Letter from Pepe

I have attached a letter from Pepe, with a basic English translation, which came to me via Secretary of Mi Sol, Shelagh Shaw. I do not know whether this letter was intended to be distributed to all Owners or just to Mrs Olive and myself.







I fully accept Pepe´s right to inform all Owners of Mi Sol, what the Committee, myself included, do or do not do as it affects the Owners of the Park. However I do expect that any information given to the Community concerning our activities should be accurate and truthful.

You will be aware that I do not knowingly make personal comments on this Web Log, but as this letter would appear to be a personal attack on Committee member Mrs Olive and myself, I feel obliged to give you the facts. I have not spoken to Mrs Olive about this letter yet, however if she feels a desire to respond I will post it here.

I would first like to draw your attention to the section "ratified in all the meetings taken place until today´s date 22/5/2007" This is clearly not true, as a majority of Owners attending the AGM of September 2006 voted that Pepe should stand down as President in February 2007.

At the meeting with Pepe on the 15th April 2007 to discuss the appointment of Stephen Foley as gardener for Mi Sol, it was agreed at Pepe´s suggestion I would be responsible for the day to day organisation of Mr Foleys work.¨ I recall no mention of a 14 day trial period. It was agreed the wages would be 815 Euro per month after any stoppages.

It is true that I told Mr Foley to carry on working after his 14 day trial period, explaining that I would put it to the Owners attending the forthcoming EGM, which was due a few days later for their decision. I also told Pepe twice, once in front of other Committee members that I would not condone him sacking Mr Foley, and that the Owners should decide. Pepe has yet to give me a reasonable explanation of why he wants to sack the Gardener, except for saying he is not satisfied with his work. No Owner has yet complained to me about the work of Mr Foley, and indeed without exception, all Owners I have spoken to on the subject are pleased with his activities.

Even if all the above was a figment of my imagination, please consider this, at the EGM a few days ago an overwhelming majority of the Owners present insisted Mr Foley be kept on as Mi Sol Gardener, that his wages would be 815 Euro per month after stoppages, and that I would be responsible for the Gardeners activities, without interference from Pepe. Any Owner who wishes, can easily verify this for themselves by visiting the offices of the Administrator or talking to any of the Owners that attended the meeting.

With regard to the accusation that Mrs Olive and myself are "playing games" against the best interests of Mi Sol, please consider these FACTS.

There is at this moment around 40,000 Euro in the Mi Sol Bank account at Banco Popular. It is a long time since Mi Sol had this kind of money in the Bank. This has been acheived by hard work over the last three years or so by the Administrators and Mrs Olive in bringing Mi Sol accounts to a standard where court cases can be brought, and won against debtors. Yes, Pepe has more work because he has to attend the Court cases as Mi Sol representative, but there would not be any Court cases without the hard work previously mentioned. Please remember the Court cases so far have only been for 2004. The cases for 2005/2006 have recently begun.

The Shower Blocks were costing all Owners a great deal of money, because they were abused, lights left on, water left to run all night etc, etc. Complying with the wishes of the majority of Owners attending the AGM 2006, they were closed. However, the Committee and Pepe agreed to a proposal to refurbish two sections of Shower blocks for emergency use. Pepe also suggested making half a shower block into a garage to house the gardening car, trailer and tools. This has been done. The remaining available shower Blocks have been converted into four storage units in each block, these are now an asset to Mi Sol, each storage unit will produce 200 Euro per annum into Mi Sol funds.
This was an initiative by Mrs Olive, which she brought to fruition.
The conversion's were carried out at no financial cost to Mi Sol.

The swimming pool is leaking, it has leaked for the past seven years, this was costing a great deal of money to all Owners. I made an agreement with Mr Moran, for the Bar to take over the day to day running of the pool. No one but Mr Moran and I knew of this agreement until I had put the proposal to Pepe verbally and in writing in Spanish. Pepe agreed to the proposal, and it was put to the members attending the recent EGM. The meeting totally agreed to the proposal. This now means that Mi Sol is no longer paying to replace the leaking water, no longer paying for the chemicals to maintain the pool, no longer paying for the fortnightly inspection and testing of the water quality, no longer paying for the insurance, no longer having to pay for the employment of a Lifeguard or pool attendant. In other words it is saving Mi Sol a great deal of money, and one less thing for Pepe to worry about.

Mi Sol is now paying less for Gardeners wages, because the last Gardener, Juan, was paid extra to maintain the swimming pool. That cost is now paid by the Bar. If we pay the new Gardener what we are told is the standard rate for Gardeners, it works out like this :- 724.00 Euro for a 31 day month equates to 23.35 Euro per day. By paying him 815 Euro for a 31 day month this equates to 26.30 Euro per day. This is 2.95 Euro per day extra plus a very small amount in extra tax, that is still costing Mi Sol less than with the previous Gardener.

If anyone believes, and can prove, anything written in this post is not true, please let me know.

Should anyone still believe any of the above is "playing games" or working against the best interests of Mi Sol, please send your replies on a postcard.... to somewhere else !

It gives me no pleasure to have to write this post. Contrary to a minority view of some Owners, I am not for or against anyone, I am for the best interests of the majority of Owners of Mi Sol.

I have no wish to engage in a "tit for tat" slanging match, this is my personal Web Page, not influenced by anyone, but if accusations are made against me, which are clearly unfair, I feel I have the right to reply with the truth.