In Dinant, Axel Tixhon gives us an overview of what he has been through in recent months.
A year 2020 that is memorable in every way. “After my first year, at the end of December, I thought the routine would set in. I had found this cruising speed, between meetings and field visits, between the municipal councils and the various daily aspects of the function of mayor. I told myself that 2020 was going to be the same, that it would probably have been easier. The routine… Then the Covid appeared. In reality, this routine is now called the Covid routine. It’s complicated in every way. At all times, you have to react and adapt. And sometimes make decisions that won’t please“, he confides. Some decisions were not easy. Good or bad, each of them caused a lot of ink to flow.
In Dinant or elsewhere: to govern is to make choices. “How can I claim today that I made a good or a bad choice? No idea. We won’t know for a few years. With hindsight, we will know if the various measures have saved more lives or not. Sometimes, we are tempted to do like the neighbor, so as not to have things to be ashamed of. While perhaps it was necessary to do the opposite! But what to choose? It is very difficult to decide. When you think that the situation will improve (before winter), despite the compulsory mask and barrier gestures, it gets worse. What to do when you have 3 times more deaths this year in our nursing homes? Should families be allowed to see each other for the last time to say goodbye? Emotions sometimes take over, but we have to be right. We cannot make a concession to please one, without thinking of the rest of the population“, he adds.
Look to the future
The mayor knows the citizens well and he knows that this health crisis is causing a lot of damage. Especially among those who have lost everything, work and dignity. “It must be said: some sectors have been sacrificed and people are not easy today. These are tough times we are going through and seeing people’s sadness is definitely not the best thing to experience as an elected official. We do our best to help them.“
Axel Tixhon, who loves History, now looks to the future. “Each episode, war or epidemic, has strongly modified the habits of citizens. We will have to see what we can take away from this 2020 experience. A year which will be forever in my memory, but which I hope never to know again in the future.“, he concludes.
Benoit Closson: “We are a team”
A little further south of the country, lawyer-turned-mayor Benoît Closson heads Wellin. “It’s an exciting job where I make it a point of honor to listen to people. We had to be responsive and available. Be firm and of humanity. Even when the population criticizes us, we must quickly regain our composure and take responsibility for our decisions. We have been proactive by adopting numerous measures to support the population, in particular a premium for unemployed people Covid, premium for the self-employed, exceptional subsidies to sports clubs, the distribution of masks, support for seniors and the isolated, support for nursing staff, etc.
With the municipal college and the CPAS, we form a united team and I am very proud of the way in which we are managing this crisis in all its aspects: security, economic, but also human! “, he confides.
Mathieu Rossignol: optimistic!
Former footballer and more than a leader in his team, the new bertrigeois mayor expected to be heavily solicited when taking office. How did he manage this crisis? “I no longer count the messages received or the phone calls. The nights are short (laughs). But we come out of it grown, because it is a famous experience. At the municipal level, we form a team (elected officials, staff) and we tried to adapt as well as possible. I find that we are not doing too badly overall. We made the right decisions, although everything is never perfect. Our approach has always been in the same direction : without doing too much, because there is no need to scare people. There is no point in adding a layer. Humility, loyalty and fairness, my watchwords. I remain optimistic for 2021 . The life of the town has not stopped, the files have advanced despite the health situation “, he explains.
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