A new year, a new format for the official visit. Instead of visiting one municipality, the Kings Commissioner Arthur van Dijk visited three municipalities at once: Stede Broec, Enkhuizen, and Drechterland.
The SED municipalities are characterized by history, innovation, and the West Frisian can-do mentality. Since 2015, they have been working together administratively to create a pleasant living, working, and living environment for their residents and join forces for shared challenges such as sufficient administrative capacity, livability, accessibility, and the administrative future.
After a warm welcome by the mayors Bram van Diepstraten, Ronald Wortelboer, and Jeltje Hoekstra-Sikkema, several discussions followed. Kings Commissioner: “Nice to start the day with an interactive session with young civil servants. They shared their experiences working for a large administrative organization like the SED.”
Then there was a discussion with the 3 mayors and 2 municipal secretaries about themes such as administrative capacity and cooperation, accessibility, resilience, and the future of the municipalities.
Youth Council
Students from the West Friesland Practical School in Stede Broec provided a delicious lunch around noon. That moment offered space to engage in conversations with various organizations about the value of social initiatives and cooperation within the communities. Thanks to broad representation from society, the commissioner gained a good understanding of what is happening. For example, he heard about local sports initiatives, a merger manifesto from the business association, and a campaign for bicycle lights from the youth council.
3000 homes
Afterwards, they drove past De Hooge Hout in Hoogkarspel for an explanation of the area vision. This new residential area under development will consist of approximately 3000 homes in total. The province is closely involved and a driver of this housing development. In Drechterland, there was a meeting with a delegation of the 3 municipal councils about topics such as administrative capacity in collaborations like the SED, infrastructural bottlenecks, and the increasing aggression and intimidation faced by council members.
Van Dijk: Christel Welling, faction leader in Drechterland, spoke about her own experiences with intimidation and the impact on her work and private life. And she stated: “But resilience should not be an individual task. Resilience is also a collective responsibility. Because: What we tolerate, we normalize. And what we normalize becomes the standard.” Her call touched me and exactly expresses what it is about: we must be careful that the abnormal does not become normal. We are all responsible for that.”
It was a day full of meetings, insights, and valuable conversations. Nice to see how strong the mutual cohesion is with attention to the own identity. At the same time, the municipalities openly and jointly tackle the challenges that exist.