De Wolden will choose four aldermen in the coming years. Gerrie Hempen-Prent and Egbert van Dijk of Municipal Interests remain in place. Mark Turksma has been nominated on behalf of the PvdA, Albert Haar (72) will represent D66 as part-time alderman.
Previously, the council always consisted of three people, the fourth alderman was created especially to improve the service provision at the municipality. This mainly concerns the handling of contact with citizens and companies via the counter, telephone, post and the internet. According to De Wolden, this is good, but could be better, according to research among residents in the region.
Albert Haar of D66 will take on that task, but part-time. “We go for excellent”, he says. “This gives municipal employees more appreciation, but the most important thing is that we put our residents first.”
The municipality is having trouble finding additional staff. “An important reason for us to appoint an extra alderman for this over the next four years,” adds Gerrie Hempen of Municipal Interests.
The second new face in the college is PvdA member Mark Turksma. He will take care of education, accessibility and social themes in De Wolden. “My first ambition is to see how we can meet low incomes with rising energy prices and ongoing inflation.”
Gerrie Hempen-Prent of Municipal Interests will continue to be involved in housing, agriculture and entrepreneurship. Colleague Egbert van Dijk takes care of sports, waste and inclusion policy. He will also continue to manage the finance portfolio.
Formateur Frits Alberts expects that a collaboration between four aldermen will bear fruit. “It fits in with the major themes that will soon be faced by this college. In addition to the great ambition for service provision, there are several challenges, for example in the field of housing, the social domain and sustainability.”
Municipal interests remained the largest party in De Wolden in the municipal elections in March. The party went to nine seats and only needed one seat for a majority on the council. The party is now working with the PvdA and D66, together good for two seats.
This means that the VVD will disappear from the college. The Liberals, who won four more seats in 2018, saw that number halve in March. The CDA, the second party in De Wolden with three seats, will not be included in the coalition either.