Verbal battle in Exloo, but coalition mainly wants to work together

On behalf of the VVD, party chairman Janny Hofsteenge once again pulled the trigger towards former coalition partner Municipal Interests. “Who is the winner? The party with the most seats? The rise of local parties continues nationally, but has stopped here. Municipal interests lost and so we were open to this coalition.”

Ankie Huijing-Van Tongeren of the CDA is also proud of the agreement that has been signed. “This is an agreement in outline. The opposition will also recognize itself more in the implementation program. We will come back to that. The fact that IC thinks that the portfolio allocation is doomed to failure has to do with confidence. We have every confidence in the collaboration. I wish that for IC too,” she said.

The opposition parties submitted an amendment tonight to allow the new council to consist not of four, but three and a half (FTE) aldermen and to delete the property tax increase from the agreement. “If all aldermen hand in 700 euros per month, we don’t have to pass that on to our residents,” the opposition said.

Hofsteenge responded as follows: “We have had a fantastic alderman with Albert Trip (D66) for the past four years. Sometimes it seemed as if he was being paid for a full alderman position, while he was really on paper for half an FTE. We think, on the other hand, that that it is now appropriate to focus on four full-time aldermen.” De Groot (GroenLinks) underlined how brilliant Albert Trip was, but his party is against appointing four full-time aldermen: “It is not clear to us what the expansion to four full-timers, an extension of which the bill will be placed on our residents, is based on. I don’t think that’s responsible for the residents.”

The opposition’s amendment failed. “Is this purely for the stage or did you really try to find the connection”, Zwiers said. “We received this amendment in the digital letterbox this afternoon. That is very late.” The coalition parties were accused of the same method with regard to the presentation and the subsequent debate evening, which, according to the opposition, were organized very shortly after each other. The coalition wants the property tax to be structurally at 2.75 percent so that residents know where they stand. “Given the challenges that are to come in the near future, we think this increase is completely justified,” said Hofsteenge (VVD).

“I heard many assumptions based on mistrust. I would like to ask these parties to examine these assumptions in two years’ time to see whether they have become reality. Working on mistrust is very complicated,” Zwiers responded to the previous spokespersons. . Harm Greven (Municipality Interests) then seized his chance to express his surprise at the fact that the windmills, a tricky file in the municipality, are not included in the agreement. “You are talking about mistrust. PvdA has been against wind turbines for twelve years, you said in the debate with Margriet Benak of RTV Drenthe. Henk Zwiep, PvdA councilor and brand new alderman for sixteen years, said at the time that the PvdA was opposed to the arrival of wind turbines. Where do I create the confidence from”, Greven wondered.

Zwiers said he didn’t feel like peeing in a game. “It is true that the windmills are not included in the agreement, but I think it is as clear as glass that everyone is bummed about what happened to the windmills and the problems that result. We will continue that fight.”

Despite the criticism, the new council wants to give concrete substance to the agreement in an implementation program. And it wants to achieve that together with the entire city council. It is expected that this implementation program will be presented to the city council together with the budget for 2023. “The new political season will start in exactly 100 days. An ideal familiarization period,” the coalition declared.

Finally, the aldermen were installed for the next four years. Henk Zwiep was installed on behalf of the PvdA. The VVD pushed Klazienavener Jeroen Hartsuiker forward. The CDA must appoint a new party leader, because Ankie Huijing-Van Tongeren is from today alderman. And Bernard Jansen will take the alderman’s chair on behalf of Leefbaar Borger-Odoorn.

Given the reactions of the opposition, a ceasefire or cooperation seems a long way off in the municipality of Borger-Odoorn in the near future. The coalition, on the other hand, would like to ‘think together and act together’. “Let’s get started together”, suggested Zwiers at the end of his speech. However, the smoke from this meeting will have to clear first.