Dear members of the Neighbourhood Association, according to the Minutes of the last meeting of the Governing Council of the EUC Costa Esuri (hereinafter C.R.) on February 2, the C.R. is going to request budgets for various actions that I will talk about at another time, today for general information I want to talk about the street lamps of the Urbanisation, an issue that according to the C.R. is an issue pending response from the Ayamonte City Council.
The Statutes of the Entity include in its object and purpose the conservation, maintenance and repair of the installations of the PUBLIC LIGHTING NETWORK and its proper functioning.
In a copy of the Statutes that I have, there is an annotation that says: “this object was assumed by the City Council in April 2015, in which it agreed with INTECH the maintenance of the luminaires throughout the municipal term”.
It is called luminaires, streetlights have two parts, the post or support and the luminaire or light point.
In the General Assemblies of the EUC, little has been said about streetlights, some years some owners have asked why they are not repaired and the usual answer is that the C.R. has already claimed it to the City Council.
In the Minutes of the meetings of the Governing Council it is stated that streetlights are a recurring and habitual theme, the C.R. has claimed many times to the City Council its replacement. At least eight lamp posts are missing and two are the post and the luminaire is missing, there could be more.
They have been missing for years, at the meeting on February 2, 2022, someone indicates or says that: “the City Council has the corresponding reports for the damaged lampposts and that it is the City Council that has to claim through the civil liability insurance of the population, since the EUC does not have R.C. insurance for the streets. It is added that the City Council technician told the administrator that he promised that the issue would be taken up again. Like Penelope’s mantle, weave and unweave, we continue the same. Why don’t they get fixed? Is it due to lack of money? Who has to fix them?
In the accounts of the EUC there is a record that years ago a vehicle collided with a lamppost and knocked it down. It was reported, the EUC fixed it, the amount of the repair was recorded and after a long time the vehicle’s insurance company (Portuguese) paid for the repair.
I do not know if all the missing lamps have been knocked down by collisions of vehicles whose insurance should take care of the repairs, it could be that some of them did not have insurance; or that it has been knocked down by very strong winds, in which case there is no insurance that will respond.
In the last two meetings of the C.R. The representative member of the City Council has not attended, so he has not given an answer to this problem of the lack of streetlights.
In the Minutes of the meeting of the C.R. held on January 7, 2021, in point 6 regarding the missing streetlights in the urbanisation it is said “It seems that there is a disparity of opinion about who is responsible for the maintenance of the lighting elements. The to the C.R. Do you think that years ago the City Council took charge of this maintenance, but nevertheless it will be clarified with the municipal manager?
In the Minutes of the meeting of the C.R. held on April 7, 2021, the members of the C.R. state that on 03-05-2021 there was a meeting of members of the C.R. with councillors and technicians from the City Council regarding the luminaires and the response from the City Council is that: “The infrastructures belong to the City Council, while the EUC is in charge of maintenance, repair and some other task (sic.). The lampposts (the post) belong to the City Council and until now, and it will continue to be done, the City Council will replace the damaged lampposts and replace the burnt out light bulbs”.
Is it clear? If the City Council is responsible, why hasn’t it replaced the missing streetlights? Those that are missing due to traffic accidents and became crowded, should have been claimed to the insurance companies and have been arranged.
The President of the C.R. has held the position since 2017, has spoken with the City Council many times and has also sent letters. I hope that the representative member of the City Council attends the next General Assembly and gives us a satisfactory explanation. It is an issue that after so many years has to stop being a continuous debate and the streetlights must be fixed as soon as possible because their absence is a sign of laziness and carelessness and that the institutions do not work properly.
In the next Assembly, what we want to know is: When are the missing streetlights going to be replaced and the ones that do not illuminate fixed?
I hope that these comments are useful for the best functioning of the EUC. Thanks for your attention.
Francisco Tapia Catalan
14 March 2022