Poisonous atmosphere at the Auribeau-sur-Siagne municipal council, delegations withdrawn from Mayor Michèle Paganin

The last municipal council meeting, held this Thursday, focused on the debate on the municipality's general policy. The deliberation followed a request from opposition groups in a poisonous atmosphere and in the absence of a number of elected officials.

Chief Justice Michèle Paganin stated that "she would have liked this debate to be scheduled for mid-June, to allow time to address, in advance, the main themes the opposition wanted to debate, in order to better prepare the session." Régis Degorce, an opposition councilor, then retorted that "it was up to the mayor to present the general policy of the commune and that the people of Auribellois had the right to know where they were going."

According to the mayor, "the elected officials who initiated the request should have initiated this debate, by listing the points they wanted to discuss."

"Planned and ongoing projects will continue."

And Régis Degorce continued: "As for the 650,000 euros that the municipality will have to repay, the residents would like to know what they will not receive because of this financial loss." This is an allusion to the sum that the municipality was ordered to pay in the Parc des Condamines housing development case, for which it has appealed to the Court of Cassation.

Michèle Paganin immediately responded that "the action plan remains the same and that the planned and ongoing projects will continue, the initial 2025 budget having been voted on."

Julie Marot, a municipal councillor from the majority party, but part of the majority group of elected officials who seceded, reviewed "all the actions that had been taken during the mandate" . According to her, "this debate was supposed to be constructive and our group had prepared some points to fuel this discussion".

Delegations withdrawn from the mayor

Ultimately , nothing concrete came out of this discussion. Jean-François Lalande, an opposition councillor, also stated that "Jacques Varrone, the former mayor, had written to the prosecutor, filing a complaint against all of Michèle Paganin's deputies for complicity."

The two opposition groups had also planned to withdraw six delegations from the mayor, which would then return them to the municipal council. Michèle Paganin acknowledged this vote without comment. She thus finds herself deprived of several strategic prerogatives affecting the financial and legal management of the municipality. She will no longer be able to take out loans to finance municipal investments or commit cash lines up to €100,000. She also loses control over setting the fees of ministerial officers (lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, experts), as well as the ability to initiate or defend legal actions on behalf of the municipality—including in matters of land, urban planning, insurance, or personnel disputes—and to settle up to a limit of €1,000. It is no longer authorized to give the opinion of the municipality in operations carried out by a local public land establishment, nor to sign agreements binding the municipality to builders or owners for the financing of public facilities within the framework of a concerted development zone.

For the majority group that split , "this decision is therefore completely in line with the spirit of our group: no blocking of the municipality, the work must continue, but the resumption of these delegations will allow for greater transparency and management by the municipal council."

Other deliberations

The renewal of the IT maintenance agreement with Sictiam for €9,440 was approved. Jean-François Lalande took the opportunity to point out that "Sictiam seemed ill-suited to municipalities like ours, hence the need for competitive bidding." Michèle Paganin pointed out that "a large number of small municipalities have joined Sictiam since the agreement was adopted seventeen years ago, the time elapsed between each renewal."

An update of the municipal road network was also discussed, at the request of the prefecture. The village has 17,729 meters of public roads. These are some of the elements that need to be considered for the allocation of funds for the repair of the roads in question. A public service concession contract has been launched for the installation, maintenance, and operation of street furniture, including the nine bus shelters and five information panels. "No participation from the municipality is required, as the concessionaire is paid based on the advertisements displayed," Michèle Paganin pointed out.