What is "sindico"

The Síndico of a municipality in the Dominican Republic is called indistinctly alcalde or Mayor. The latter name is preferred as to avoid confusing the title with the similarly sounding alcaide (lit. prison warden). Such person is the governor of the municipality whose township elected him (or her) by direct vote for a term of four years. The Sindico's office daily duties are restricted to the local governance, and as such, it is responsible for the coordination of waste collection, upkeep of public spaces (parks, undeveloped urban parcels, streets, city ornate, traffic light control, sewage and most public utilities). In practice most of it duties are centered in light street repairing (new or big road projects, like overpasses, bridges, pedestrian crossings, etc. are handled by the Public Works Ministry (Ministerio de Obras Públicas in Spanish) office), under the direct control of the Central Government. Subcontracting garbage collection and management, overseeing the use of public spaces and arbitring neighborhood land use disputes which is managed by the National Property office (Oficina de Bienes Nacionales in Spanish) is also controlled by the Sindico's office. Water, electrical supply and public transportation coordination are handled by several Central Government's offices, and as such, are not under control of the Sindico.