Day: Associates

  • Open and successful exchange in autumn

    Open and successful exchange in autumn

    An open Group meeting was held today, to which all interested citizens were invited. The aim of the meeting was to provide transparent information on current topics from the municipal bodies, to prepare for the upcoming municipal council meeting and to take suggestions from the citizens.

    News from the committees

    We looked at the last Council meeting in mid-June back. On some open issues, including drainage (parallel to Dr. Domarus-Straße) – there is currently no new state of play. We ask the administration and hope for an answer in the Construction Committee on 12 November or in Municipal Council on 19 November – no agenda has yet been published for both meetings.

    In the open group meeting, the committees' topics were also raised: The Culture Committee deals with important dates, including fair planning, citizens' breakfast and Youth Day. We continue to collect suggestions from the citizenry to improve processes at events. For example, there are suggestions for improvement for the senior afternoon, such as organization and the selection of drinks.

    Other points from our public meeting:

    • We suggest a suitable location for the book phone booth. The idea of designing the telephone booth by young people (We reported) is to be implemented.
    • The use of communal spaces and locking systems has been criticised. We're going after it.
    • The opening of the library took place, which we found very successful. We commend the library team very much.

    Preparing for the next council meeting

    We have already collected and prepared topics for the upcoming Council meeting, including:

    • Industrial area: Potential analysis and file inspection in existing reports. The Central and Financial Committee has granted a new opinion as an investment in the budget.
    • Information from citizens on the critical traffic situation – here the intersection of cycle paths: In the context of road safety, we call on the administration to arrange for the road construction load carrier (probably state-owned mobility company here) to examine measures.

    General information from the place

    In conclusion, current developments in the municipality were summarized:

    • The primary school in Dernbach will be expanded to ensure a full-day offer.
    • A new siren was installed at the end of the road ‘Im Wehrholz’.
    • The no-hold zones around the Raiffeisen-Gymnasium are still not sufficiently complied with. We ask the administration if and what measures are foreseen.
    • The joints of the village well were repaired with synthetic resin.
    • Several sacked places in the local area – including Kirchvor- and Rathausplatz – have to be repaired.
    • The expansion of the fiberglass work continues to be unreliable, a decrease in the work is still pending, as a representative reported.

    Finally, citizens were invited to contribute their ideas for village development. The exchange clearly demonstrated the importance to many of strengthening community life, better coordination of events and open dialogue within the community.

    Together for Dernbach plans to maintain public group meetings at intervals of about three months. We hope to be able to continue to use the Council Hall for this purpose, for which we have worked very hard. We will announce the dates for 2026 here as soon as possible.

  • News from the Municipal Council 2/2025

    News from the Municipal Council 2/2025

    On Wednesday last week, the most recent meeting of the Dernbach municipal council took place. Our group Together for Dernbach This time, too, he has been involved and accompanied some important issues critically, but constructively. Here is an overview of the items on the agenda:

    Item 1: Announcement of non-public decisions

    The mayor informed about two decisions from the non-public part. Both concern property matters.

    Item 2: Budget 2025

    A key issue was the 2025 budget. As the mayor explained, this is not balanced. The main reasons are upcoming investments and increased expenses, especially for the day care centre, which is run by the Diocese of Limburg. The increased payments are retroactive and affect several municipalities.

    The focus was on the following investment items, among others:

    • €663,250 for land purchases in the new construction area Cap garden. Some of these investments are to be more than counterfinanced by subsequent land sales.
    • Expansion of Ebernhahner Straße in the area of the future Norma-Markts (walking path, crossing aid, turning lane).
    • Participation in Martin-Luther-Straße (extension to Dernbach area), which has already been expanded by the city of Wirges.
    • Creation of the Friedgarten, which could be implemented more cost-effectively through own contribution and donations.
    • Setting up an emergency meeting point, in particular by means of an emergency generator. A grant of €7,500 was granted for this purpose. The discussion revolved, among other things, around the question of which equipment an emergency meeting point should at least have (e.g. heat supply), with the mayor stressing that no high quality of stay is foreseen.

    Another point was the second purchase price for the community centre.

    Our group welcomed the planned investments in principle, but called for a careful assessment of the financial situation. Manuel emphasized that the upholstery built in recent years has now been largely used up. It is true that around €100,000 per year is left for investment – a positive aspect. At the same time, it pointed to possible risks, such as if expected revenues (e.g. from land sales) were lower. A conscious use of the available resources therefore remains important.

    Item 3: Tax rates 2025

    The background of the consultation was the real estate tax reform, through which Dernbach will in future be around €54,000 less revenue has to expect. To compensate for this decline, the property tax would have to be increased by about 100 percentage points. However, the mayor proposed to wait for further development first.

