Two volunteer board members of the village council in Zwartemeer were removed from their positions this week. According to the council, because there are “different height levels”. The two members themselves are mainly surprised, they say. “We wonder whether this is possible anyway.”
Kees Overgaauw (70) says the latter. He and fellow board member Edward Jansing (67) said they were told by the chairman on Thursday evening that they would no longer be part of the village council. “It’s a great shame, because we enjoyed doing this work,” he says. Last month, the two board members were said to have had an altercation during a board meeting, but this decision still came as a surprise to the two.
Overgaauw and Jansing both started as elected board members within the village council in March this year. This council – which is connected to the village on the one hand and parties such as the municipality of Emmen on the other – has since consisted of thirteen board members. Overgaauw: “We immediately started our plans since March to improve the connection between the village council and the residents of Zwartemeer, which we thought was necessary. For example, the attendance at the meetings was quite low.”
The two used a website and set up a Facebook page. “We believe that our efforts were really appreciated in the village and we reached more people. We often heard that in the village. And with almost 700 followers, we have built up quite a broad network; around 3,000 people live in it. the village.” According to the two, the Facebook page was also appreciated by the municipality of Emmen.
The decision therefore comes to them “rather harshly,” says Overgaauw. The Facebook page has now been renamed ‘Trefpunt Zwartemeer’. They don’t yet know what the two will do next. “We still have to recover from this a bit. What we are going to do is look at the statutes and policy rules of the municipality of Emmen in the field of directly elected village and district councils, because in our opinion the question is whether a village council can simply be may dismiss elected board members.” Board members are in principle elected for a period of four years.
Chairman Wim Bos of the Zwartemeer Village Council has stated that he does not wish to comment on the situation that has arisen at this time.