City Council meetings broadcast live on the Internet: Patrick Lechner from the FDP pleads for this - but the mayor is skeptical about the proposal.
Wolfratshausen - The live broadcast of city council meetings on the Internet: Dr. Patrick Lechner continues to make strong. He announces this in a conversation with our newspaper. "Definitely," emphasizes Lechner and reveals that the SPD faction is likely to support him in this move. The graduate mathematician, who has lived in the raftsman city for five years, is the only representative of the FDP on the city council - and, as reported, forms a parliamentary group with the four social democrats.
Patrick Lechner (FDP) is the Freedom of Information Officer
At the inaugural meeting, his counterparts unanimously elected the 42-year-old to the City Council's Freedom of Information Officer. In this role, he wants to ensure that citizens have access to all information in the town hall. Lechner has also committed himself to the topic of transparency for his personal engagement as a city councilor.
Freedom of Information Commissioner: It's a somewhat bulky word, he admits. But that's how the “standard description” of its function sounds in Bavaria, explains the 42-year-old and adds: “Beizeiten” can certainly be considered for a title that flows a little more easily. Lechner, who is following in the footsteps of Manfred Menke (SPD), describes his work as follows: "I try to ensure that all citizens get the information they need." as well as Lechner's contact details. He sees himself as an "ombudsman", as an impartial mediator between the citizens and the authorities. Lechner restricts: He won't disclose information that is subject to data protection to the Wolfratshausers either.
Lechner wants to ensure more transparency in the city council
The 42-year-old works as a computer scientist at a Bavarian automobile manufacturer, where he is partly responsible for process transparency. A job "with which you don't always make yourself popular in the company", Lechner notes. "But even as the city council's freedom officer for information, I do not have the goal of winning popularity prizes," he said. In the local elections, he promised to provide more transparency - "and that's what I stand for".
For a few weeks now he has been working on his new role as a mandate holder and sees his previous assumption confirmed: “A lot” is happening behind closed doors. Lechner does not want to be misunderstood: "Of course it makes sense that one or the other is not publicly prepared." But through the eyes of the citizen, "it would be important to hold as many discussions as possible openly, honestly and constructively". This is the only way for the outsider to understand "how this or that decision comes about".
"Open as many discussions as possible"
The fact that only a handful of Wolfratshausers watched the constituent city council meeting in the Loisachhalle live is an indication for Lechner that there are deficits in terms of citizen participation. Anyone who has the impression that "a lot has been articulated beforehand" should attend public meetings.
In November last year, Lechner had already initiated the live broadcast of city council meetings (we reported). In other municipalities, such as in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, this is a matter of course. Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner (BVW) reacted skeptically to the proposal at the time: "The question will be whether a city like Wolfratshausen in its tranquil size would like to do this relatively high effort."
The mayor is skeptical about the proposal
In addition, "all members of the city council" as well as the employees of the city administration, who take part in council meetings, would have to agree to the project for data protection reasons. The same applies to consultants, appraisers, specialist speakers, media representatives and citizens in the visitor gallery.
The city council had already debated live broadcasts in 2014 - and finally rejected them.
The corona pandemic also has economic consequences in Wolfratshausen. Whether old town, surf wave or fire station: at a closed conference, the city council has to put all projects back to the test.
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