The Covid had a good back! The administrative court has just purely and simply canceled the meeting of the municipal council of Bréville-sur-Mer (Manche) of June 2, 2020 from which three inhabitants had been wrongfully excluded for health reasons. “We were installed in the council room, a few minutes before the start of the meeting, which was to decide on a 10% increase in municipal taxes. We understood very quickly that our presence was not to the taste of the mayor. He immediately had a vote taken behind closed doors for health reasons linked to the Covid, ”recalls Jean-Yves Desfoux, one of these three citizens banned from attending.
Sanitary rules were already relaxed
They have therefore decided to initiate proceedings before the administrative court, which has therefore just given their case. “The municipality does not establish that the room was too small to accommodate three additional people. These three people wore a mask and were concerned about respecting social distancing, while on this date, the health rules were relaxed, in particular allowing the reopening of restaurants and bars, ”explains the judge.
All the decisions, continues the court, taken during this council are null and void, starting with the main one of them that day: the increase in municipal taxes by 10%! This means that the town hall will have to reimburse the inhabitants for the overpayment over the past two years! “I’m not going to tell you that paying less tax is bad news! smiles Michel, a resident of the town. Now what happened that day…I wasn’t there. But I imagine that if justice dismisses a municipal council, there are good reasons. “No question of having the version of the mayor, Stanislas Martin, who did not wish to answer our questions.