Ragusa – “The Iblea Acque Spa company is like a powder keg ready to explode”.
It is the summary of this morning’s press conference held in the hall of the former province “Giovanni Molè”, held by the municipal councilors of Ragusa Gaetano Mauro and Peppe Calabrese, by that of Santa Croce Camerina Piero Mandarà and of Giarratana Giovanna Caruso. At the meeting with journalists, the councilors noted “a chronic lack of transparency in the documents produced by the governance of the company of which the Hyblaean municipalities are part”.
“For months we have been raising doubts about hiring, competitions and management – began the Ragusa city councilor, Gaetano Mauro. First the story of the 4 places advertised with 9 participants, without any advertising. Then, the transformation of two of these hires into the role of managers, in complete violation of the law and without public competition. And the reactions to our questions were truly bizarre. The Committee of Mayors, which deals with the control chaired by the mayor of Ragusa Peppe Cassì, decided that the competitions should be redone, giving the widest possible publicity. None of this occurred months later.”
“On 2 January 2024 – continued Mauro – Iblea Acque Spa published the selection for the hiring of 6 figures, including 2 managers, once again violating the competition rules and making TAYLOR MADE seed announcements clearly citing the requirements held by the two already benefited managers who among other things had two degrees no longer existing in the university system. This time, the intervention of the Control Committee, again chaired by the mayor of Ragusa Cassì, resolved to block the competitions of 2 January 2024, giving the company a mandate to redo the competition procedures within 30 days. Again, none of this. To date, the competitions have not been announced. And again. Last February 22nd, the department for local autonomy of the Sicily region, in a note addressed to the 12 Mayors and the Court of Auditors, also noted that the role of Sole Director conferred on the engineer. Franco Poidomani would be illegitimate as he is a retired former public manager and as such he could only have received the position for one year and free of charge. In this case, however, it is equal to three years with an annual salary of €95,000 gross. Here too, Iblea Acque manages to amaze with its indifference towards the Region. By virtue of this note – Mauro said – on 03.07.24, the committee on similar control decides to ask a lawyer for a pro veritate opinion to verify the veracity of what was stated by the regional offices. Paradoxical. To date, nothing.”
To make things worse, the councilor of the Democratic Party Peppe Calabrese also spoke of a “disturbing silence” of the mayors and the president of the territorial water sector. The municipality of Ragusa – said Calabrese – has anticipated to Iblea Acque Spa, the figure monsters of 10 million euros. An enormity for a public company with share capital of 97 thousand euros. We wonder how these roles will be reimbursed and above all who will have to pay this reimbursement amount. We are not for privatizing water, but we want the method of public water management to be transparent and legitimate. Calabrese also turned to the other administrators of the Iblean municipalities to ask for the company to be placed under special administration. We will also contact the prefect to expose any critical issues.”
Also along the same lines is the municipal councilor of Santa Croce Camerina Piero Mandarà who highlighted how in his municipality “… the cost of water managed by the public service has increased by 100% compared to when it was managed by a private company. The single tariff for everyone is an injustice” – concluded Mandarà. Even Giovanna Caruso, former councilor and now opposition councilor in Giarratana, asked for clarity, calling for transparency in the procedures, complying with the requests made by colleagues present.
