Will Wijdemeren politicians finally make the decision on Thursday and decide to go through with an administrative merger? That’s just the question. Because the political parties believe that the proposals at hand are not yet detailed enough to say yes to. That takes a little more time. This small delay is not the break that some of the population wants. There is still the hope that the council will apply the handbrake and still give residents the opportunity to make their voices heard about dissolving the municipality.
Of the eight registered speakers, seven residents of Wijdemeren made themselves heard on Tuesday during the committee meeting, in which the future prospects of the municipality were on the agenda. While the vast majority of politicians believe that the municipality should merge administratively, residents have major doubts about this and especially criticize the process.
Dowry
It is surprising that residents were not involved at all in this major decision. The Wijdemeren residents were not asked for their opinion on a merger, but were actually only allowed to discuss what was important for the dowry: which core values and qualities should be retained? This was asked in a survey and during a few meetings.
Zero communication and involvement in this future-defining intention of politicians is annoying. Especially because many party manifestos for 2022 stated that residents should absolutely not be sidelined in the event of a new proposed merger. And that is exactly what happened, according to speakers. The accusation that local politics has become very distant from our own society was therefore audible in the meeting room.
Should have been better
Various parties easily put on their sins on Tuesday evening. In retrospect, it would have been better if the population had still been able to express their support for the council’s proposed decision. It should have been better, was the conclusion. Despite that insight, the immediate addition was that the merger decision must be taken quickly. “Because what do we gain if we postpone it for another month?” was heard in the meeting room.
This enormous haste also raises many questions among residents. Why this is the case remains unclear to them, even though they have been asked several times. The hope is still that Wijdemeren will be willing to stop the speedboat for a while, so that the Wijdemeren residents can give their opinion. This could be done, for example, with a survey during the House of Representatives elections on November 22. There is no answer to that.
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Why does Wijdemeren want to merge again?
After the province of North Holland intervened last September, because the municipality’s finances looked anything but rosy for an extended period of time, politicians decided to do some soul searching. Haarlem’s tightened supervision was a ‘harsh reality check’. With the help of an external agency, the politicians then looked at the facts and months later the conclusion was finally drawn that it was no longer possible. There is only one solution and that is to merge with another municipality.
Although Wijdemeren is no longer under the supervision of the province, finances play a major role in this political intention. In addition, the additional tasks that the government places on the municipalities are becoming increasingly difficult for Wijdemeren to handle. Consider the climate objectives, the housing construction challenge, accessibility and a healthy living environment. This certainly applies to an administrative organization that is struggling with a staff shortage. “It is virtually impossible to continue to do this for Wijdemeren,” it was said at the end of June.
On July 12, the council took the intended decision to merge administratively. Since then, Thursday, October 5, has been marked in the agenda as Wijdemeren D-Day.
But it remains to be seen whether the Wijdemeer sword of Damocles will fall tomorrow. During Tuesday’s lengthy, technical and therefore difficult to follow meeting, it emerged that most parties do not consider the documents at hand, the basis of the final decision, to be good enough for decision-making. Because there is still a lot of planing work to be done and there is little time to adjust, a little delay of a week or even two is desirable.
No mayor
In addition, the absence of Mayor Crys Larson also plays a role. Last Wednesday she reported sick. Larson has long covid and will probably be out of action for a long time. The mayor is the key player in the exploratory and later in-depth discussions with the possible merger partner(s). That process cannot start without a mayor, which will in any case delay the next phase of the merger process.
Today, King’s Commissioner Arthur van Dijk is coming to Wijdemeren to discuss a temporary replacement for Larson. For many parties, the outcome of this interview also determines tomorrow evening’s political date. The task is to quickly find an observer who is well versed in Wijdemeer or can be trained quickly.
Too little Wijdemeren-specific
The city council will meet tomorrow evening and the parties will decide whether they will actually make a historic decision or whether they will choose a different date. All signs indicate that politicians believe that the documents are not ready for decision-making. That was the gist of Tuesday evening. Precisely due to a lack of Wijdemeren-specific content and the announcement of many motions and changes, there is a desire to take more time and exercise care.
“Thursday will be a rush job, so postpone it a bit,” said a councilor. The counterargument was that Wijdemeren referred from the very first moment to Thursday, October 5, as the day of the decision. That has raised expectations. Clarity on this will come tomorrow evening.
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