The new Citizen's Store of Famalicão opens next Monday, the 26th of July, located in the space of the former commercial surface Inô, next to the City Council.
The structure, one of the largest in the country in terms of area - with about 3000 m2 - was one of the main struggles and ambitions of the current mayor of Famalicão, Paulo Cunha, who since he took over the leadership of the City Council in 2013, put the Citizen's Shop at the top of the priorities for the county directing the whole process.
In this context, it fell to the municipality to carry out the works necessary for the construction and installation of services, assuming an investment of two million euros, with a contribution of about 20% assured by EU funds, through North 2020.
Bringing together in the same space a set of public services currently dispersed throughout the city, such as the two registry offices (Civil Registry, Land Registry, Commercial and Automobile Registry), the two tax offices of the municipality, the local Social Security delegation and a Citizen Space, the structure will have a total of around one hundred human resources. It will operate on working days, from 9h00 to 16h30. The shop will be closed on Saturdays.
For the installation and management of the Citizen's Shop a cooperation protocol was signed between the Agency for Administrative Modernisation (AMA), the Famalicão City Council, the Institute of Registration and Notary Affairs IP, the Tax and Customs Authority and the Social Security Institute IP, which states that the City Council is responsible for the management and coordination of the shop.
In this context, the municipality will be responsible for guaranteeing the operation of the shop by contracting energy and water services; cleaning; security and surveillance; communications, among others. For the supply of the necessary common services, the entities will transfer to the municipality, on a monthly basis, the reimbursement of the expenses supported by each one. The same happens with the rent of the building, of about three thousand euros per month, which will be divided by all the entities.
In a recent visit to the space, Paulo Cunha was very pleased with the outcome of this process stating that "we will have a Citizen's Shop in Famalicão at the height of the dimension and dynamics of the county that will offer the conditions that today do not exist for the provision of essential public services to people", he said, stressing that "these services are the responsibility of the Central Administration, but the Chamber cannot remain insensitive to the needs of its citizens. Therefore, we assume this investment", he added.