Laredo revokes the appointment of its third deputy mayor

The Laredo City Council has revoked the appointment of Benito Ortiz Álvarez as Third Deputy Mayor and has withdrawn his delegations and positions on the Local Government Board. The decision is formalized in Mayoral Decree No. 2026/856, dated October 2, 2026, signed by the Mayor-President Miguel González González, and is published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria number 195, of October 9, 2026, section 2.1 of Authorities and Personnel, with the official reference CVE-2026-7839.

The associated administrative file is 2023/2303. The decree is executive from the day of its signing and is disseminated both in the Official Gazette of Cantabria and on the municipal Notice Board, in compliance with article 9.3 of Law 40/2015, of October 1, and article 46.1 of Royal Decree 2568/1986, of November 28.

Scope of the dismissal

The decree agrees, in its operative part, a set of measures affecting the institutional position of the until-now third deputy mayor:

• Revoke his appointment as Third Deputy Mayor, a position he held under reference RESAL 2023/3844.
• Cease to be part of the Local Government Board, in which he was a member under reference RESAL 2023/823.
• Dismissal from any other Mayoral delegation he held.
• Dismissal from the delegation of the Presidency of the Information Commission for Works, Housing, Land Management, Urban Planning, relations with the maritime world, and procurement.

As a consequence of the above, the delegations from which he is dismissed will be assumed again by the Mayor’s Office while the necessary reorganization of the Municipal Government Team is carried out, which will be specified through the issuance of subsequent Mayoral decrees.

Legal basis and procedure

The decree is based on article 20 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, regulating the bases of the Local Regime, which establishes the mandatory existence of deputy mayors in the municipal organization, and in its article 23, which grants the Mayor’s Office the power of free appointment and removal of these positions among the members of the Local Government Board. Articles 121 and 122 of the Municipal Organic Regulation are also invoked, definitively approved in the ordinary session of June 28, 2018, and published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria number 181, of September 14, 2018.

The mayor acts in use of the powers conferred by article 21.3 of Law 7/1985 and articles 41 and 43 of Royal Decree 2568/1986, of April 2. The decree provides for the notification of the resolution to the interested party with an indication of the appropriate appeals, as well as communicating it to the departments of Personnel, Audit, and Treasury. Likewise, it is ordered that the resolution be reported in the next plenary session to be held.

Reorganization underway

The departure of Benito Ortiz Álvarez leaves one of the deputy mayor positions vacant and reduces the composition of the Local Government Board, the collegiate body that assists the mayor in municipal management. The temporary assumption of competencies by the Mayor’s Office prevents a vacuum in the leadership of the affected areas, including urban planning, land use, housing, and procurement, matters of particular relevance to municipal activity.

The published text does not detail who will occupy the position nor how the delegations will be distributed, and refers that decision to future Mayoral decrees. The Laredo City Council has not announced, in the same official notice, the names of possible substitutes nor the scheduled date to complete the reorganization.

The dismissal takes immediate effect and directly affects the functioning of the government team of Laredo, a municipality on the eastern coast of Cantabria. For residents, the change means that the competencies of urban planning, housing, land use, and procurement remain provisionally in the hands of the Mayor’s Office, pending the formalization of the new distribution of responsibilities and the reconstitution of the Local Government Board.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, number 195, of October 9, 2026, section 2.1 Authorities and Personnel, page 51757 (official reference: CVE-2026-7839).