Status: 16.01.2024, 18:00 PM
By: Robert Langer
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"It's important to be available at all times": Zorneding's mayor Piet Mayr, who now lives in Grafing. © Sro
Zorneding's mayor Piet Mayr is now a Grafinger. Other town hall chiefs do not live in "their" town either.
District – Zorneding's mayor Piet Mayr (CSU) has moved to Grafing. For private reasons, as he emphasizes when asked. Nothing will change for the citizens of Zorneding, emphasizes the head of the town hall. Until now, Mayr had also lived outside the municipality, namely in the neighbouring village of Parsdorf (Vaterstetten municipality).
Mayr had moved to Zorneding in 1980. In 1991 he became a business manager at the town hall. In 1998, he moved to Parsdorf, from a rented apartment to his own house, as Mayr recounts. Since 2008 he has been mayor of Zorneding. In the first mayoral election, his place of residence was an issue, Mayr recalls. He was re-elected in 2014 and 2020. "So the move didn't hurt," says Mayr. He will not run in the next election in 2026.
A different point of view
What makes the difference between the mayor living locally or not? "There are advantages and disadvantages," says Mayr. If you live in the village, you are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "So even in the rare free time." If you live somewhere else, you can distinguish between work and leisure time differently. With a certain distance, you can also gain other perspectives. "But it's important that you can be reached at all times." He now drives four kilometers more from his home to the town hall than before. "That's seven minutes." Anyone who knows the traffic conditions knows why their route leads from Grafing via Moosach in the morning and via the B 304 during the day, which is not quite as congested.
Other Examples
It is not uncommon for a town hall chief not to live in the municipality in which he is mayor. Examples are Michael Stolze from Markt Schwaben and Rupert Ostermair from Forstinning, who both live in Forstern in the district of Erding.
In 2022, Vaterstetten's mayor Leonhard Spitzauer moved from the Spitzauer-Hof (municipality of Vaterstetten) to the neighboring municipality of Anzing, more precisely to Frotzhofen. The background was a larger apartment for him and his partner at the time and now wife. His wife's grandmother, who lived in the same house with her parents-in-law, had died. Now the grandma's apartment is the family center of the young couple. At some point, however, Spitzauer wants to return to his parents' farm. His move did not cause any excitement.
There was also criticism
The situation was quite different for Kirchseeon's town hall boss Udo Ockel, who is now retired. He lived in Aßling when he ran for mayor in the market town. The fact that he continued to live in Aßling after his election and did not move to Kirchseeon was taken away from him by some. "That still hurts me today," Ockel said in an interview with the Ebersberger Zeitung about his farewell in 2020. "I come from Assling. Together with my wife, I built a house in Aßling with a lot of my own efforts. We both have our families, raised our children." But he had participated intensively in public life in Kirchseeon. "I always say: I live in Kirchseeon, but I live in Aßling." After 18 years as mayor, he knows every street in Kirchseeon.
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