No claims for damages and no disciplinary measures against the ex-mayor - for the time being: That was decided by the Emmering local council.
For Max Maier (citizen for Emmering) this is not even a second class acquittal, but rather a third class.
Emmering
- Because with the corresponding resolution, the municipal councils simultaneously document the assessment that he has broken rules as mayor: Maier committed eleven violations of the municipality's rules of procedure from 2010 to 2013 - by assigning work on his own, sometimes without the knowledge of the municipal council .
Audit not yet completed
In addition, something could follow: For the years afterwards - Maier was in office until the local elections in 2020 - the audit of the accounts has not yet been completed due to delays caused by the ongoing dispute that was smoldering in the community up to then.
The community has not yet officially made peace with the ex-mayor.
Placing craftsmen's orders by hand
The community auditors had criticized the orders and invoices for manual work at the Emmeringer school as well as the kindergarten and the sewage treatment plant.
"That was not legally compliant and not in accordance with the procurement rules," said Martin Killi (CSU), who, as chairman of the audit committee, had investigated the allegations against Maier at the most recent meeting.
This involved a total of around 55,000 euros in the order volume, which Maier decided on free-hand and bypassed the local council.
The Bavarian Municipal Auditing Association had fully confirmed that this was not legal, Killi continued.
Incidentally, the mayor himself had not enriched himself - he only wanted to handle things in an uncomplicated way, he once told EZ.
Because the municipal council refused to give the mayor its subsequent approval, the resolutions have so far been pending ineffective.
The Emmeringer now put an end to this - only the third mayor, Hubert Rüegg (CSU), voted against Maier's discharge.
"Put the lid on", subsumed BfE councilor Peter Perfler.
There is nothing more to be gained financially for the community.
It is not clear whether damage has occurred
"Proof is more expensive than what comes out," said Perfler, himself a clerk in a municipal administration, on possible claims for damages by the Emmeringer against their former mayor.
It is difficult to estimate how great the financial damage Maier has caused, and whether it actually occurred at all: the paid work was finally performed.
Whether it would have been possible to save money by obtaining several offers and then voting in the local council - this can still be calculated reliably after ten years: according to the councilors' assessment, this cannot be done.
Maier's administration had caused upheavals in the community at the time.
The municipal council, which was initially divided, finally took a stand against the incumbent - among other things, the fact that he had paid for tiling work in the school in 2016 in cash and without an invoice from the municipal treasury caused a sensation across the region.
Because the councils repeatedly failed with complaints about their mayor at a higher level in the municipal supervision, the will to fight as well as to take political action finally weakened.
The political deadlock only came to an end with Maier's successor Claudia Streu-Schütze (FW) and some new councilors in the local council after the 2020 local elections.
Honorary salary is paid to Maier
An attempt by the newly elected municipal council to refuse Maier the honorary salary he was entitled to failed due to the veto of the municipal supervision in the district office.
The councils passed this resolution with only one vote against - a sign that the crisis was also having an impact on the new body.
The current incumbent Streu-Schütze, on the other hand, was granted by the councils in the most recent meeting that in the future she no longer had to obtain three written offers before she was allowed to award contracts worth more than 1500 euros - the Maier City Council had taken this tailor-made decision of principle on her eye in 2015 in order to curb its hands-on awarding practice.
Also read this article on emmering.
