The last meeting of the Wolfratshausen city council this year was tough: Not necessarily because it was again about the surf wave, which according to the latest cost calculation has become a million dollar project. The discussion was long and heated, opinions differed in almost all parliamentary groups, but in the end the decision to hold on to construction and to repeal the decision for a municipal cost cap of 400,000 euros was made with a narrow majority. This is democracy. Immediately after the vote, however, there was a bang, which went almost imperceptibly over the stage: The CSU city councilors Peter Plößl and Alfred Fraas rose from their chairs in the Loisachhalle and put mayor Klaus Heilinglechner written applications on the table, their honorary posts as To be able to resign city councils.
It is clear that they had written the documents before the meeting. The cost cap, as we know from many previous debates, was considered inviolable for them. They don’t want to talk about their motives for the action until February, when the city council has decided on the applications. But the message is clear: If you outvote us, then we’ll just throw everything away. Then the CSU parliamentary group has to find a new spokesman and the city council a new cultural advisor. Bätsch!
In the previous discussion, it was also about the responsibility that elected city council members have: the correct handling of tax revenues, but also the task of implementing projects desired by citizens and moving the city forward. In this area of tension, the representatives first struggled with themselves and then with each other. In the end there was a democratic majority decision. The elected councilors should be able to endure, even if they are outvoted. Plößl and Fraas don’t do that.
It is true that her application for resignation is legal, which is probably why it has been granted. In the past, elected city councils had to give a valid reason if they wanted to resign, such as illness, occupation or old age. Losing a vote would certainly not have been one of them. However, this regulation was deleted with an addition in the 2012 municipal and district election regulations. But even if Plößl and Fraas are allowed to throw them down for no reason, the two stubborn city councilors are certainly not doing their voters and their parliamentary group, to whom they owe an answer. However, on closer inspection, their resignation is quite logical. Because their departure in protest, which is supposed to be a statement, leaves above all the impression that they cannot stand democracy with all its consequences. But that should be expected of every elected member of the city council.