The selection of the new head of Manilva’s Local Police is starting again from scratch. Manilva Town Hall published the new terms and conditions for filling the post in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia (the Official Provincial Gazette) a few days ago, using the free appointment system, after the previous call had to be annulled following the partial upholding of the objections lodged against the procedure.
With this publication, the Town Hall is trying to close an episode that has been surrounded by controversy over recent months and that has turned an internal changeover into one of the most talked-about matters in local affairs.
The appointment announced before the process was opened
The story began in early March, when the Town Hall publicly announced that Javier González would be the new head of the Local Police, coinciding with the forthcoming retirement of Mateo Collado.
That announcement caught our newsroom’s attention, because it was made before an official call to fill the post existed. Days later, the terms of an urgent free appointment procedure were published, formally starting the administrative process.
The situation raised many questions about a call whose outcome appeared to have been announced publicly before the deadline for submitting applications had opened.
A process that lasted barely a few weeks
The deadline for submitting applications was just three working days and, once the provisional list of applicants was published, the result once again fuelled doubts about the procedure.
Only one candidate appeared as admitted: Francisco Javier González. The second applicant was excluded for failing to meet one of the requirements set out in the terms, and the objections process was opened.
The objections forced a U-turn
After examining the appeals submitted, the Town Hall itself ended up acknowledging that there were irregularities affecting essential steps of the selection procedure.
The municipal resolution declared the terms null and void and ordered proceedings to be taken back to the point before their approval, requiring the call to be redone completely and leaving everything done up to that point without effect.
A new attempt with more safeguards
The new terms now published introduce changes compared with those annulled. Notable among them is the extension of deadlines, which go from the initial three days to fifteen working days for submitting applications.
The periods for correcting possible issues are also extended, and the criteria that will be taken into account when assessing candidates are set out in greater detail, such as professional experience, training, career within the force, the police management project and a personal interview.
The final decision will remain in the hands of the mayor’s office
Despite the changes introduced, the system chosen is still free appointment. This means that the final choice will rest with the mayor, Mario Jiménez, who must give reasons for the resolution based on the suitability of the selected candidate. The personal interview will be conducted by the mayor himself, as set out in the terms.
In this way, the Town Hall is restarting a procedure that seemed settled months ago, but which ended up blocked by the objections and the subsequent annulment of the call.
A new stage now begins in the selection of the head of Manilva’s Local Police. It is a post whose procedure has generated more headlines than expected and whose outcome, this time, must come after all the required administrative steps have been completed.
