Otmar Heirich

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Otmar Heirich (born July 10, 1951 in Goslar ) is a German politician ( SPD ). He was Lord Mayor of the city of Nürtingen in Baden-Württemberg .

Youth, training, work and family

Born in Lower Saxony, Otmar Heirich did his Abitur at the Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe Gymnasium in Dieburg (Hesse) and then studied law at the University of Frankfurt and the University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer . From 1978 to 1991 he was a judge at the district court and the regional court in Darmstadt .

Youngest councilor in Hesse

In 1971 Otmar Heirich was Hesse's youngest councilor.

Political membership

Heirich has been a member of the SPD since 1972 .

Mayoral elections

In 1991 Heirich was elected mayor of Lauda-Königshofen and was confirmed in office in 1999. In 2003 he won the mayoral election in Nürtingen in the second ballot against Lothar Wölfle . On January 8, 2004 Otmar Heirich took office. In 2004 and 2009 Otmar Heirich was elected to the district council.

The mayoral election in 2011 attracted attention when Heirich missed the absolute majority in the first ballot on October 9, 2011 with just 40.41%, although no promising challenger was set up. This performance in the first ballot was rated in the press as a “devastating result for the 60-year-old veteran”. The incumbent had to be reproached for not involving the citizens in important decisions enough. The Frankfurter Allgemeine stated that the first ballot had made it clear "that Heirich was not a popular Lord Mayor". "40 percent is a bad result for a man against whom there was no strong opponent." Heinrich's critics doubt above all that the mayor is really serious about the promised expansion of citizen participation. Rather, they believe that he is only superficially playing along, but actually does not care much about the criticism that there is from the population at the "course of the city administration".

This Nürtingen election caused a sensation nationwide as a “curious case” because a local initiative advertised it on the Internet via social networks such as Google+ and Facebook as well as by e-mail campaigns and later also leaflets, for lack of alternatives the 47-year-old administrative specialist and First Alderman Claudia Grau to write on the ballot and vote. Claudia Grau had not run at all, had only been active in Nürtingen for a few months and initially stated that she would not be available for this election. “For the first time, an OB chair could be occupied from the Internet, as it were,” summarized the Reutlinger Generalanzeiger. The Frankfurter Allgemeine asked under the heading “The Like-me-Democracy” whether the “Web 2.0” could already help decide a mayor election in the Swabian province ”. Otmar Heirich felt “the Internet campaign was 'extremely strange' and 'undemocratic'. Behind it, "says Heirich," there were obviously people 'from the left-alternative corner' who were not particularly interested in the election, but wanted to have fun. "In the second ballot, Claudia Grau achieved 32 percent. Otmar Heirich was re-elected with 49.57%.

A year later, the state press reported that the power struggle had openly broken out in the town hall and Claudia Grau complained about bullying in an email to the parliamentary group chairman of the local council, operated by Otmar Heirich and senior staff. Even two years later, “the crack ran deep through the town hall”, the “relationship between Heirich and Grau” was commented on in the state press as still “shattered”. In addition, justifying attacks by the mayor were also aimed at the local council: “'Many local councilors lack' - so Heirich - 'a healthy distance from the heads of department and department heads,' continued the mayor's scolding. Incidentally, this also applies the other way round: 'It cannot be that department heads, without mutual agreement, keep attending parliamentary group meetings to advertise their projects there, or fail to comply with agreements made.' That was also aimed relatively blatantly at Claudia Grau, ”said the Teckbote .

He is much more concerned, however, that this situation is now having a massive impact on the administrative staff: “In the meantime, deep trenches have also emerged in the administration. Sickness and absenteeism are increasing - and especially mental illnesses. ”At the end of the year, the mayor's public criticism of his deputy Claudia Grau, which he practiced in front of the municipal council without allowing any discussion, found its way into the local press. The local press called this again "War of the Roses" in the town hall. In December 2012 the Esslinger Zeitung reported that Heirich and Grau were "again one heart and one soul". Claudia Grau succumbed to the consequences of cancer in January 2018 at the age of 53. Otmar Heirich praised the “professionalism of Claudia Graus and her commitment, which she has recently shown especially in refugee work”. At the end of the public council meeting on December 4, 2018, Heirich declared that he would not run again for mayor.

Heirich did not run for the 2019 election, his successor was Johannes Fridrich on August 1, 2019 .

German Association of Cities

Otmar Heirich is chairman of the press committee of the German Association of Cities.

Buyback of shares in EnBW

The repurchase of EnBW's shares in Stadtwerke Nürtingen brought Herich "a lot of applause". In 2007, the EnBW subsidiary NetzeBW transferred its roughly 29 percent stake in Stadtwerke Nürtingen to EnBW Kommunale Beteiligungsgesellschaft (EKB). As the majority shareholder, Nürtingen holds around 71 percent of the shares. A right of first refusal for the city, which demanded compensation, is documented in the statutes. "We feel cheated and, like the landlord, massively ripped off the table," said Nürtingen's Lord Mayor Otmar Heirich, summarizing the feelings of the local councils during the negotiation. "Under these circumstances it no longer makes sense to continue working together"

Polarizing measures

Planned Boss warehouse

Many citizens resisted a planned warehouse of the logistics center of the Metzingen fashion group Hugo Boss in Nürtingen, especially because it was planned on the area of ​​the "Great Forest", which was previously used for agriculture. In September 2010 the Administrative Court in Mannheim stopped the project due to formal errors. A joint industrial area of ​​the trade association for the Nürtingen economic area came into being in the Grosses Forst area.

