Its president, María Dolores Muñoz, also calls for the creation of an operational body for decision-making, made up of members of the regional government and the Federation of Municipalities, as occurs in other autonomous communities.
The Federation of Municipalities once again reviews the meeting that the president of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, called yesterday through a video conference to inform the mayors of the region of the evolution and decisions that the executive is taking in this COVID-19 health crisis.
Among the many topics discussed, the president of the FMRM, María Dolores Muñoz, highlights the expansion of telecare for vulnerable people who are alone at home, as well as the expansion of ICU beds, as announced last week. In addition, the representative in the regional government commented that surgical material is assured in all health centres, however there is a shortage for municipal services. Therefore, in light of this, Muñoz demands that the services that are working during this crisis in the municipalities, such as police, firefighters or personnel who are carrying out cleaning and disinfection tasks or those belonging to social services or civil protection, provide protective material such as masks, gloves, leggings, etc.
The mayor, who heads the Federation of Municipalities of the region, has said in this regard that, “we believe that the arrival of material to hospitals and health centres is very necessary, but we cannot leave unprotected the rest of the professionals who are on the front line in all the towns working very hard to help combat this virus.”
On the other hand, throughout the meeting, a common request from all mayors was the demand from the regional and national government for the financial aid that the town councils should receive, since the spending during this crisis by the town councils has been very high. As María Dolores Muñoz explains, “these expenses correspond to powers that are not municipal, which the councils have been assuming unfairly for years, and now more than ever the governments must respond to their responsibilities.”
These expenses will include the 77 local police officers that the government has released from the academy for the reinforcement that it has announced and that will be received by the municipalities where people who have second homes are arriving, with such movements being totally prohibited according to the Royal Decree. Regarding this, the FMRM says that it is important to highlight that this measure, while necessary, is supported by the federation, but that it must also be remembered that these agents in training are paid by the Town Councils and that localities that have second homes cannot be left out because they are tourist places and/or coastal areas.
Finally, the Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia calls for the creation of an operational body made up of the president and vice-president of the CARM, the councillors of Finance and Health and the main bodies of the FMRM, the president, vice-president and general secretary, for the coordination and resolution of real issues, as is done in the rest of the autonomous communities.
They say in this regard that, "we appreciate the method used so far, such as video conferences led by López Miras, but we believe that it is very necessary to take a further step towards solving problems in a more agile way with the creation of this coordination body that involves and participates in the FMRM as a representative of all the Town Councils."
