Wolfgang Heitmeier

Wolfgang Heitmeier (* 1950 in Munich ) is a German politician of the Free Voters . He was Lord Mayor of Bad Reichenhall from 1988 to April 2006 ; the collapse of the municipal ice skating and swimming pool in Bad Reichenhall in January 2006 made him known nationwide.

Life

Wolfgang Heitmeier studied law; then he was at the district office Berchtesgaden and the Government of Upper Bavaria worked as a jurist. In 1988 a member of the Free Voters became mayor with him for the first timeelected by the city of Bad Reichenhall. His term of office fell in a difficult economic upheaval, which brought the more traditionally oriented spa town drastic losses in sales; For example, the number of overnight stays fell by around one million in these years, which was equivalent to halving. Heitmeier's measures were aimed at countering these developments; for example, the renovation of the urban pedestrian zone was carried out during his tenure and the establishment of an internationally renowned research center for high pressure chambers in the historic spa center was tackled. In addition, the Rupertus Therme was built in 2005 (construction costs: 32 million euros) in order to adapt the city to the changed health market. At the same time, however, the maintenance and renovation of existing facilities and buildings often had to take a back seat to the creation of new prestigious buildings; a tendency that would later prove fatal in the case of the ice rink.

After the catastrophe of the collapse of the hall on January 2, 2006, Heitmeier held on to a renewed candidacy for the mayor's office despite the steadily increasing public pressure and various criticisms of his office. On March 12, 2006, however, he missed the required absolute majority; he was well behind his challenger Herbert Lackner ( CSU ), against whom he also lost the runoff election on March 26th. Heitmeier remained, however, district councilor of the district of Berchtesgadener Land and in this function chairman of the FWG parliamentary group in the district council. On March 2, 2008 he was re-elected as a district council candidate for the FWG.

Collapse of the Bad Reichenhall ice rink

After the collapse of the Bad Reichenhall ice rink, Wolfgang Heitmeier was severely attacked from circles of the population and the national media, but was not one of the city officials against whom the Traunstein public prosecutor was investigating. It was not until March 2, 2007 that newspapers reported that a “victim lawyer” had been reported to the Traunstein public prosecutor's office for negligent homicide and assault against Heitmeier, although several criminal charges against Wolfgang Heitmeier had been filed since January 2006. However, a preliminary investigation was never initiated.

On February 25, 2008, the eagerly awaited testimony of the former mayor of Bad Reichenhall before the Traunstein district court in connection with the ice rink trial that had been going on since January 28, 2008 was canceled; Procedural errors by the public prosecutor's office led to the process being terminated. The interrogation was finally rescheduled on April 10 that year. Although in the meantime considerable doubts about the Bad Reichenhall city administration in connection with the maintenance of the ice rink had become loud, Heitmeier denied in his testimony any responsibility for the disaster.

swell

1. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 4, 2006: Wolfgang Heitmeier - Town Hall chief under public pressure
2. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of March 13, 2006: "No Stoiber-Malus for the CSU"
3. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 5, 2006: "Be ashamed, you have these people on your conscience"
4. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: BR-Online : Bad Reichenhall - one year later (accessed on February 14, 2007)