As of: January 21, 2024, 8:00 a.m
By: Dieter Roettig
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Simon Sörgel, mayor of Pähl for 100 days, doesn’t regret his career change for a second.
© Dieter Roettig
Since his swearing in, Simon Sörgel has been Pähl's mayor for 100 days this Saturday.
We spoke to him about his difficult legacy.
Pähl
– He “came to stay” (loosely based on the pop rock hit “We are Heroes”), emphasizes the 1.99 meter tall Sörgel.
He grew up in the Pähler district of Aidenried, moved away at the age of ten and came back in his early 30s to build a house, start a family and enter completely new professional territory.
The social worker has been closely following local political events in Pähl for years, attended public council meetings and worked as an election worker.
And it was not just since the drama surrounding the deselection of long-time mayor Werner Grünbauer and the election winner's resignation immediately before taking office that the desire to actively shape local politics matured in Sörgel.
The wish became reality faster than planned.
Voluntary - and yet working full time
Sörgel ran as a newcomer in the necessary new mayoral election and won against the former local councilor and deputy mayor Alexander Zink.
He will be the honorary mayor of the community of 2,500 residents until the end of this legislative period.
Since the beginning of the year, Sörgel has been working “full-time on a voluntary basis,” as he expressly states.
The extensive tasks can hardly be handled part-time.
That's why he gave up his two part-time jobs in youth social work and as an ombudsman for child and youth welfare in order to concentrate fully on town hall work.
“Thanks to the excellent administration, I am able to get an intensive introduction to all relevant tasks here,” says Sörgel happily.
He also completes “targeted training courses” for complex topics such as construction law.
Sörgel wants to compete again in 2026
He has not regretted his career change for a second and would like to run again in the next local elections in spring 2026, but then as a full-time mayor.
The tasks ahead are too complex to be completed in the remaining two and a half years.
The priority is the stalled solution for the school and town hall.
The elementary school and town hall are still directly connected neighbors.
But the school needs more space because of additional classes and all-day care, although containers are only an emergency solution.
Round table for citizens
An early solution must also be found for the town hall, which is in need of renovation and has become too cramped due to the growing administrative tasks, said Sörgel.
Sustainable and possibly hybrid feasibility studies have therefore been commissioned from two architectural firms for the school and town hall, which will be presented publicly at the next local council meeting on February 1st.
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On the topic of “day care with a doctor and physiotherapy practice,” which is also dormant, Sörgel would like to get residents and other citizens on board and discuss their concerns and fears at a “round table” – just as he basically wants to include the Pähler in all projects.
To this end, he also initiated the monthly citizens' consultation hour in the town hall.
The next one will take place after registration on Thursday, February 15th, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Work with the local council has been good so far
Pähl's mayor's to-do list still includes many urgent points such as improving local public transport, the maritime economy in Aidenried, the cycle path over Birkenallee to Dießen, defusing the Pähler Gorge, renovating the castle pond and the difficult-to-achieve pace 30 in the entire municipality.
Sörgel wants to set priorities together with the local council.
Cooperation with the committee, which has been controversial in the past, has worked well so far, says Sörgel.
He hopes that the warning farewell words of the resigned local councilor Daniel Bittscheidt will be followed: unanimous resolutions are not necessarily optimal, as democracy also needs different opinions.
Nevertheless, decisions made by a majority would have to be carried out together without rocking the boat.