Santanyi town hall's municipal secretary has been living for free in a town hall-owned apartment for the past thirty years.
This matter came up at Thursday's council meeting. The opposition Suma grouping insisted that there should be a revision of the municipal inventory, given that the secretary occupies a town hall property and does so because of a decree that was issued during the Franco era.
The apartment, which is 110 square metres, is on the first floor of a building near to to the town hall itself; the building also houses the social services department. The current secretary was offered the property when moving from Madrid thirty years ago; the previous secretary had lived in it as well.
The town hall's legal advisor says that this is all perfectly legal. However, there is no currently applicable regulation which obliges the town hall to make the apartment available as the secretary's "official residence".
The decree was issued in 1952. This urged town halls to offer housing to secretaries as a means of incentivising them to move to Majorca. At that time, there were very few people with the necessary qualifications in Majorca. The decree was eventually repealed in 1986, yet the current secretary moved in three years later.
The legal advisor concludes that although the town hall did not have and does not have any legal duty to provide housing, there is no legal reason why it should not.
The Santanyi case is unique; no other town hall in Majorca now has a secretary in one of its properties.