La Nucia Town Hall |
In the Mayors office |
Politics runs in his family – his father was also Mayor. However, by profession Bernabé is a medical doctor and prior to being voted in he had 2000 patients at the local Centro de Salud. They are very similar positions he told me in that they are both built on trust and confidentiality – and he is on call 24 hours a day. Often he finds when speaking to residents on council business they finish the conversation by asking his opinion on some medical matter or showing him an ache or pain they have!
Altea parade last month |
A typical working day in the office is from 8am until 3pm, but then in the evenings and especially at the weekends he attends numerous openings and meetings. La Nucia was voted European City of Sport for 2013 and as if that was not an honour enough, he is also to receive an award from Central Government for the sporting complex “Camilo Cano” and its facilities, with a presentation at the end of this year by King Juan Carlos in Madrid. Bernabé has always been a very keen sportsman, almost playing football to professional level but five operations on his knee due to injury put pay to that career path – now he is more spectator, although he still manages to kick a football around when he has some spare time. Last week he opened a new Town Hall extension on an urbanisation in La Nucia and Regional Minister for Infrastructure, Planning & Environment attended from Valencia - along with a host of television cameras.
At opening attended by Regional Minister Isabel Bonig |
So what, I asked are his future plans, both as Mayor and personally leading up to the next election in 2015. Construction wise everything in the town is complete – lighting and services across all the urbanisations are finished and it is just a case of maintenance now. His biggest and most important challenge between now and 2015 is to ensure that all residents in the town register at the Town Hall, as funding from Central Government is allocated dependant on registered inhabitants. This is true of all towns – if you do not register then the council is not getting the correct percentage funding for its citizens, yet you would still expect adequate healthcare and schooling for instance. You can´t have it both ways – if you do not register then you cannot moan about lack of services!
Serving residents paella at European Day |