Erik Holties (53) from Oosterhesselen is a councilor and real estate agent. Tonight he was appointed alderman during the council meeting of Coevorden. He succeeds Bea Meppelink, who stepped down last month as one of two BBC2014 aldermen.
“This may be a dream I never had,” Holties said in his first speech as alderman. He emotionally thanks his parents who are sitting in the public gallery. “It’s an honor to be here as alderman.”
Holties has worked for many years in the brokerage world, especially in Emmen and Coevorden. In addition, he whistled as a referee in the top of amateur football. He also healed from cancer twice, in 2016 and in 2021. Experiences that he believes come in handy for aldermanship, but how did he ever end up in politics? Holties initially did not see herself entering the political world at all.
Back to 2014, when the new party Belangen Buitengebied Coevorden won six seats from scratch. Holties’ brother-in-law, Jan Zwiers, is party leader thanks to his political experience and that is how Holties ends up with the party. He helps with drawing up the election program and making flyers. “They could still use someone from the Oosterhesselen area on the list,” he says, “and that’s why I agreed at the last minute. I wasn’t that high on the electoral list.”
But list pusher Holties gets so many votes that he could have been in the top six on the council. However, he chooses not to. “At that time, the combination of a family with young children, a busy job and whistling as a referee was the reason I didn’t do that.” At the end of that year, Holties ended up on the council after all, because two council members resigned. Because he has just stopped as a referee at that time, he has more time for that function.
In my last season as a goalkeeper at ZBC (the former football club Zweeloo Benneveld Combinatie, ed.) I also started refereeing matches. I liked that so much that I started doing it more and more often, at a higher and higher level.” Holties eventually whistles matches at the highest amateur level on Sunday afternoons. Even professional football beckons for a while. He even takes courses in Zeist, but because the age for new talents is reduced to thirty by the KNVB, that is ultimately not an option for him.
He thinks it’s a pity, because: “If I go for something, I want the highest possible.” It shows the drive of the new alderman, who would like to take his qualities as a referee into his new job. “As a referee, you are in control in a match, but you also have to let go of the strings. It starts at minute one and from there you don’t know where it will go. Keeping emotions under control,” Holties mentions some commonalities.
Holties also hopes to take his knowledge and skills with him from his role as a real estate agent. “You represent the interests of the seller, but also of the buyer. There are always several interests at play and as an alderman you have to deal with the general interest.”
But most of the baggage Holties thinks he takes from his experiences with illness. He was diagnosed with blood cancer twice during his term of office. In 2016 for the first time and five years later, again in 2021. Both times he was absent from the council for a year. “A message like that does something to you, especially if you have children aged 5 and 9. I have had moments when I thought: this is it.”
Holties recovered both times. He was declared clean a year ago this month. That was last year around the municipal elections. Then he did not run for alderman: “Something like that demands a lot from you, physically and mentally. I wasn’t ready for it at that time. First make sure I’m 100 percent better, I thought.”
Now, a year later, Holties is ready: “It’s just politics, but when things get tough, I hope I can put things into perspective thanks to my experiences.”
He succeeds Bea Meppelink, who announced last month that she was retiring from the position of alderman. How Holties differs from its predecessor: “I’m, I think, more outgoing.” As a council member, Holties is direct in his words, is good at the subject matter and tells it like it is. “In addition, I have a completely different area of interest and work. She clearly has more common ground with recreation, art and culture, I don’t.”
Holties therefore hopes that he will not take over Meppelink’s portfolio one-on-one. “We will talk about it within the college next week. I hope there is room to switch between themes.” Yet, despite his past as a real estate agent, he is not interested in the Housing area. “Because I was in the middle of it for years, that doesn’t feel good in terms of objectivity. Besides, there is an immense difference between developing a project and selling a house and there are current projects that alderman Stegen is very good at. only delaying work and no one is waiting for that.”
The party does not yet know who will succeed Holties in the council fraction of BBC2014.