Day: fibreglass

  • Council meeting of 19 November 2025

    Council meeting of 19 November 2025

    In the recent municipal council meeting, topics were discussed in numerous agenda items (TOP), which are also important in the new year. We summarize the most important points from the public session.

    TOP 1: Announcements

    The mayor informed about several decisions from the non-public part of the meeting, including decisions on land sales. In addition, the planned funds for the purchase of further land in the new development area ‘Oberm Kappesgarten’ are to be deferred for the time being.

    In addition, it was announced that one of the previous hunting tenants is withdrawing from the contract. This means that only one hunting tenant will be contractually bound for Dernbach in the future.

    Item 2: Establishment plan of the municipality

    On 1 January 2026, a new gardening post is to be advertised. At the same time, two existing part-time jobs will be cut in 2026.

    Since many community workers are of a similar age, several age-related retirements are to be expected in the next three years. In order to allow for the necessary training periods flexibly, an additional position should be taken into account – in return, an existing position will be omitted thereafter.

    This means that the community should be well prepared for the upcoming developments in terms of personnel.

    TOP 3: Emergency generator für the Municipalitycentre

    Funding is available for the purchase of an emergency power generator, which costs around € 28,000 plus feed-in and other parts of the system, until 31. 12. We need to apply for 2025.

    The community center is to be upgraded as an emergency meeting point in order to strengthen the crisis preparedness of the community.

    TOP 4: Tax levies – revenue-neutral adjustment decided

    Without an adjustment of the tax levies, losses in tax revenues would be around 18 percent. % was to be expected. This would have had serious consequences, including possible disadvantages in general allocations (practically compensatory payments from the Land).

    The Council has therefore adopted a proposal to compensate for the tax losses caused by the reform of the property tax, which some Council members have referred to as a ‘socially acceptable variant’.

    We regret that no action was taken in May – we had already pointed out the tax shortfalls at that time. For example, the 2025 budget slipped even more into deficit.

    Item 5: Development plan ‘Upper Cap Garden“

    The current draft development plan was unanimously approved. The plans are now entering the next phase, and the documents will be made available for public inspection.

    TOP 6: Development plan ‘Cross-border route“

    The outstanding formal objections of various organisations and companies were heard. However, they have no relevance for the execution of the construction project.

    TOP 7: Firewood prices

    In the future, the release of firewood will take place exclusively in solid meters, no longer in room meters.

    For orientation: 5 room meters correspond to about 3.5 solid meters.

    The Land’s price fixing – €73 per fixed meter – was taken over and unanimously adopted by the municipal council.

    TOP 8: Meadow of orchards – Request from Joint für Dernbach

    Our application to clarify the care responsibility of the orchard was discussed.

    The area serves as a compensatory measure for the ‘Steinkaut’. Research by the local mayor also revealed that additional trees had to be planted in the course of the ‘Südring’ construction area.

    The municipality will now check the actual care costs.

    A local visit by the municipal council is planned for 2026.

    Preparatory work and further elaboration will be carried out by the Construction Committee.

    TOP 9: notifications

    The work on fiber optic expansion is coming to an end. However, many errors of the previously used subcontractors still need to be corrected, which is why the remaining work will still be carried out.

    The transfer of the network to Vodafone is planned for 2026.

  • 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.

  • News from the City Council: 4th meeting

    News from the City Council: 4th meeting

    We continue our series:

    Wednesday, the 4th. On 1 December 2024, a public meeting of the municipal council took place in Dernbach from 7 p.m. The Group Together for Dernbach informs about the most important topics and discussions.

    Property tax rates

    The mayor explained that due to legal requirements, the rates of the property tax must be decided later this year. The proposal for a decision of the administration provides that the rates unchanged to leave. A review and possible adjustment could take place in the first half of 2025.

    Discussion: Is it necessary to adjust due to the land tax reform or not?

    • Roswitha referred to Calculations by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Finance, which are intended to ensure consistent tax revenue. However, these are not taken into account in the proposal for a decision.
    • The mayor argued that the federation of municipalities and towns recommends that the current lifting rates be maintained and only increased if necessary.
    • Manuel He also stressed that Dernbach does not want a tax increase. However, it is already foreseeable that the reform will lead to a loss of revenue. For Dernbach, the Ministry of Finance has already calculated which lifting rates are necessary to compensate for this. A later decision on higher lifting rates was unnecessary, as the figures are already available. Manuel noted critically that apparently at the local mayor's conference it was decided to postpone the adjustment.

    Counter-arguments of the CDU group: One member thought a quick decision was premature, as pending court decisions could still have an impact on the calculations. Another stressed that two changes in a row could confuse citizens.

    voting

    The local council voted 2 abstentions for the maintenance of the lifting rates.

    Subsequent update

    We asked the Association of Municipalities and Towns: The basis of calculation will not change in the coming months. 98 % the assessment notices are final, so that an adjustment is foreseeable in the first half of 2025. Thus, the Council is expected to have to increase the lifting rates by July 2025 in order to avoid an imminent loss of revenue.

    Planning a Friedgarten

    The mayor presented the planning for a new Friedgarten. The draft was prepared by a planner who answered the questions of the municipal council members at the meeting. Intended is a easy-care area, on which urn graves are arranged around trees. A significant part of the implementation is to be carried out by the building yard (own contribution); Paths should only be mown and (according to the plan sketch) provided with individual stone slabs.

