Brief history of the City Council of Paterna de Rivera
ITS MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
The data we can provide about the history of our City Council is that, Paterna in its origins as population, we find a Closed Council, which was the name what we know it today as City Hall. It was called Closed Council because it was exercise the permanent management of the ordinary issues of the neighbors, convening to all the neighbors in the extraordinary issues.
By that time, Paterna was part of an estate and the positions of mayors and councilors or the loyal executor were assigned by the State House. This was this way until the Courts of Cádiz.
The first document that talks about the composition of the Council of Paterna dates from 1520. It talks about the Council and the Mayoral of Paterna, signed by the 1st Marquise of Tarifa.
COMPOSITION OF THE COUNCIL-CITY HALL OF PATERNA
CHRONOLOGY
YEAR 1542
In that time, we had the following distribution of positions:
* Mayors: Martín García Buenvecino and Pedro de Vargas
* Councilors: Alsonso Hernández and Pedro Martín
* Notary: Álvaro Pérez
There were two mayors, also called the first one as mayor of first vote and the second one as mayor of second vote, who acted as the mayor’s deputy. The term of these gentlemen was for a year and they were elected by the chief magistrate or main mayor that Paterna shares with Alcalá, the chief magistrate since the end of the 16th century, with the endorsement of the House of the Medinaceli, Lords of Alcalá.
So we have the following distribution of positions in Paterna:
* Two ordinary mayors: named of 1st vote the first mayor and mayor of 2nd vote or mayor’s deputy the second one, elected every year in December and approved by the City Council of Alcalá.
* Two councilors, with the same attributions and functions than the current ones.
* Notary.
FUNCTIONS AND COMPETENCES OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES
* Main Mayor or Chief Magistrate: He had the competences of defense, government and justice in the 1st instance. The position was annual at the beginning and later every three years since 1685. For executing this function the chosen person had to be Lawyer or Licensed of that time and neighbor of the place.
* Ordinary Mayor: He was given the name of magistrate and was under the rules of the chief magistrate.
* Chief Magistrates: They were officials that carried out diverse affairs of the Township just like the current councilors.
* Notary: He carried out the same functions a Secretary of the City Council would do today (administration chief).
YEAR 1782
According to the minutes of the 6th February, the Council was formed the following way:
* Two ordinary mayors: Marcos de la Peña and Juan Cebada
* A loyal executor or Secretary: Manuel Calero
* Two councilors: Antonio de Cote and Miguel Moguel (they also were the representative administrator)
* Two deputies
* Two representative procurators
This new distribution of positions is made by the municipal regime established by Charles III of Spain in 1766.
The two councilors and the loyal executor in this Town Council are appointed by the Medinaceli Duke.
The process of election of the ordinary mayors was as follows: The town council with the first mayor elect two ordinary mayors, being this approved by the City Council of Alcalá, which gave ownership of the new position to these and quitted the mayors of the year before.
The representatives were elected by the neighbors.
FUNCTIONS AND COMPETENCES
* Main Mayor or Chief Magistrate: Defense, government and justice in the 1st instance.
* Ordinary mayors: Magistrates at the service of the chief magistrate.
* Councilors: They had the same attributions that they currently have.
* Loyal executor: With the same attributions that the current secretary.
* Deputy: They controlled the supply, cleaning, etc of the village.
* Representative administrator: He was the representative of the village in every case, something like the ombudsman.
YEAR 1823
In this time we have the following distribution:
* 2 ordinary Mayors
* 2 Councilors
* 1 Loyal Executor
* 2 Deputies
* 1Representative administrator
In this case, everything seems similar to the formation of the prior City Council but the process changes as a result of the municipal regime established by Ferdinand VII of Spain, who quit the lords the authority to appoint the local authorities, reserving this to the Territorial Audiences (in this case, Sevilla) as a proposal of the City Councils for the ordinary Mayors.
The appointments are now for four years.
FUNCTIONS AND COMPETENCES
* Main Mayor or Chief Magistrate: Defense, government and justice in the 1st instance.
* Ordinary mayors: Magistrates at the service of the chief magistrate.
* Councilors: They had the same attributions that they currently have.
* Loyal executor: With the same attributions that the current secretary.
* Deputy: They controlled the supply, cleaning, etc of the village.
* Representative administrator: He was the representative of the village in every case, something like the ombudsman.
YEAR 1825
Since this year onwards, there’s no reference in the documents about the approval of the City Council of Alcalá in the process of election of the representatives of the local government of Paterna, which gives us the clue that it was in this period when it got separated from Alcalá and it got the independency as autonomous Township.
YEAR 1836
According to the Law of Townships of the 15th October, Paterna has the following distribution of positions:
* A Mayor
* Two Deputy Mayors
* Nine Councilors (elected in terms of the number of neighbors)
YEAR 1975
According to the rules derived from the Constitution of 1876, the Law of Townships of 1836 and the Law of Local Regime of 1955, Paterna has the following distribution of positions:
* A Mayor-President
* Two Deputy Mayors
* Seven Councilors
* A Secretary
These positions now make up the formation of the following governing bodies:
* The Permanent Committee: formed by the Mayor and the Deputy Mayors.
* The Plenary Session: formed by the Deputy Mayors and all the Councilors.
YEAR 1979
After the democratic elections of 1979, Paterma has the following political structure:
* A Mayor-President
* Two Deputy Mayors
* Eight Councilors
* A Secretary
The following governing bodies are formed:
* The Permanent Committee: formed by the Mayor and the Deputy Mayors.
* The Plenary Session: formed by the Deputy Mayors and all the Councilors.
YEAR 2009
We’re already in the present, and after the municipal elections celebrated in 2007, Paterna has the following distribution of positions:
* A Mayor-President
* Four Deputy Mayors
* Eight Councilors
* A Secretary
The following governing bodies are formed:
* The Local Governing Board: Integrated by the mayor and the deputy mayors.
* The informative Committee of Treasury and Staff: It is formed by a deputy mayor, who is the president and this position corresponds to the treasury delegate and five councilors coming from the rest of political groups.
* The Informative Committee of Urban Planning: It is formed by the deputy mayor of urban planning and five councilors.
* The Plenary: It is formed by the mayor, the deputy mayors and all the councilors.
THE FACILITY OF THE TOWN COUNCIL
At the beginning the facility of the Town Council was located in the same Square (Plaza de la Constitución) or in the Duke’s House or in the house of the duke’s butler. We see that the council meeting had not a fixed place but it was changing according to the availability of that moment and the circumstances which motivated the meeting. Over time, the headquarters of the Town Council was established in Calle Real and could be located in what today is the Culture Hose (this is just a surmise) until 1993 in which it was established in the place we all know today. The current building was erected by Elías Ahuja, stockholder of the American General Motors, who in addition, began the construction of the current Civil Guard barracks and erected the tower-deposit for water.
After the Civil War, the building of the City Hall was adapted for the Consistorial House and Public Market, conserving this structure nowadays.