It is the largest association in the Department, and it feels threatened: the AVO, the Val d’Oye Association, is going to change its organization at the start of the next school year.
The association’s board of directors discovered on Monday evening the proposal for a new agreement established by the Valdoie town hall, a text that establishes the relations between the association and the community. It provides that the association 1,700 members that has existed for 57 years shares the management of the room that it has occupied for more than 30 years and is tightening its financial belt.
An “uppercut” for the president of the association
The board of directors decided on Monday to do not sign the text as is : “We were stunned, a bit like a boxer who receives an uppercut.“, says the president of the association, Robert Bolle-Réddat.
First point of friction: the management of the Jean Jaurès hall, made available free of charge to the association by the municipality. Until now, it was the AVO that took care of allocating the halls to its sections and to other associations. The town hall wants regain control on this management.
Another problem: finances. Robert Bolle-Réddat denounces increasingly meticulous controls, and above all the reduction of municipal subsidies : “It goes from 80,000 euros 5 years ago to 25,000 euros today. Financially, over two or three years, it is the end of the association” worries Robert Bolle-Réddat.
A “rebalancing” for the town hall
But the town hall denies any harassment of the association. The mayor of Valdoie, Marie-France Cerfis, has repeated several times that this new text did not in any way signal the end of the AVO.
For her, it’s simply a matter of treat equally the Val d’Oye Association and other associations in the commune, by distributing the financial resources and space at its disposal as best as possible.
The municipal council must vote on this draft agreement on July 10. The municipality and the association then until September 2the expiry date of the previous agreement, to sign the text.