    Discussion: Accessibility, design and transparency

    • Stefan G. and Alessa pointed out that the lack of accessibility was problematic, especially for people with walkers or wheelchairs.
    • Some CDU members also supported the establishment of fixed paths; Other members defended the concept: It is reminiscent of a Friedwald; There is also freedom of choice for graves.
    • Several council members expressed concerns about tree selection.
    • Manuel emphasized that Together for Dernbach, the concept is generally welcomed, as the demand for care-free urn graves has increased.  He would like to express his thanks to the planner, who carries out his work on a voluntary basis. At the same time, he criticized the fact that trees were already planted before the municipal council decided on the project. Manuel also pointed out several points to be clarified, including the exact total costs – for example, the water point, the stealing or the application of topsoil are still not taken into account as well as the ongoing care costs.

    The mayor said that this was not intended as an anticipation of the Council's decision. A tree and a pedestal were donated by the planner. Manuel reminded that in-kind donations, similar to donations, must be properly registered if the amount of 100 euros per year is exceeded.

    Provisional decision

    The local council, with one abstention, voted in favour of the further details of the project in the Building Committee to clarify.

    Miscellaneous

    Senior centre

    The surname ‘St. Josef & St. Agnes’ of the Seniorenzentrum is deleted in favour of the place name ‘Dernbach’.

    Traffic situation on the Burgweg

    A residents' meeting on the traffic situation on the Burgweg takes place on 16 January 2025 instead.

    Sewer rehabilitation

    At the request of Stefan G. The mayor informed that the rehabilitation of the canal near the main road has already begun. The invoice is not yet available.

    Construction sites Fiberglass

    The CDU Group Chair criticized the traffic congestion on Kirchstraße because of the fiber optic construction site, especially in the morning. Originally, the construction sites were supposed to be completed in the autumn. The mayor stated that he had repeatedly urged the association community to do so. Alessa suggested communicating the shortcomings in writing, also to document it. The mayor promised to work again for a solution.

    Video function at the town hall bell

    Manuel pointed out that the video function of the doorbell at the town hall was problematic under data protection law. He called for this to be coordinated with the data protection officer of the Verbandsgemeinde. The mayor promised to take care of it.

    Castle path refurbishment

    One Associate recalled that the Burgweg section between railway tracks and Hoffmannsgraben had to be rehabilitated. The mayor stressed that this was an obligation of the municipality and did not need a council decision.

    Correction of the minutes

    Manuel asked at the beginning of the meeting for Correction of the minutes – in fact, there was a vote on the municipal centre 4 abstentions and 1 vote against.

    Cozy finish

    After the meeting, the members of the Council met for a joint snack. The Group Together for Dernbach Thank you to the local mayor for the invitation and the tasting.

  • News from the Municipal Council

    What happens in the City Council? What decisions are taken? With our new info series we keep you up to date! Here you can find out what the municipal council is discussing, what decisions are made and what proposals and questions we as a group are asking.

    Image of Dernbach with lettering

    Constitutive meeting of 28 August 2024

    The first meeting after the elections dealt with important personnel and organisational decisions. In addition to the obligation of the council members as well as the election of the local mayor, the deputies and committee members (we have already reported on this), the council unanimously adopted the new rules of procedure of the local council. It determines how meetings are convened, public participation, the conduct of meetings and the handling of requests and enquiries.

    Communications and enquiries

    The mayor, Ferdi Düber, informed the council that the purchase of the community center will be about 35,000 euros more expensive. The reason for this is the real estate transfer tax, which is now due – contrary to what was originally promised to him orally by the tax office. A notary sees no chance of success for an objection, as the purpose of use of the building has changed from ecclesiastical to municipal, which triggers the tax liability.
    Since the first deputy of the Verbandsgemeinde (VG) Wirges, Mr. Schwickert, was present, topics of the Verbandsgemeinde were also addressed.
    Our new member of the Council, Dr Manuel Misgeld, asked whether it was customary for meeting templates (such as the proposal for committee composition) to be distributed directly at the dates. The local mayor explained that this was due to the high workload of the association community due to the many constituent meetings. However, the CDU group leader criticized the repeatedly short lead times and called for a change.

    Fiber and infrastructure

    A major topic of discussion was the sluggish expansion of the fibre optic network. Several council members expressed criticism of the delayed construction work, the poor road conditions and the still outstanding house connections. The first deputy of the VG showed understanding and stated that the responsible construction company had already been informed of the problems. But that wasn't enough for many council members. The second deputy of Dernbach spoke out clearly against the current situation and took the Verbandsgemeindeverwaltung into the duty to become more active here.

    Bus transport: Deterioration of the offer

    Manuel also mentioned that the new bus schedule for Sunday entails a significant deterioration for Dernbach. Instead of the usual hourly rate, the bus now runs only every two hours, as line 425 is diverted via Wirges and runs at the same time as line 420. In Wirges, there are now two buses running in quick succession, followed by a two-hour break.
    The local mayor was surprised and declared that he had only learned of the changes by Manuel's hint. He promised to take care of it. However, the leader of the CDU parliamentary group dampened expectations and pointed out that the district, as the carrier of public transport, paid little attention to the concerns of the local communities. When asked by the CDU group, Manuel confirmed that the new roadmap had nothing to do with a new call for tenders, as it was only planned in a few years. He also stressed that the buses were also busy on Sundays – just no longer run over Dernbach. We as a group will continue to pursue this issue, because this deterioration must not be accepted, especially for environmentally conscious citizens and people without a driving licence.