The events of the recent city council, the [organization] comments in a press release it issued, Municipal political group «Kythira – Antikythira, We’re Staying Here». In its statement, the small minority focuses exclusively on the mayor's practices, Eustratios Charhalakis, whom he accuses of practices stemming from the philosophy of «Ludovicism, the rule of a single man.».
The faction makes it clear that it will not limit itself to the role of a «woman who has fallen into many sins,» who is content merely to anoint the mayor’s feet with perfume, but will intensify its scrutiny of his policies, which, as it pointedly notes, have cost taxpayers dearly.
In closing, the political faction also lists a series of questions it posed to the mayor, none of which have been answered.
The following is the press release from the small minority group:
Happy holidays and a happy Easter to everyone.
-Throughout the Orthodox Church, Holy Wednesday is dedicated to the memory of the sinful woman who repented, believed in Christ, and anointed His feet with perfume.
-In Kythira (only this year) Holy Wednesday must be dedicated to those who do not see or hear, but believe in someone’s words and vote for the decisions that he makes, that he assigns, that he implements… The opposition is simply called upon to anoint his feet with myrrh!
The April 28, 2021, meeting of the Kythira-Antikythira Municipal Council could also be a topic for Radio Arvyla (provided, of course, that live broadcasting of the meeting were permitted—a decision the mayor reserves the right to make, even though the deputy mayor had already announced it)… We’ll explain more below.
The «We’re Staying Here» faction, remaining true to its policy of responsible opposition, voted in favor of all but one of the motions (due to the proposer’s inability to substantiate the quantity of goods received and identify the actual manufacturer), while it abstained on the budget amendment. Therefore, we reject any suspicion (or slander) that we are a «no to everything» opposition. Unfortunately, however, we have a municipal administration and a mayor who, on critical issues, do not consult with us, do not keep us informed, distort our positions, and simply demand that we vote in favor of every proposal they make. They can forget all that. The «grace period» is over.
On serious matters:
1) We voted in favor of the regulation for the Potamos Market with a view to expanding the space for vendors, ensuring access to parking, and providing technical support to producers. We demonstrated that our proposal regarding handicrafts and artistic creation is already under review by the relevant ministry, despite the municipal authority’s attempts to discredit it over the past several months.
We believe that our efforts to ensure a future for the Potamos Market have been vindicated.
2) We requested that City Council meetings be streamed online. Our proposal was rejected, even though the law stipulates that City Council meetings are public. We categorically state that if they do not implement this, we will take responsibility for the broadcast in accordance with the law.
3) We expressed our categorical disagreement with the direct awarding of the tourism logo. We presented decisions by the overwhelming majority of municipalities that issued open calls for proposals, formed committees, and had their decisions approved by the municipal councils. In our case, however, the mayor claimed that he had legally awarded the contract personally , received personally and will pay 24,800 euros (the last not personally)!!! We are overlooking the fact that in other municipalities we found that the fees paid to the logo designers were much lower (usually around 2,000 euros).
4) Regarding the procurement of electric vehicles, which is of enormous importance (and costs 560,000 euros…):
-The procurement process was never discussed at the City Council meeting, nor, of course, was the type of vehicles ever discussed, nor was there a written recommendation from the technical department. I wonder why? Did the mayor know all of this?;
-We have committed to making this hastily organized, last-minute process public. We would like to remind you that this concerns a call for proposals that has been open since October 2020!!!
-We asked the mayor why he didn’t include an electric bus in the procurement plan to serve the municipal transit system: He replied (?) that it’s not possible because there isn’t enough staff, and even if there were, they wouldn’t give us the money because we don’t have public transportation… We’re sorry, but we didn’t understand exactly what he said!
5) We abstained from voting on the budget amendment due to a reduction in revenue from the central government and the regional government, as well as spending cuts made without sufficient justification. We do, of course, note the positive decisions (which we fully support) regarding sports facilities in Potamos and Frilingianika.
6) We also posed a series of questions, but received no response. For the information of the residents of Kythira, we list the questions below:
– We asked whether the approval of the environmental impact study for the airport, as announced by the Regional Governor of Attica, Mr. Patoulis, concerns the old runway or the extension.
-We asked why the cross-party decision on wind turbines has been stalled for a year now and why there has been no progress on the environmental impact study for industrial wind farms.
-We asked whether the misunderstanding with a fellow city council member from the main opposition party had been resolved and whether that was the reason he had returned to the meetings (or if he simply realized that his absence had led to the disruptive events of the previous meeting).
We raised the issue of street lighting in Kapsali and the related letter from Mr. Orestis Harou. The mayor responded that a council meeting cannot be convened every time a citizen sends a letter. Of course, he could—and indeed should—have simply forwarded the letter to us, just as Mr. Haros had requested…
Overall, the mayor continues the «Ludovician» policy of «one-man rule.» He undermines the functioning of the City Council by announcing that he will attend only when he decides to, while failing to respond to any of the statements or questions regarding the items on the agenda.
Finally, he adjourned the meeting, even though it was clear that the majority of the council members were demanding answers.
The mayor’s authoritarianism, as well as the tolerance shown by the majority of city council members, lead to misguided decisions for which the residents end up paying the price. And a very high price at that…
The «We’re Staying Here» coalition declares to everyone that it will continue to thoroughly scrutinize every decision concerning citizens’ money and shaping all of our futures. We will play a decisive role in securing the future we deserve.
Dimitris Kontoleon – Giorgos Didymiotis – Manos Trifyllis
