The municipality of Midden-Drenthe is losing one alderman compared to previous years. That is the outcome of recent coalition negotiations. Municipal interests BBBondgenoten, PvdA, CDA and GroenLinks form the new coalition, in which only the first three parties supply an alderman.
Aldermen Jan Schipper (CDA) and Dennis Bouwman (PvdA) will continue as aldermen for the next four years. Rico Schans will be the third alderman on behalf of Municipal Interests BBBondgenoten, formerly Municipal Interests Midden-Drenthe. Since the municipal elections in March, the party has been an ally of the BoerBurgerMovement of Caroline van der Plas.
Schans is not a well-known name in municipal politics. De Beilenaar currently works at Hof van Saksen holiday resort in Nooitgedacht. Jannes Kerssies is and will remain party chairman of Municipal Interests BBBondgenoten.
As in all municipalities of Drenthe, the local councils in Midden-Drenthe also made huge gains in the elections: Municipal interests BBBondgenoten and Gemeentebelangen Smilde Beilen Westerbork both received five seats. They were on both three for that. For the past four years, the VVD was still in the college in Midden-Drenthe. This party is now ‘replaced’ by GroenLinks, although that party – unlike the VVD – will not get an alderman.
The four coalition parties will sign an administrative agreement on Monday. Recently, on the advice of informateur and former alderman Erjen Derks, a council program has been drawn up with all eight parties in the city council. The most important themes are reflected in the administrative agreement. These are participation, housing, sustainability, service provision and management style.
Group chairman Jannes Kerssies of Municipal Interests BBBondgenoten: “We have not made a solid agreement. That is not necessary if you work together in good faith. And we also really want to leave room for the other groups to participate in governing our municipality.”
The new college of mayor and aldermen will be installed next Thursday. The other parties can then also respond to the administrative agreement.
Midden-Drenthe is the penultimate municipality in Drenthe with an administrative agreement. Only in Assen this has not yet been finalized, although the alderman candidates are already known there. The plan is that they will also be installed next Thursday.