On Tuesday, the Kalkan Belediye Board held its first meeting, following the summer break.

Some 17 members of the public were in attendance, and KTLN was there to listen to proceedings.

There were some interesting agenda points, and as usual, a lively interactive session from the audience.

Item one on the agenda, was agreeing a new Belediye planning committee.  Three members of the Board were voted in.  This committee is responsible for looking at all local planning matters, and considering them prior to the Belediye making a decision.

The second item related to the recruitment of a professionally qualified electrical engineer.  The Belediye has decided that rather than continuing to employ contractors, there is sufficient work to justify having a member of staff.  Apart from anything else, they need someone to oversee the electrical infrastructure required to pump fresh water to Kalkan from Saklıkent.  The Board agreed to recruit one person.

Item three was all about charges for boats at the harbour, for fresh water, electricity and the disposal of dirty water.  A new pay as you go card system is now in operation.  The Belediye decided not to change the current tariff.  Charges are the same as Kaş.

The fourth agenda item was about the building where Kalkan Belediye has its offices.  There is some historical background to explain here.

As you may know, for some time, Kalkan and Kaş have worked together to bring water from the Saklıkent area to both towns.  Many years ago, they jointly got bank credit to establish the whole system to pump and distribute fresh water.  Apparently, the building currently occupied by Kalkan Belediye, was built with some of these funds, and was originally intended to be an office from which water supply services would be managed, for both Kalkan and Kaş.

However, it is plain to see that the building is not used for this reason.  Kaş water supply services are managed from a Belediye building in Kaş, whilst Kalkan Belediye is now using the building as its main office - not just as a place to manage the water supply.

As this property was built using bank credit, there is ongoing interest to pay.  Kaş Belediye have said that as the building is not used by them, they don't wish to pay interest on that bit of the credit used to build these premises.  The Kalkan Belediye Board has agreed they will pick up this interest payment.

Agenda item five was about properties in Kalkan that have not, according to the Belediye, been paying the correct amount for their water supply.  Kalkan Belediye has been carrying out checks on water supplied to various properties. 

Their findings revealed a number of customers who have been receiving water, but not paying for it.  The list is quite long, however there are a handful of customers where significant amounts are owed.  There are some eye-watering amounts.

Analysis has been undertaken on all of these customers, to estimate the cost of 'true' annual water consumption, based upon the findings of the investigations.  The Board has decided that a fine, or penalty of ten times the amount calculated, will be charged, to those customers who have not been paying for their water.  So if the annual water bill is calculated to be 1,000TL, the customer will have to pay 10,000TL!

[Editor: If you own a property in Kalkan, and have any concerns about your own water bills - for example, if you have not received a water bill, we suggest that you contact the Belediye.  And if a third party pays bills for you, we would recommend asking to see the official receipts, if you don't already get them.]

With the agenda items concluded, we moved to questions and comments from the audience.  There was a familiar theme.

A local businessman, returned to a topic he has raised on previous occasions.  You could sum up his view by saying he wants to keep Kalkan special.  He had prepared a list of suggestions, which he handed over to the Board, which he believes will preserve, and add to the charm of Kalkan.  For example, he urged the Belediye to work with businesses, street by street, to improve the aesthetic beauty of the town.

He asked the Belediye not to go down the road of having big illuminated signs on the bus shelters that are due to be installed across town.  He said Kalkan town should be remembered for its stone buildings covered in bougainvillea, not bright signs made of glass and aluminium. 

He said that shops should be encouraged to stop using plastic bags, and move to paper bags, which are more environmentally friendly.

A further suggestion was to extend the tourism season by two months - one at either end of the season, and reduce the building season.  And it was also suggested that a meeting should be held between the Belediye and business owners, to plan a strategy for the future of Kalkan as a tourist resort, rather than just looking one season ahead.

Another businessman, working in the centre of the old town suggested that they should try having a traffic free week in the old town, to see if it could work.  He suggested that having pedestrians only would have a positive effect on the town centre.  [Editor: According to a poll conducted by KTLN at the end of 2010, 9 out of 10 people who voted, would like to see some kind of traffic restrictions.]

Incidentally, we should mention that from time to time, these meetings do refer to the results of the KTLN annual survey, or the monthly polls that we conduct.  For example, reference was made in this meeting to our poll about signs and furniture put on Kalkan streets. 

So your views, as expressed in these surveys/polls are of interest to the Belediye, and we would urge you to take part.

KTLN runs polls (normally on a monthly basis), and our annual survey takes place round about February every year.  You must be a KTLN member to take part. 

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