"Residential Park" Wörth

The “Wohnpark Wörth” on the Neckar was also decided against considerable resistance from the population. Because of the still missing flood protection, the building project has not yet been implemented.

Hotel am Neckar - against referendums

After the “Nürtingen am Neckar” initiative started a petition against the planned sale of urban space on the orographic left bank of the Neckar to the Reutlingen hotelier Hans-Joachim Neveling and called for a restart of the debate, the mayor of Nürtingen reprimanded the citizens' initiative. According to the Stuttgarter Nachrichten , he “took out the whip” in his budget speech: Regarding the citizens' initiative, Heirich said: “I see my understanding of democracy being severely damaged if the decisions made in the heart of our local democracy, in the local council, are to be undermined outside parliament. Therefore, I do not see referendums as particularly helpful when it comes to the further development of our city. "The Stuttgarter Nachrichten rated this with the statement:" Otmar Heirich thinks little of referendums. "

Facebook comments on the approach taken by the city administration and the mayor were, for example: "You are dealing with autistic people", "Money bags are under the table", "Arbitrariness when it comes to citizen participation is hard to beat". A letter to the editor from the ranks of the citizens 'initiative complained in the local newspaper that the town hall had "reached deep into its legal bag of tricks" when defending against the citizens' initiative. Representatives of the citizens 'initiative accused Heirich that “because of fear for their jobs, city employees did not dare to express their opinion or to participate in the legitimate means of a citizens' initiative, as they themselves have told us several times. This leads to the conclusion that there is a climate of fear in the town hall and criticism no longer gets through to you ”.

Plans after leaving local politics

After having worked in local politics for 46 years, Heirich would like to “get involved in development aid for Africa” after his time as mayor.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The private page In: http://www.otmar-heirich.de/ . Undated, accessed April 25, 2019.
  2. ^ The private page In: http://www.otmar-heirich.de/ . Undated, accessed April 25, 2019.
  3. ↑ Thomas Schreiner: Otmar Heirich missed victory in the first round. In: Franconian news . October 12, 2011.
  4. ^ A b Rüdiger Soldt: The like-me-democracy. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine . October 21, 2011, accessed September 15, 2013.
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: The mayor candidate against her will. ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Filder newspaper . January 4, 2012, accessed September 15, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de
  6. ↑ a b Kai Holoch: Otmar Heirich remains Lord Mayor. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . October 24, 2011, accessed September 15, 2013.
  7. ^ A b Hans-Jörg Conzelmann: mayor candidate against her will in Nürtingen. In: Reutlinger General-Anzeiger . October 21, 2011, accessed September 15, 2013.
  8. ^ A b Wolfgang Berger: Power struggle in the town hall breaks out openly. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . November 22, 2012, accessed September 15, 2013.
  9. ↑ The house blessing hangs crooked in the town hall. In: Esslinger Zeitung . November 24, 2012, accessed September 15, 2013.
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: CDU blows the attack on Claudia Grau. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . December 8, 2013, accessed December 28, 2013.
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: Comment: Election campaign with hard bandages. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . December 8, 2013, accessed December 28, 2013.
  12. ↑ OB Heirich defends, attacks and criticizes. In: Teckbote . December 20, 2013, accessed April 24, 2019.
  13. ^ Swipes and attacks at the end of the year. In: Esslinger Zeitung . December 21, 2013, accessed December 28, 2013.
  14. ↑ War of the Roses reloaded. In: Nürtinger Zeitung . December 19, 2013, accessed December 28, 2013.
  15. ↑ Heirich and Grau one heart and one soul again In: Esslinger Zeitung from December 1, 2012, accessed on April 24, 2019 '
  16. ^ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich is no longer a candidate In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . December 5, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  17. ↑ Nürtingen mayor of culture is dead In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten of January 16, 2018, accessed on April 24, 2019.
  18. ↑ Otmar Heirich no longer competes In: Nürtinger STATTzeitung from December 5, 2018, accessed on December 6, 2018.
  19. ^ Website of the German Association of Cities. April 4, 2019, accessed April 25, 2019.
  20. ^ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich is no longer a candidate In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . December 5, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  21. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: City files divorce from EnBW in court In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . January 4, 2012, accessed April 25, 2019.
  22. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: City files divorce from EnBW in court In: Stuttgarter Zeitung . January 4, 2012, accessed April 25, 2019.
  23. ^ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich is no longer a candidate In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . December 5, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  24. ^ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich is no longer a candidate In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . December 5, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  25. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich thinks little of referendums In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . February 1, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  26. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich thinks little of referendums In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . February 1, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  27. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: In the town hall the nerves are blank In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . October 15, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  28. ↑ Wolfgang Berger: In the town hall the nerves are blank In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . October 15, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
  29. ^ Wolfgang Berger: Otmar Heirich is no longer a candidate In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . December 5, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Heirich, Otmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (SPD), Lord Mayor of Nürtingen
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Goslar