Schleswig-Holstein Community Day
The Schleswig-Holstein Community Day (SHGT) is a municipal umbrella association based in Kiel . The registered association describes itself as free from state control, politically independent and only obliged to its members. Members are municipalities, offices and special purpose associations in Schleswig-Holstein . Jörg Bülow is the managing board member and country manager.
Members
Of 1,106 municipalities and cities in Schleswig-Holstein , 1,047 belong to the SHGT as well as the 84 offices and 53 special-purpose associations. The 1,185 member bodies thus comprise 94% of the municipalities, 87% of the area, 85% of the municipal elected officials (around 11,000) and 46% of the inhabitants (1.3 million) of Schleswig-Holstein. The SHGT is thus the largest municipal state association.
Position of the SHGT as a municipal state association
From the importance of communities Also, the importance of local federations and the Schleswig-Holstein gives community day . According to § 132 of the municipality code for Schleswig-Holstein, the municipal state associations are to be heard in good time about draft legislation and general administrative regulations that affect the self-government of the municipalities. There is an agreement on this with the state government.
Section 25 (3) of the state parliament's rules of procedure stipulates that the regional state associations should be heard by the state parliament on draft laws, budget drafts or an agreement that goes beyond the area of the state and affects important matters of local self-government. The special status of the SHGT and the other municipal state associations results from the special status of local self-government in the constitution and the indirect democratic legitimation of its association organs, which are determined by directly elected representatives.
purpose
According to the statutes, the association has a. the following purposes:
- It promotes community self-government,
- respect their constitutional rights,
- represents the general interests of its members and
- maintains the exchange of experiences.
aims
The Schleswig-Holstein Community Day advocates
- that the municipalities and offices are granted a share of the federal and state tax revenue in accordance with their tasks,
- that the federal and state governments meet their other obligations towards the municipalities, in particular that adequate financial compensation is guaranteed for additional tasks,
- that the legislators in Brussels, Berlin and Kiel do not restrict the freedom of the municipalities and citizens through legal perfectionism and
- that a local and citizen-based municipal administration can provide the necessary sovereign and economic municipal services for the citizen as cheaply and unbureaucratically as possible.
Organs and democratic structure
The political decision-making process of the Schleswig-Holstein Community Assembly takes place on a broad basis through democratically legitimized representatives of the members who are either volunteer or full-time in the community.
District associations
The association has a district association in all 11 districts of the country .
The assembly of delegates
The assembly of delegates with 165 delegates from the district associations is the highest body and usually meets once a year. In addition to a non-public part, in which internal association regulations are decided, it is usually connected with a public event to which the country's political representatives are invited.
Every several years, the delegates' assembly is held in the form of a community congress to which all communities, offices and special-purpose associations and their representatives are invited. It is each dedicated to an overarching topic (e.g. 2001: Volunteering and personal responsibility; 2006: We are freedom: Decide locally - act together - think regionally), which, detached from the current daily situation, provides an outlook and suggestions on cross-community and societal issues .
The state executive
The state executive consists of 16 members. By virtue of office, the state board includes the chairmen of the district associations and the state managing directors as executive board members. In addition, the assembly of delegates elected 4 further assessors as representatives of the local political honorary office (mayor), the special purpose associations, the full-time administered municipalities and the administrative offices. State chairman is Thomas Schreitmüller.
Advisory bodies and specialist conferences
The community day ensures the exchange of experience and technical support for the work of the state board and the state office with the help of specialist committees, temporary and permanent working groups, regular specialist conferences for specific target groups and numerous information events.
Technical committees
In order to prepare the entire range of tasks, the following specialist committees have been formed:
- Legal, Constitutional and Finance Committee
- Building, planning and environmental committee,
- School, Social and Culture Committee
- Association committee
The specialist committees participate in the local political deliberations and in forming the will of the local council through regular meetings. The specialist committees mainly deal with specific issues and incorporate practical experience into the work of the regional office. All district associations send mayors, heads of office or senior administrative officials to the specialist committees. Their work is reported in the district associations.
Conferences and meetings
- In the mayors' conference, the full-time mayors and office directors have come together to exchange experiences and further training. This takes place in particular at conferences that meet once a year in autumn, if necessary on special topics and as part of an annual study trip.
- The regular meetings of the mayor serve on the one hand for the exchange of opinions and experiences of the voluntary office in the full-time administrated communities and on the other hand for the treatment and deepening of questions of local political relevance.
- At annual specialist meetings of the heads of office, special questions of rural local administrations are discussed and special emphasis is placed on the importance of honorary administrators in these administrations.
- Every year the municipal day invites you to several municipal symposiums with special topics.
Working groups
In addition to the specialist committees, a limited number of working groups are set up to prepare the work of the specialist committees and the state board. Permanent working groups were z. B. for the school associations and the economically active special purpose associations established, temporary working groups were or are active z. B. in the areas of further development of the official regulations, administrative structural reform, new municipal accounting, regional development / central locations, daycare reform and FAG reform.
"Die Gemeinde" magazine
The association magazine "Die Gemeinde" has been published since 1949 and appears monthly. It is the local political mouthpiece of the Schleswig-Holstein Local Council. As the only special Schleswig-Holstein trade journal for self-administration, it contains not only specialist articles etc. a. the local jurisdiction of the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Administrative Court. It is one of the largest and most widespread administrative science journals in Germany.