The new council of the municipality of Coevorden was sworn in tonight. With Bea Meppelink-De Jager (BBC2014) and Joop Slomp (PvdA), who replace his colleague Joop Brink, two new names make their appearance. Steven Stegen (BBC2014) and Jeroen Huizing (CDA) were also aldermen in the previous term. As a result, there is one more councilor than before. According to the college, this is useful because difficult files receive more attention.
Four aldermen are also giving the municipality more room to put the spotlight on the province, the council explains. “This does not immediately yield extra money or subsidy, but it does provide recognisability and recognition,” alderman Steven Stegen said earlier.
Stegen was also an item on the agenda. The alderman lives in Tweede Exloërmond and not in the municipality of Coevorden, while this is actually a requirement. The council therefore had to approve whether he could continue to live in his current place of residence. “The law states that residence waivers can only be applied in special circumstances,” said PAC councilor Jerry Stoker. “In previous years it was still understandable, because he came in halfway through the period. But now? We are curious about his motives.”
On behalf of BBC2014, party chairman Henk Mulder indicates that finding a house is difficult for everyone in these times. “In addition, thirty to forty percent of the aldermen do not live in their own municipality. That choice is made to bring quality into the house. So we certainly have no problems with this,” he said about his party colleague.
Alderman Stegen was somewhat surprised and let it slip that he was not prepared for the question and indicated that he felt uneasy about this. “I was born and raised in Coevorden and I feel connected to this municipality. The reason I am not moving is private: our family’s hobby is keeping horses and that makes it impossible to move.” Ultimately, the council decided to let Stegen live in Tweede Exloërmond again this year.
The PvdA, BBC2014 and CDA also announced the coalition agreement for the next four. The policy document is called ‘Just Doing’, because the Commission believes that the next four years will be dominated by implementation. “We have already discussed and recorded the visions in recent years, now it is time to roll up our sleeves. We are just going to do it and we will do it together,” said Mulder (BBC2014).
The main concepts of the new coalition agreement are ‘building for society’, ‘sustainability’, ‘cooperation’, ‘uniqueness of villages and neighbourhoods’ and ‘foundation for the future’. The council said it was pleased that it was not a boarded-up agreement, but an agreement in outline. “That way there is still something to talk about in the next four years,” Stoker (PAC) concluded.