Municipal council digital?

Seeshaupt's council members are anything but enthusiastic — except for one

Created: 05.10.2022, 16:00

By: Jennifer Battaglia

This is what a digital switch to the municipal council could look like.

The photo shows an online council meeting from 2020 in the city of Tübingen.

© Eibner-Pressefoto/Thomas Dinges via www.imago-images.de

Should council members be allowed to attend ward council meetings online so they don't have to be there?

This question has now been the subject of heated debate in Seeshaupt.

Seeshaupt - The initiative came from the youngest member of the Seeshaupt municipal council.

Benedikt Fischer (30/FDP) submitted the application to also enable participation in municipal council meetings via image and sound transmission.

In the wake of the pandemic, council members have been allowed by law to attend council meetings digitally.

However, this requires a change in the rules of procedure in advance, which must be decided by a two-thirds majority.

Municipal council digital: Participation rights of the individual members can be guaranteed

"The possibility of digital participation means that the participation rights of the individual municipal council members can be guaranteed," said Fischer, addressing his fellow councillors.

Volunteering on the municipal council is time-consuming and often difficult to reconcile with a full-time job.

"We all have a different life on the side," says Fischer.

If private or health reasons preclude participation in attendance, the online switch would offer a good alternative.

Because there are often close voting results, it is also important that as many councilors as possible attend the meeting.

In order to reflect the will of the population, Fischer said literally.

Is for the possibility of online participation in municipal council meetings: Benedikt Fischer.

© Jennifer Battaglia

According to Article 47a of the Municipal Code, municipal council members connected online are considered to be present and are therefore entitled to vote.

The technology for connection must be provided by the municipality.

The prerequisite is that the mayor and the council members can perceive each other both visually and acoustically.

The digitally connected councils must also be visible and audible to the audience present in the meeting room.

In non-public meetings, the municipal council member is responsible for ensuring that no one else takes part in the transmission.

The change in the law has been in effect since spring 2021.

Municipality of Icking demonstrates it

A municipality in which

well - i.e. a mixture of local council members participating on site and colleagues connected online - is

.

Icking's Mayor Verena Reithmann is enthusiastic about the possibility of online participation.

Even before it was legally permitted, the technical possibilities for transmission had been tested in winter 2020/2021, but the councils were not yet allowed to vote at that time.

"We waited for the moment of approval," says Reithmann.

Since then, there have only been very few meetings in which all council members have also been present at the council table.

"The municipal councils really appreciate the possibility of digital connection and have expressed the wish that it will remain so for the foreseeable future."

According to Reithmann, the change in the rules of procedure was decided unanimously at the time.

The meetings are transmitted

via

The cost of the technical equipment was around 2500 euros.

The councilors must let them know by 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting whether they would like to be involved.

Although you can't look every local councilor in the face, you can understand what they say very well - in both directions.

Only the messages from the online councils are more easily overlooked.

"I always say they should call in," says the mayor.

Voting in hybrid sessions took a little longer.

Sometimes there were also "peculiar" resolutions due to the image and sound transmission, so that everyone who was connected voted for or against something.

"The mood on site didn't come across so well," says the mayor.

Basically, the digital committee work works “really well”.

Icking has almost the

members as Seeshaupt.

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Digital municipal council: "I've only had good experiences with online conferences"

"I've only had good experiences with online conferences," says Benedikt Fischer in an interview with the local newspaper.

Discussions in the digital space would be more structured and problem-focused.

"That could serve as an incentive for the local councilors present to discuss in a more structured way," he says.

In addition, digitalization of municipal council meetings could lead to more enthusiasm for local politics, especially among young people.

"Many want to get involved but say they don't have the time."

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He himself travels a lot abroad, his girlfriend is doing her doctorate in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The possibility of online participation would be an option for him.

Digitization is Fischer's passion, so to speak: As a lawyer, he oversees digitization processes at a large transport company.

In addition, he has just completed a master's degree in "Communication and Digitization".

Municipal council digital: Seeshaupt's council members majority against

And how did Fischer's colleagues on the municipal council react to the push towards digitization?

Reinhard Weber (SPD) emphasized that although he was "immediately available" for progress, in this case the church should remain in the village.

"The council belongs at the council table," he said.

For Kristine Helfenbein (Gras), Fischer's suggestion is still "future music".

The direct social discussion in the committee is important to the municipal councilor.

As a decisive factor against an image-sound switch, she took up the high costs for the necessary equipment mentioned by Mayor Egold.

Egold had previously spoken of "several tens of thousands of euros" that should probably be invested.

Switching to the sports hall as an alternative with more space when the number of infections increases would also no longer be possible with the technology installed in the town hall,

Bernd Habich (PFB) worried about the handling in the non-public meetings: "Who guarantees that the specs are not sitting on the right and left behind the screen and listening?" Fischer's party colleague Armin Mell basically asked whether committee work was digitally feasible at all be.

The topic should be discussed again "in two to four years".

"If some communities have done it before," says Mell.

The skepticism of Fischer's colleagues was also reflected in the result of the vote: all councilors, except for Fischer himself, voted against the motion.

"That was to be expected," says the 30-year-old afterwards.

He still likes his idea and sticks to it.

"Digital transmission will inevitably come," says Fischer.

"The only question is when."

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