    Stefan Görg pointed out that differentiated lifting rates – e.g. for undeveloped land – are also possible and thus the aim can be pursued to close building gaps more quickly. This variant was rejected by the CDU faction with inconsistent arguments about a possible increase (heirs would be burdened). This is despite the fact that – just under a year ago – she was the only political group to have voted in favour of such a model herself. There was also talk of not putting more money into the pockets of citizens, which is not comprehensible in the context of the decline in revenue. The CDU group leader also referred to an increase a few years ago and spoke out against a further increase.

    Manuel criticized the waiting so far and the contradictory reasoning: The amount of a revenue-neutral increase had already been known since the end of last year and forward-looking planning would have been appropriate. The non-adjustment of the rates de facto means that the municipality's financial room for manoeuvre is noticeably reduced. Ultimately, it was decided by a majority to leave the lifting rates unchanged for the time being. There were four abstentions.

    Item 4: Amendment of the Cemetery Fee Regulations

    The cemetery fee regulations have been adapted to reflect the newly created possibility of urn graves in the Friedgarten. The mayor presented the planned fees orally (approximately €800) and compared them with other municipalities of the Verbandsgemeinde. He stated that the administration could not have prepared a cost calculation in time.

    Stefan and Roswitha criticized in particular the lack of written draft resolution and short-term information. Unlike the CDU parliamentary group, Together for Dernbach had not been informed in advance. Especially when it comes to a sensitive topic such as funeral fees and a change in the statutes, we consider transparent and sufficient preparation to be essential.

    As far as the matter was concerned, we considered a moderate fee to be acceptable in principle. Manuel pointed out that no funeral form is cost-covering and a reasonable orientation value makes sense.

    Despite these concerns, the amendment to the statutes was adopted unanimously; There were two abstentions.

    Item 5: Photovoltaic system for the nursery

    The planned photovoltaic system on the roof of the day care center was unanimously approved. The planned self-consumption makes the project economically viable in the long term – profitability is currently estimated to be achieved after about 11 years. Funding is also expected. A future agreement with the kindergarten for the use of the generated electricity is conceivable.

    Item 6: Population Question Hour

    A resident suggested posthumously appointing a deceased person as an honorary citizen of Dernbach. The mayor accepted the proposal and announced that he would discuss the matter with relatives.

    Item 7: Communications and enquiries

    In the last part of the meeting, several topical issues were raised:

    • Fibre optic expansion: The course so far has been critically commented on. The delays continue and the execution is partial and still deficient. The mayor announced that he would check with the relevant authorities. Since it is a self-employed project of Vodafone, according to the VG administration, there are only limited rights of intervention.
    • Level crossing main road: The road surface should be repaired if the train traffic is suspended due to construction work. The state authority for mobility has not yet given any feedback on this.
    • Photo mountain: This is to be used again as a photo location. According to a request, the vegetation should also be removed and the wall painted.
    • Invasive plant species Hercules perennial: It was announced that possible countermeasures are under consideration.
    • Industrial area: An associate asked about remaining development opportunities. The administration is examining the situation.
    • Noise pollution from railway announcements: One member of the Council was critical of this.
    • Access road Grillhütte: When asked by a council member, the mayor admitted that the path serves as a rescue access to the emergency exit of the ICE tunnel.

    conclusion

    The meeting once again showed: Dernbach faces significant challenges, both financially and infrastructurally. Our group Together for Dernbach will continue to work to ensure that decisions are well prepared, comprehensible and made for the benefit of all citizens. We see open communication and early involvement of all political groups as a central prerequisite for functioning community work.

  • Take a look at our first meeting

    On 28 August 2024, the first meeting of the newly elected municipal council took place in the community centre of Dernbach. We, the members of the Yankovich electoral group, We are pleased that six of us have been appointed as new members of the Council. This is an important step on our way to actively shape our community and represent the interests of the citizens of Dernbach.

    First personnel decisions – a new beginning?

    The re-elected mayor Ferdi Düber and the CDU parliamentary group have promised us a good cooperation. With this in mind, we also voted with the CDU parliamentary group in the elections of the first two associates (and representatives of the mayor). The list of committee members proposed by both political groups was adopted unanimously.

    Despite our good election result with almost a third of the votes and seats in the Council, however, the position of third associate was also awarded to a candidate of the CDU. It is particularly regrettable that our proposal to elect Gebhard Schmidt as a committed and highly qualified candidate with proven leadership quality was apparently unanimously rejected by the CDU parliamentary group.

    Newly elected deputy with local mayor of Dernbach and first deputy of the VG-Wirges
    The newly elected associates with local mayor (middle) and first associate of the VG-Wirges (right) – all CDUs

    What's next?

    This result gives us cause for concern and we are excited to see what the announced good cooperation will look like in practice. In any case, we are happy to accept the offer that Cosimo, as our group leader, can participate in the meetings with the mayor and deputy mayors. This gives us the opportunity to contribute our ideas and concerns directly and to be heard at the decisive points. We are ready to work constructively with all Council members and the top management and hope that this will be based on reciprocity.

    Our goal is to inform all Dernbachers regularly about our council work. We invite all interested parties to get involved with us and to contribute their ideas, so that together we can create a liveable and sustainable village.