The names of the candidates vying for the position of Orihuela Urban Planning Guru have been published. Four candidates have now expressed their interest in occupying this senior management position, which is only accessible to those municipalities that, like Orihuela, are considered to be under the status of Large Population.
The highly paid position must be occupied by a career civil servant of type A1 – the highest level of civil servant – with their selection ultimately falling to the mayor. These positions are common in other towns such as Torrevieja, where they are called general directors.
Among the candidates are a number of very well-known faces. The first of them, considered to be the favourite, is Eduardo Rodríguez Carmona. He was in the media spotlight when the former mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, appointed him coordinator of the Edusi funds while he was accused in the Fitur case, although municipal sources indicated that he was acquitted and there is no conviction against him.
Another well-known face is Pilar Ávila Roca de Togores. She is an archivist in the Region of Murcia and until last year was president of the Orihuela Historical Artistic Trust Foundation.
The third candidate, Adrián Ballester, is a PP politician, a computer science professor and consultant on digital transformation projects and European funding. For fourteen years he has been in the front line both in positions of the provincial PP leadership, becoming a deputy, and in the Redován City Council, where he was a councillor.
The final candidate is María Dolores Costa Mazón. She works as a specialist linked to the Infrastructure and Services area of the University of Alicante.
The creation of these new positions was especially criticised by the auditor and the treasurer – also by the opposition – for their high salaries. In the budget there are four positions valued at around 400,000 euros.
