“Yes, it needs to be more on a level, we need to professionalize. Of course, there is a basic difference in the fact that the daily management of the mayor and aldermen are full-timers. And the council is a lay board. So that means you have a disadvantage in the amount of time and attention you can devote to your role as a council member. But if you then also see the difference in the support and the preconditions for how it is arranged for the board and for the council, then that is of a different order. Because everything has become busier. Residents expect more and more, are increasingly closer to council members. The lines of communication are much shorter. And everything is more complex, much larger files have been sent to the municipality. Then you have to make sure that you support that in a good way, that everyone can do their job well and does not collapse. Because I see that the stress level among council members is high, the work-life balance is out of whack. The amount of time and effort, the intervention in private life that this work costs, is too high.”
Council Clerk Merel van Hall: ‘Utrecht democracy must become even more professional’
