Bethlehem Hermida gathered everyone against him. She preferred to leave before the five opposition groups threw her out. The Madrid College of Architects began the process to depose their dean on Wednesday, when the Board of Representatives – the body to which the members delegate their decision-making power – approved by 54 votes to 20 a motion of censure; the first in almost a century of history. The next step was a plebiscite to which the 10,000 members were called to participate. The outgoing team wanted to avoid holding it.
According to the institution’s ordinance, the victory of a disapproving vote disables the Governing Board for nine years. During that time, its members are prohibited from holding positions in the organization chart. In a letter addressed to the collegiates, the seven members of the management have explained that, if it were to take place, the referendum would open an “undesirable” period of interim. The health crisis and the lack of support among the groups of representatives of the College pushes them to resign their positions, “even though we are legitimately in a position to request the endorsement. The profession will face a decisive period in the coming months and will experience moments that will require strong and compact organizations that represent the interests of their members and associates ”.
After the resignation of Belén Hermida and her team, an Age Board, pending appointment, will direct the institution. The transfer of powers will be staged this Friday. Said council of elders will operate until the holding of new elections, the date of which cannot exceed a period of four months, according to the statutes of the College. The transitional government will be made up of the four practicing members with the longest active seniority. The eldest of all of them will act as dean in office and the following will successively occupy the positions of vice dean, secretary and treasurer.
Hermida suffered a first setback in late February, when half of his government team resigned. She linked the casualties in her ranks to an old controversy: the sale in 2013 of a COAM Foundation property, located on the street of Piedmont. The operation was already investigated internally without further scandal. But according to her criteria, it was an irregular act, because it was not carried out according to the patronage of the company. That body, he said then, set the purchase at a minimum of 4 million euros, but it was finally sold for 3.4 million. Those accusations led to a complaint that she herself filed against the former dean José Antonio Granero.
The opposition spoke out against it. And to calm the storm surge, it was not enough to dismiss Hermida’s director — a position of trust created ad hoc — who was already part of the previous team, violating the institution’s laws that prevent any repetition of government charges. Ricardo Aroca, the College’s elder between 2002 and 2007, censures that designation: “I actively collaborated in the drafting of the statutes. We include a clause against reelection as a way to prevent someone from entrenching in the institution. Hermida made a mistake by going against that principle, which seems absolutely democratic to me. When he wanted to amend it, the damage was already done. ”
“I am glad of the resignation, because a referendum would have been disastrous for our image. Now the College of Architects needs to look ahead, that we work to sow respect and harmony. People sometimes make mistakes and census suffrage is there to correct them. A new stage opens and it is up to all of us to live up to it ”, adds the designer, who is expected to occupy the treasury of the Age Board. Ahead is a paltry procedural effort: the preparation of censuses, their publication and the dissemination and holding of new elections to the Governing Board.
Hermida, architect and painter, has alternated teaching activity with collegial work during her year in office. She is a professor at the Higher Polytechnic School of the CEU San Pablo University, where she teaches Architectural Projects. And it is part of the Re-Thinking Cities research group. Since 1988, she has been working alone, although in collaboration with other professionals, such as the renowned Rafael Moneo (1989-2007), whose support has allowed her to work with significant clients in the public and private sector, in national and international equipment
Precisely because of its connection to public works, the opposition does not understand that the dean closed this year the Tender Office, a committee that ensures the transparency of tenders and informs the architects. Juan Mera, representative of the Reset group and director of the Toledo School, considers that this body is essential for school activity: “Young professionals lack their own portfolio of contacts and begin by presenting themselves to this type of procedure that the Administration opens. They are rarely publicized enough and the College has spread them among its members for years, to encourage participation. ”
Hermida’s management plans the intrusion tests of the leader of Vox Rocío Monasterio, whose case was filed in the College because the facts had prescribed. But what ended up disavowing the dean was the health crisis. During these months, the Institute of Continuous Training of the College has remained almost inoperative, which has reduced the income from teaching courses by 80%. Likewise, the government team refused to apply an Employment Regulation File (ERTE) due to force majeure. However, in order to correct the economic repercussions of the pandemic – which prevented, for example, renting the headquarters – a loan of one million euros was requested from the Official Credit Institute. The opposition claims that they were never informed of that contract.
The Monastery case
The Vox leader had her own architecture studio, Rocío Monasterio Asociados, but she didn’t really get her degree in architecture until 2009, as EL PAÍS revealed. However, it was featured as such in numerous magazines and publications. In addition, in that period she included her name as an architect on the letterhead of plans in at least four works, between 2002 and 2004. She also publicized the minor works she carried out and the reforms that way. For this reason it was denounced at the Madrid College of Architects.
Two bodies selected by lottery, the Ethics Commission and the Resources Commission, rejected a complaint by the architect and councilor for More Madrid José Manuel Calvo. In February of this year, the file of the procedure kept open by the second of these bodies was revealed, which made it impossible to assess events that occurred more than a decade ago, as any possible infraction would have prescribed. The opposition lacked Hermida’s unequivocal position. And they defend that he tried to stay out of the controversy.
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