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The focus of the local elections is on the municipal councils. Local council members will also be elected on Sunday. Gerhard Müller knows this committee like no other.
Kalbach – When important decisions need to be made in a municipality – for example about how the usually scarce budget resources should be used – they are made Decisions are made by the city council assemblies or the community representatives. They are the committees that make significant decisions about the future of a municipality, which is why they are at the Local election will be the focus of attention on March 15th.
The election of local councilors usually receives less attention, even though it is even closer to the people. The local advisory board consists of at least three and a maximum of nine members, and in local districts with more than 8,000 residents a maximum of nineteen members.
What do local councils do? The longest-serving local mayor explains things
“The local advisory board and the local mayor are primarily a link between the population and the administration in the core town. This applies in both a positive and a negative sense, i.e. for praise but also for criticism,” explains Gerhard Müller. The 73-year-old has been mayor in the Heubach district of Kalbach since 1977 – and is therefore the longest-serving mayor in the Fulda district.
As such, he is often the first point of contact for the people in Heubach. Müller has his office hours in the community center once a week. “Typical issues include potholes, hedge trimming, farm roads or broken street lamps. If something is wrong, people come to the mayor so that he can take care of it. And that usually works.” It rarely happens that no one comes to his consultation hours. Nevertheless, his area of responsibility has changed over the decades: “The administrative work has become less. A lot of things are now done online. Until a few years ago, for example, identity cards were applied for through me. One of the local council's still important tasks is to discuss the budget.”
This can also be found in the Hessian municipal code: It says: “The local advisory board is to be heard on all important matters that affect the local district, in particular on the draft budget. It has the right to make proposals in all matters that concern the local district. It has to comment on those questions that are presented to it by the local council or the municipal board.”
Müller reports from the municipality of Kalbach: “We try to take the suggestions of the local councils into account in the budget. These are mostly sensible suggestions. It's not about building any castles in the air.”
Like the municipal council, the local advisory board also meets regularly. “For us it’s usually four a year,” says Müller. In addition to the preliminary and follow-up discussion of the budget, typical topics include cemetery design or the organization of events, also in consultation with the clubs. Müller meets with them once a year to clarify everything organizational. “It’s been very well received,” he reports.
Local councils are also allowed to make their own decisions
In addition to making suggestions, a local advisory board can also make decisions itself. “We have a budget for the field paths, which the mayor has discretion over. The same applies to the maintenance of the green areas in the village. We can make decisions in these areas without having to consult with anyone. The cemetery maintenance is also handled by us.”
In practice, a lot of things happen via short official channels, as Müller explains: “If there was a flood or a burst pipe, I quickly call the municipality and then they take care of it.”
The 73-year-old's conclusion: “I still think the local advisory board is important, even if we don't make our own decisions. In Eichenried we once had a case where we didn't have a local advisory board. Then contact with people simply breaks off.” When asked what makes a good local advisory board, he answers accordingly: “It should be able to listen carefully to people and mediate when there is criticism of the administration, instead of adding fuel to the fire.”
And Müller himself? He wants to know it again – at least for part of the election period: “I'm running for the local council again. I still feel pretty good. I would also like to complete the 50 years. That would be on April 27, 2027. After that I will stop. I have communicated that clearly.”
