Here's what you need to know about the Cogolin municipal council

This time, the quorum was reached: postponed from July 22, the municipal council meeting was held on Saturday morning for 2.5 hours at the Bastide Pisan with the same agenda as Tuesday.

The 19 people present (with 5 proxies) were supposed to vote on 33 resolutions. Except that in Cogolin, nothing happened as planned.

Five points were thus dropped after the intervention of opponent Olivier Courchet: the election of the members of the board of directors of the Marines marina authority and four commissions (call for tenders, delegation or concession of public service, local public services, CLECT).

" These projects justify this renewal by an alleged renewal of the municipal council. This is not the case at all. The council has not been renewed. You (Ms. Lardat) were elected, but within the council. The members were elected for the duration of the mandate. You cannot automatically dismiss them. It is therefore appropriate to withdraw these deliberations which, if they were voted on, would be void. "

" We will do this ," declared the woman who succeeds Marc-Etienne Lansade in tense conditions.

The meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m., began in a tense atmosphere, with about thirty people in the audience, under the surveillance of the municipal police, sitting or standing behind barriers. Two were asked to leave after remarks.

"Parked like oxen"

As for Councillor Michaël Rigaud, he showed his disapproval by sitting down in the audience: " I cannot leave the people of Cogolin penned up like oxen. "

He had also previously written a letter asking the chief magistrate to transfer the meetings to the Maurin des Maures centre, " a municipal hall with bleachers and a much larger capacity, with good listening and security conditions ".

A possibility taken into account by the mayor during the meeting, who promised to study it.

But Christiane Lardat began the morning with a clarification regarding the new configuration: " Due to the disruption caused during the July 15 council meeting, I would like to remind you that we have internal regulations. The old configuration was not safe for elected officials and residents. The meetings are public and recorded. However, at the request of three members or the mayor, the council can decide to meet behind closed doors without debate ."

Remarks, applause and laughter punctuated this session where we already felt the municipal elections approaching: " In nine months, there will be no one left ," said one spectator.

" It's your right, in nine months, go vote and choose another team ," replied the mayor, asking for respect and indulgence in the current context.

Not enough to dampen the opposition which, in addition to several questions and debates on town planning (we will come back to this), intervened in particular on the question of compensation (1): " A balanced distribution of the envelope in accordance with the regulatory ceiling ", for Christiane Lardat: " I am not at the maximum, I reduced my compensation to allow my first deputy to benefit from it ".

" The only change to the agenda concerns these allowances. You even forgot the issue of the PLU (Local Urban Planning Plan) that will determine the future of Cogolin, which requires us to meet again next Wednesday. We'll leave it to the people of Cogolin to draw the necessary conclusions ," countered opposition member Mireille Escarrat.

(1) Mayor: 62.5% of the gross terminal index of the civil service pay scale; 1st deputy: 30%; 2nd to 9th deputy: 23%. For three delegated councillors: 12%.