Being Mayor is not about pleasing, it's about deciding

Being a Mayor isn't about pleasing others, it's about making responsible decisions. Local government requires proximity, but also firmness. A mayor isn't there to promise everything to everyone, but to serve independently, say no when necessary, and respect the trust of citizens.

It is with a sense of responsibility and deep civic awareness that I share this reflection on what should be, and what can never cease to be, the exercise of a serious, transparent, and people-oriented municipal mandate.

What it means to govern a municipality: Presiding over a municipal council is not a symbolic role, nor is it merely a matter of day-to-day administration. It is an executive position with a real impact on the lives of its residents, which is why it must be exercised with the utmost diligence, a sense of mission, and an uncompromising commitment to the common good.

The role of Mayor requires leadership, knowledge, proximity, and, above all, integrity. What's at stake is not just the management of a territory, but the ability to serve the community truthfully, make responsible decisions, and ensure that every act of local government prioritizes the interests of the people who confer democratic legitimacy.

Municipal action must be based on truth and trust. A municipality cannot be served with vague speeches or easy promises. It must be served with hard work, clear objectives, and governance anchored in principles of legality, justice, transparency, and efficiency.

Financial responsibility and political decision-making: One of the first obligations of those who govern a municipality is to respect the limits of public resources. The municipal budget is not a matter for voluntarism. It must be planned rigorously, executed with discipline, and monitored rigorously. Irresponsibly indebting a city council mortgages everyone's future, takes away leeway from those who come after, and compromises services, investments, and responses that should reach citizens.

In this context, financial sustainability is not a technical detail, but a political and moral responsibility. No development project is legitimate unless it is supported by a solid and transparent budgetary framework.

It's also important to emphasize the responsibility that falls on municipal companies. These entities don't exist to accommodate parallel structures or to operate outside of public scrutiny. They exist to provide quality public services, and it's the Mayor's responsibility to ensure that this happens. Areas such as water supply, waste management, or urban transportation cannot be treated lightly or exploited for other purposes. When they fail, they directly harm citizens' lives, and when they malfunction, the responsibility lies with those who lead them.

Urban planning, businesses, and security: Urban planning is a critical dimension of local governance. No community can grow solidly if it relies on informality, disorderly occupation, or connivance with illegality. Illegal construction is not just an administrative infraction. It is often the root of profound injustices, exploitation, insecurity, and environmental degradation. A municipality that accepts the construction of shacks, makeshift annexes, or illegal structures is abdicating its authority and compromising collective dignity. The commitment must be clear: full legality and urban planning with justice.

Public safety is another area in which municipalities cannot limit themselves to what is formally defined within their remit. Residents demand security in public spaces, protection of property, and the fight against incivility. The Municipal Police must be called upon to fulfill this role with firmness and proximity, and it is also necessary to strengthen the technological resources used to ensure security. Video surveillance, risk detection systems, and urban monitoring platforms must be integrated proportionally and with respect for fundamental rights, but with determination to protect citizens and preserve public spaces.

Health, education, and regional development: Similarly, health and education are structuring pillars of community life. Although the municipality is not primarily responsible for these areas, its action is crucial to ensuring quality infrastructure, decent access, and effective support for the population. It is the mayor's responsibility to ensure that health centers operate in adequate facilities, that schools are rigorously maintained, and that public facilities are prepared to meet new social and demographic needs.

When the State transfers powers to municipalities, there is a line that cannot be crossed: that of financial responsibility. No local authority should accept additional functions without adequate resources. This would be a betrayal of the citizens. Accepting burdens without the capacity to respond compromises the quality of services and the solidity of local governance.

It is also essential to strengthen municipalities' ability to access funding programs, both from the State and the European Union. Attracting public investment is a strategic function that requires planning, technical expertise, prepared teams, and, above all, vision. A council that limits itself to execution, without seeking growth, is condemning itself to stagnation. A mayor has a duty to place their territory at the center of opportunities, which implies solid applications, structured projects, and effective institutional cooperation.

Culture, heritage, and local identity are not mere accessories. They are central assets for social cohesion, collective self-esteem, and regional recognition. A municipality must protect its cultural assets, foster artistic creation, and value the expressions that distinguish its community. This also applies, and decisively, to tourism.

Tourism should be considered a driver of integrated development, never simply a tool for attracting visitors. It is the President's role to promote the territory's strengths, identify its strengths, integrate it into regional and national promotion networks, and ensure that tourism is sustainable, authentic, and generates value for the resident population.

Exercise autonomy, judge judiciously: The municipal function must be exercised with independence, sobriety, and institutional awareness. The city council does not belong to political parties or private interests. It belongs to the people and must be governed with courage, with firmness when necessary and with dialogue whenever possible, without hesitation when the collective good is at stake.

Municipal leadership is, by definition, a leadership of proximity. It must also be a leadership of demand. A municipality is not governed with words alone. It is governed with decisions, with presence, and with responsibility.

All of us, in our municipalities, know incumbent mayors who adhere, with rigor and dedication, to the principles enunciated here. They are mayors who understand the demands of the position, who perform their duties with autonomy, ethical sense, and institutional responsibility. In other situations, we encounter candidates who aspire to lead without yet having demonstrated the capacity to do so. We don't know what they will do, nor how they will decide. But we can legitimately hope that they will do it well, as long as they are prepared to serve, not to obey.

It's crucial that we distinguish between those who hold public office with critical independence and those who are extremely dependent on the party machine that sustains them. A mayor's autonomy is measured, in large part, by their ability to say no. Saying no when the public's interests are at stake. Saying no when institutional balances are challenged. Saying no when moral coherence is more important than political expediency.

Evaluating those in power isn't just about counting meters of road or quantifying square meters of concrete; it's also about understanding the institution's financial health, the sustainability of its commitments, and how well it respects the rules of public administration. What's visible on the surface doesn't always reflect what's structured internally, and as citizens, we have a duty to seek to understand what lies behind the image, the announcement, the inauguration.

It is in this sense that it becomes essential to reject easy rhetoric, baseless promises, and the populist seduction that often attempts to replace the seriousness of governance with the noise of rhetoric. Governing, especially at the local level, is about deciding. And deciding implies choosing. It implies having the courage to face resistance. And, often, it implies displeasing.

Being a mayor isn't a job to please. It's a job of responsibility. And anyone who enters it solely to please will ultimately betray their mission. As Steve Jobs said, with lucid irony, "If you want to please everyone, sell ice cream."

In municipal government, there's no such thing as easy solutions. Choices are required. Character is required. Commitment to truth is required.

This is the standard that citizens should demand. This is the standard that all who aspire to public office should embrace without hesitation.