Yesterday, the Full Session of the Puerto de la Cruz City Council ratified, with opposition from the PSOE, a new municipal organisational framework that “addresses the needs of the municipality and rectifies the issues bequeathed by the prior administration to enhance public services,” stated the PP councillor, Pedro Antonio Campos, who served as the spokesperson for the ruling party (PP-ACP-CC).
The newly established governance framework comprises six general and four specific portfolios. Consequently, the mayor, Leopoldo Afonso, will take on responsibilities for Strategic Policy, Internal Regulations, and Citizen Security, while his colleague Pedro Antonio Campos will oversee Finance, Public Contracts, Heritage, and Personnel Management, along with a dedicated portfolio for the Costa Martiánez Tourist Complex, Beaches, Public Parking, Cemetery, and the Board of Trustees of the Archaeological Museum, to be led by Felipe Rodríguez (PP).
The ACP councillors will retain their designated areas of Sustainable City, Urban Agenda, Citizen Participation, and Equality (David Hernández) and Sports, Health Promotion, Drug Addiction, and Employment (Alberto Cabo).
PP councillor Desirée Díaz will manage Tourism, Cultural Promotion, and Local Autonomous Organisation, with a specific portfolio for Festivals, Municipal Market, and Technological Development, assigned to Javier González.
The Social Action sector will also be under PP oversight and will be directed by Josefa Reina and Claudia Hernández Aguiar, who will handle Education, Youth, Childhood and Inclusive Policies, Seniors, and Universal Accessibility.
Lastly, the nationalists will oversee General Services and Commercial Development, where the generic councillor will be Alonso Acevedo, delegating responsibilities for Commerce, Industry, Crafts, and Agriculture to his colleague Diego Moreno.
The spokesperson for the Socialists and former mayor of El Puerto, Marco González, levelled all his accusations at his previous government allies, the ACP councillors. “It is peculiar that the same individual and the same area that were previously blamed for numerous problems and projects in the city, such as the Belair wall, continue in the same roles,” he commented, pointing to David Hernández.
He similarly chastised Alberto Cabo, “the only individual” who possessed the dossier on the issues at Playa Jardín and who “kept it tucked away.” Nevertheless, he expressed, “you have enhanced their authority while also placing them in a sensitive area such as Equality, LGBT policies, or Drug Addiction; therefore, we cannot endorse this new structure.”
As anticipated, Campos was quick to respond. “You have arrived to undermine this administration purely for personal motives. Perhaps certain initiatives stalled because you were the mayor, the one who obstructed progress and acted in your own interest,” he remarked, assuring that the Tripartite “would publicly disclose each of the debts and irregularities uncovered within the City Hall.”
