Mr. Kreß, are you already looking forward to your next term of office?

Thorsten Winter

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for central Hesse and the Wetterau.

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I am very excited about it.

It wasn't my plan in life to become mayor of this city.

But sometimes situations arise, doors open - and then you have to decide: Do I go through?

I have never regretted being elected, despite the years of the Corona pandemic or the difficulties our city faced in taking in refugees.

On the contrary, I enjoy what I do.

That's why I'm looking forward to continuing my work and being able to complete some projects.

This also and especially includes the opening of the Sprudelhof thermal baths in late autumn.

The election will not take place until the beginning of May.

But so far no one is running but you.

Is everyone else afraid of you?

I hope not.

There are certainly different reasons for this.

But I see it as a positive signal that many citizens, including people in the parties, are satisfied with my work overall.

You see, something is happening in town.

Otherwise, it is quite the case that a mayor also pays a price.

It's a challenging time.

Several crises come together, we have to deal with them.

I'm hoping for a relatively relaxed election campaign in which I can largely concentrate on my work for the city.

On the other hand, it is bad for turnout if only one candidate is running.

Usually only a few citizens take part in elections anyway.

This does not only apply to big cities.

This also affects one's own legitimacy.

But the deadline for submitting nominations isn't until April 27.

If you remain a solo dancer beyond this date, that would be nice for you, but not only bad for the turnout.

That's correct.

If there is only one candidate, that is not good for democracy.

As a voter, I would like to be able to make a choice, i.e. to actually have a choice.

In Bad Nauheim, we traditionally had four, sometimes even five, applicants for the mayoral office.

But I have worked for a broad majority, and I say this confidently.

Nevertheless, the situation needs to be explained.

You don't belong to any party.

Are you also a consensus type, a hugger who unites conflicting interests early on?

That would be the ideal situation.

But this is not always possible in daily practice.

I think it is due to the content of the previous work.

The most important topic is the Sprudelhof thermal baths, I'm proud of the broad consensus.

All factions support the project.

We also occupy topics that are important to the Greens.

For a spa town and spa, environmental protection and climate protection must be even more important than for other cities.

We did a lot in cooperation with our municipal utility, for example with cold local heating.

This is some kind of geothermal?

Yes, and a CO2-free energy supply for residential areas is something of a beacon.

In the Bad Nauheim-Süd construction area, we have set up Germany's largest geothermal heat collector.

This energy supply also comes into play in the small building area in Rödgen.

That's very attractive.

In addition, our forest is to be certified as the first spa and healing forest in Hesse.

We are putting even more emphasis on the recreational factor of the forest.

We are converting the city buses to alternative drives.

Electric or Hydrogen?

electric buses.

We are in the bidding phase.

We do a lot in terms of digitization, which is important to the FDP, for example.

We set ourselves a digital agenda at an early stage and have initiated or already implemented a number of things with the municipal utilities.

In this way, we have achieved fairly broad approval in our political bodies.

I said from the start: I don't go to any party.

This approach works.

Good motions come from every faction.

And when we talk about the matter, everyone gets something too.

Since I don't have power at home, I always have to help organize majorities.

That forces you to be self-disciplined.