Weekend column: A place without a mayor – trend or isolated case?

A community in the Donnersberg district is now under external management, and another could soon follow. Ultimately, this doesn’t come as a surprise since problems were already addressed before the election, says our columnist Tommy Rhein.

With Rittersheim and Würzweiler If you control two municipalities in the Donnersberg district under external administration, you will not find anyone in your ranks who would like to take over the office of mayor. In other places too, incumbents struggled for a long time to stand again – or local councils at least had difficulty finding someone willing to join their ranks again. A trend is becoming clear. The office of mayor is becoming more and more thankless and there are hardly any serious interested parties anymore.

Even in the run-up to the local elections this year, it became clear in conversations with incumbents how thankless the job of mayor has long become, especially in the numerous smaller communities here in the district. There has been repeated criticism of how limited people are in their options for action. Due to the high levy, there is often little money left in the municipal coffers to make investments and advance the town. At the same time, assessment rates must be increased in order to keep the budget as balanced as possible. It is an incredibly thankless task to justify and explain all this to the citizens. Unfortunately, it is hardly surprising that some mayors have already reported insults or even threats. The tone becomes harsher, while the other side’s options for action become fewer. Word like this gets around and ultimately leads to what can now be observed in Würzweiler and Rittersheim: Nobody wants to take on the office anymore. Especially in small towns, it becomes more difficult to find willing and suitable candidates.

Is the trend even desired by the country?

Uwe Pfeiffer, the outgoing mayor of Würzweiler, even said that this development did not surprise him at all. He even expected more communities to be affected. And according to Pfeiffer, this ultimately served the wishes of the state government, which – as it always sounds – would have no problem if local administrations were merged in some places. If more and more municipalities come into external administration, this should bring arguments in favor of this project. Ultimately, the municipality administration is burdened with the additional tasks. In the case of Würzweiler, it is probably Hans Feld, office manager of VG Nordpfälzer Land, who now has to take care of Würzweiler. But who knows what will happen after the next election. Especially in the North Palatinate region with its 36 municipalities, it can quickly happen that several towns go under external management – then personal solutions would have to be found. It makes sense that one person would then take care of several communities at the same time.

If you want a mayor, you have to support her

It remains to be seen whether we will really notice a difference in local events. Of course, there is no direct contact person in Würzweiler. Since the municipality was unable to elect councilors, citizens do not have a fixed address in their own town, but they can certainly still contact the council. It remains to be seen whether Hans Feld will make the effort to visit Würzweiler regularly and check that everything is going well. He is more likely to select one or another from the council to take on specific tasks. But can this solve the concerns that local mayors express here and there? Tight budgets, time-consuming cooperation with the VG and district administration and other concerns are unlikely to improve from the municipality’s perspective, even if they still lack their own mouthpiece to communicate the local concerns to the administration. The role of the local mayor continues to be important. And perhaps the trend towards external administration could be stopped if the people in the communities increasingly stood behind their elected council members and mayors, supported and strengthened them – and thus made the office more attractive again. Of course, discussions are part of it, but ultimately it’s about the well-being of the community and that’s everyone’s business, even in the smallest town.

topicnews · September 28, 2024

Weekend column: A place without a mayor – trend or isolated case? – Würzweiler/Rittersheim

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topicnews · September 28, 2024

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