The plenary session demands that the Generalitat pay the university scholarships of last year and definitively approve the agreement to terminate the bus station contract
Benidorm will keep the grants for reinforcement classes, but it demands that the Ministry consider it to be an eligible extracurricular activity
The plenary session of the Corporation unanimously approved today to ask the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports that educational support be included as an eligible expense among extracurricular and complementary activities aimed at the school population between 3 and 18 years old, and thus be able to opt for regional funding for municipal initiatives such as aid for reinforcement classes. For this, the Department is urged to modify Order 25/2021 which regulates the granting of subsidies to the municipalities of the Valencian Community for extracurricular, complementary, cultural and sports activities.
The mayor of Education, Maite Moreno, recalled that last year the City Council offered the 'Activem els col • les' program, which, among other initiatives, included aids for reinforcement classes for students of 2nd and 3rd cycle of Primary and Secondary, with the intention of "contributing to alleviate the possible inequalities caused by the lack of acquisition of knowledge in a normal way, as well as helping students who had difficulties in achieving the academic objectives that were intended to be achieved during the course" .
Thus, in the first semester of the year, the City Council has granted direct aid to about 230 minors in Benidorm to help pay for the educational reinforcement classes that they continue in academies and study centers ”. Each student has received 300 euros, at a rate of 50 per month, for her classes. The City Council has allocated 68,100 euros to this call; and families and centers “have valued this aid very positively”.
Moreno has stressed that "the City Council is in a position to give continuity to this program" for this next school year. However, it is considered important for the Department to modify the Order or at least in the first call to include direct aid for educational support as eligible expenses, thus recognizing the importance of this initiative and contributing to its financing.
Also in educational matters and with the vote of the majority of the Corporation, the plenary session has demanded that the University Council resolve "as soon as possible" the call for University Studies Scholarships for the past year. The Councilor for Youth, Jaime Jesús Pérez, has influenced the "very serious damage" that this delay in the resolution of the call is assuming "for the second consecutive year" for "Valencian students" who opted for these scholarships, among they "a large number of young people from Benidorm".
Pérez has highlighted that "a few weeks after the start of the 2021/2022 academic year", these students "continue with the uncertainty of knowing whether or not they will have to take charge of the enrollment of the last year", which in turn "makes it difficult to plan and organize ”the new course. The mayor recalled that these grants "are granted to students who are not beneficiaries of the scholarships that the Ministry calls for not meeting some requirements, for example the number of credits passed." However, "due to their economic situation, these students need these grants from the Ministry to be able to carry out their university studies." For this reason, it is essential that the Department immediately resolve the call for aid from last year, making effective the payment of the 5 million euros committed for these scholarships.
Likewise, the approved proposal requires the Ministry that "from now on the deadlines established in the calls are met to avoid further damage to the students", who "have been suffering from this situation for two consecutive years", and the scholarships are resolved during the course just as the minister Carolina Pascual promised.
With the vote of the local government, the plenary session has finally given the green light to the agreement for the resolution of mutual agreement of the management contract of the bus station, thus complying with the sentence of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJ) that annulled the modification of the contract and that it was ratified by the Supreme Court. The Councilor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, has indicated that the draft of the agreement, initially approved in January, has been submitted to public information, resolving the allegations raised.
Caselles recalled that, based on the agreements embodied in the agreement, the City Council has a period of six months, with the possibility of three months of extension, to put out to tender the management of the bus station. As soon as the new contract is tendered, the still concessionaire will have to carry out the works to adapt the station within a maximum period of two months to deliver the complex in perfect condition, complying with the comprehensive rehabilitation project that amounts to 287,141.07 euros.
Following what was agreed in the joint commission, made up of municipal technicians and representatives of the company that is in charge of management, the bus station will be liquidated for a maximum amount of 24.5 million euros - thus covering the work carried out and not amortized-, which must be assumed by the new awardee, not the City Council.
In the same session, by majority, the expiration of the ex officio review procedure initiated by plenary agreements in December 2020 and January 2021 in relation to the urban agreements signed with two owners of the APR-7 sector, as well as the file of the file. The Councilor for Urbanism recalled that this ex officio review file was initiated to declare the nullity of these agreements signed in 2003, and is now filed in view of the fact that the six-month period established by law has been exceeded. to complete your processing. Subsequently, and also by majority, the plenary session has initiated a new ex officio review procedure regarding one of the agreements, incorporating the acts and procedures from the previous file, including the request for an opinion from the Legal Council.
Unanimously, the plenary session has approved the report-proposal of the Engineering Headquarters in relation to the ordinary financing of the operation of the WWTP facilities for the period 2021-2023. In his presentation, the Councilor for the Water Cycle stressed that the change in ordinary financing was accepted because it is required and is awaiting an agreement for exploitation. González de Zárate has exposed the seriousness of the situation, since they have dragged on for 8 months without having paid the operating and maintenance costs and Benidorm has paid the EPSAR fee.
As the mayor has exposed, there are 4.2 million pending and the lack of payments by the Generalitat can lead to a cut in services, while Benidorm has satisfied its commitments. De Zárate has referred to the agreements signed and not executed by the Autonomous Administration and the quality and obsolescence of the materials used in some sections, such as the one that suffered the last breakdown on Severo Ochoa avenue, at the height of Naples street, that in 36 hours it was repaired “due to the commitment of the company and the municipal Technical Services. The problem of rainwater in the Rincón de Loix and its possibility of reaching the Levante beach is a pending issue included in those agreements, he added; as well as the amounts not reversed in pending infrastructural actions by entities of the Generalitat.
In the same session, a decree for the appointment of legal defense and attorney has been reported and ratified in the preliminary proceedings that are instructed in the Instruction Court number 3 of Benidorm in relation to the complaint filed for an alleged crime of falsehoods.
Likewise, it has also become aware of the brief from the State Attorney in Alicante in relation to the Valuation and List of Jobs (VPT-RPT).