Karapathos: She hecked and fined the mayor and was then removed from her position

In Karapathos, the head of the Building Service of the island was removed from her position one day after the hiring of a new contract engineer to strengthen an understaffed service. This removal occurred shortly after she had conducted inspections of illegal constructions on properties owned by the mayor, Michalis Fellaouzis, and his relatives.

Let’s start from the beginning. Until December 2025, there were two civil engineers in the Building Service of the Municipality of Karapathos. The service was justifiably under-staffed, not only because the number of engineers was low but also because the service covered both Karapathos and the island of Kasos. Therefore, more work with two islands. When the central administration, through Article 28 of Law 5188/2025, gave the opportunity for building services to hire engineers, even as temporary staff for 24 months, the Municipality of Karapathos, following a request from the head of the Service, moved forward with hiring another engineer.

The Municipal Committee of Karapathos unanimously decided to hire a temporary civil engineer for 24 months. The decision was approved by the relevant Ministries, the position was advertised, and the hiring of the engineer was completed by the Municipality on December 15, 2025. How many civil engineers does the Building Service of Karapathos currently have? Two! But why, you might wonder, what happened?

Here’s what happened: On December 16, 2025, the very next day after the hiring, the Mayor of Karapathos issued a decision, citing a recent modification of the Organizational Structure (O.E.Y.), removing the head of the Building Service to be placed in a newly created department with no other staff.

This transfer, the legality of which is under examination, took place without prior notice, consultation, or warning. The move seems inexplicable since the Building Service was already understaffed with only two engineers available.

Two professional organizations of engineers, the Technical Chamber of Dodecanese and the Union of Public Sector Engineers of Dodecanese, intervened officially.

The Technical Chamber of Dodecanese sent a letter to the Mayor of Karapathos, co-signed by the president of the Executive Committee of the Technical Chamber and the president of the Permanent Committee of the Technical Chamber of Karapathos, asking for the reconsideration of the decision to move the civil engineer, in order to ensure the smooth operation of the service.

The Union of Public Sector Engineers also highlighted that the service would now be staffed by a newly hired contract engineer with no prior experience and the civil engineer who had served until then, who was assigned duties not only as head of the Building Service but also of the entire Technical Services Department of the Municipality.

These letters were never answered by the Mayor.

The civil engineer sent a letter to the Ministry of the Interior, the National Transparency Authority, the Technical Chamber of Greece, and the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDKE), which was also forwarded to the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Decentralized Administration of the Aegean, informing them that on December 10, 2025, just days before her removal, she had submitted two reports of illegal construction inspections and fines concerning properties owned by the Mayor and his first-degree relatives.

In the same letter, it was noted that a request for inspections of two other properties owned by the Mayor in another part of Karapathos had been made. However, the civil engineer was unable to proceed with these inspections before she was removed from her position.

We sent two questions via email to the Mayor of Karapathos:

Why did you choose to remove the civil engineer A.R. from the Building Service of Karapathos, especially just one day after the hiring of a third civil engineer to strengthen the service after years of understaffing?

Isn’t it problematic that this happened just days after two inspection reports concerning illegal constructions on properties owned by you and your first-degree relatives, and before two pending inspections on properties in your interest?

Instead of the Mayor, the Secretary-General of the Municipality of Karapathos responded, asking to speak with the reporter by phone or via teleconference “so that you can get a more comprehensive and holistic view of the issue.”

We replied that questions posed in writing (and through the formal channel, via the Mayor’s service email) should be answered in writing. Since then, there has been no response from the Mayor or anyone else.

The case is now in the hands of the Decentralized Administration of the Aegean and the Ministry of the Interior, which are called upon to officially address the issue. It is still unclear why the civil engineer was removed and whether it is related to the cases involving the Mayor that she had handled (for which fines were imposed).

This incident in Karapathos brings to the forefront the broader issue of the subordination of Building Services to Municipalities and the pressures that elected officials may exert, especially when building inspections touch on personal or local interests.

In this case, the question is whether the administrative decisions served real service needs or, on the contrary, were used in a way that undermines the independence and legality of administrative actions.

The Building Service of the Municipality of Karapathos remains understaffed, which has implications for its effectiveness, especially during a period of increased inspections and pending cases.