All change at the AGM

I must point out that the following is an unofficial account and as such represents only my view of what took place at the meeting.

At last night's AGM, Allan White opened the meeting by outlining our financial status. It seems that the social events in the last year had made a small margin of profit. He added that the membership fee account still had balance which we would need to spend.

Allan later spoke about security issues following the break-ins last Thursday and announced that the Book Club would run for two more months. He pointed out that support for this venture had been disappointing.

Allan went on to announce that four of the original members of the Committee, including himself as Chairman, were resigning from office. Having completed three years as members, they felt that it was time to make way for other people who may want to bring fresh ideas to the group.

We elected Jim Ryder as Chairman and then went on to elect Mel, Karen and Ethna as new members of the Committee replacing Lynda, Ramon, Lynne (as non-voting Treasurer) and Allan; Ron and Carole were re- elected.

Jose,who is of course the owner of the camp site and the proprietor of the Albergue where we hold our socials, was also invited to join. Although he is not a resident, the majority felt that he could make a useful contribution to the Committee. It wasn't clear whether Jose accepted this invitation.

Jim already has some new ideas which he wants to discuss with the other members of the Committee before bringing them to Residents' Association for approval. He did, however, outline some measures that would be implemented immediately. A secretary and treasurer would be appointed at the first meting next week. Jim went on to say that bi-annual finance reports would be posted, along with minutes of all meetings on the notice board at the Albergue. He also promised that newsletters would be produced to keep residents in touch with what was going on.

We'd already thanked the four resigning members for their hard work so at that point the meeting was due to close.

However, Jose announced that two members of the ruling Socialist group had come along to the meeting to address our concerns. It was probably not the best of ideas because a) that wasn't the purpose of the meeting and b) people were not prepared for that type of discussion.

With Aurelio's house up for sale and following rumours that people have heard about Star Sol's financial status, concern was voiced about whether the builder and his company would still be in a position to rectify the ongoing problems that some people are having with their houses.

In fairness the two Councillors were probably not the right people to answer those questions. It is no secret that Aurelio, spokesperson for the PP party and the ruling Socialist group have some major differences of opinion. In any case I'm not sure whether it is the local Council's responsibility to comment about contractual arrangements between builder and client. They did however assure us that Star Sol have an ongoing obligation to their clients regardless of the financial status they find themselves in.

There was also concern expressed about the general state of the estate. In particular the condition of the roads, the mess left behind by the people who had cleared the green areas and the gravel from the playground that has washed onto the pavement. I would add to that the vandalism to street furniture on the road out of the estate, the mess left behind when the Sales Office was removed and the state of the vacant plots. When we moved to Spain, we were lead to believe that Villas Andrea would be a "smart" place to live. I don't think anyone would describe the estate as "smart" as it is now.

I'm not sure that the two Councillors took account of those concerns, so it is likely that these issues will will need to be raised again via the Committee.