office space at no cost. 

We therefore propose that the Town Hall urgently begin whatever procedures are necessary before the cultural council of the provincial delegation of the Junta de Andalucia, as well as their contacts in the local press, to ensure that the study project is approved and takes place.  We also propose that a working committee be formed to work with Christian Hibsch to create an action plan.  Since this project could be beneficial to the entire town, we suggest that the working committee include members from both political groups so that all Bedar residents can be properly represented. 

II.  Employment Workshop

The Independent/PP group has received various complaints regarding the Industrial Boilermaking Employment Workshop over the lack of information in the selection and pre-selection process and the absence of public information over the results of the interviews and the grading of candidates.  This absence of administrative transparency leads those who were rejected to question whether or not things have been carried out correctly.
There are explicit norms concerning the selection process of these Employment Workshops.  We also know that we are not the only town where abuses regarding the selection processes have been registered.  We therefore propose the following:

• That the Bedar Town Hall publishes, either on its webpage and/or on bulletin boards, the parameters considered and the valuation system used for the selection of the aforementioned Employment Workshop, in a manner which can be easily understood. 

• That the results of the interviews and valuations of all the candidates be included. 

III.  Protection of Wall Paintings

In 2005, a group of archeologists from the University of Almeria cleaned the remains of a Moorish watertank near Basalta and found fresco wall paintings depicting both geometrical shapes as well as figurative representations of people, animals and other signs.  The lead archeologists prepared a complete study based on their findings, a copy of which was handed in to the Town Hall.  They proposed a restauration project at a cost of 54,484 euros.    

This study confirms that the watertank is clearly an important remain and can be considered as the oldest known remain in Bedar.  Unfortunately, since 2005, no effort has been made to further protect or restore the watertank although it is included as a point of interest on the Water Route which more and more tourists are now taking and therefore more vulnerable due to increased numbers of visitors or, even worse, possible acts of vandalism. 

We are very concerned about the neglected state of this important piece of Bedar´s potential tourist development.  It is our understanding that the responsibility, or at least the initiative, to maintain, promote and restore these ruins lies with the Town Hall, whether by seeking out funding directly or pressuring the relevant authorities to do so.  We therefore propose the following:

• That the Bedar Town Hall urgently take necessary steps before the cultural council of the provincial delegation of the Junta de Andalucia to immediately begin work to restore, protect and promote these ruins, providing the necessary subsidies to pay for the 54,484€ restoration costs.  The Town Hall has previously applied for and secured subsidies for restauration work on archeological remains of far lesser importance.

• That some form of protection and security be immediately installed, whether this be a cage or other construction, which prevents access but still permits viewing.