Jaume Montfort, mayor of Bellcaire d"Urgell since 2015, passed away yesterday at the age of 70. The municipality of La Noguera has decreed three days of official mourning and has postponed the ordinary plenary session scheduled for this Thursday, while reorganizing the local government after the death of the republican councilor.
Montfort, an ERC militant, had revalidated the mayoralty with an absolute majority in the 2019 municipal elections and also in those of 2023. His disappearance now forces the council to reorder the municipal executive until the end of the mandate, in 2027.
Reorganization of the municipal government
The expectation is that the current first deputy mayor, Jofre de Juan Delberghe, will assume the mayoralty until the next municipal elections. In parallel, Marc Darbà will join as a new ERC councilor in the Bellcaire d"Urgell City Council.
The ordinary plenary session that was to be held this Thursday has been postponed until the celebration of the investiture plenary session of the new mayor. Meanwhile, the flags of the consistorial headquarters fly at half-mast in memory of Montfort.
Institutional trajectory in Bellcaire and in Lleida
In addition to his period at the head of the City Council, Montfort was a regional councilor in La Noguera and served as director of the territorial services of the Department of Justice in Lleida between 2016 and 2021.
He had a degree in Geography and History from the University of Barcelona and developed his professional career as a civil servant in the Department of Culture for more than three decades.
Projects and positioning in the last term
During his last term as mayor, Montfort was part of the opposition to the project for the largest biogas plant in southern Europe, planned in the neighboring municipality of La Sentiu de Sió.
Among the municipal initiatives he promoted is the Multipurpose School Hall, projected next to the Bonavista public school, one of the outstanding actions of the mandate in Bellcaire d"Urgell.
Act of farewell
The municipal sports center will host a farewell event at 5:30 PM. Bellcaire d"Urgell faces these days of institutional mourning with an eye on the continuity of the mandate and on the succession at the head of the mayor's office after a decade marked by the figure of Montfort.