Bönningstedt is planning a full-time mayor: decision made!

Bönningstedt is planning a full-time mayor: decision made!

In the lively community of Bönningstedt, the local council unanimously decided on a significant step on June 24, 2025. From January 2026 there will be a full-time mayor, which means real progress for the administration and the citizens. This decision not only pleases the political groups in the community, but also reflects developments in the Schleswig-Holstein municipal code. Finally, since the population has exceeded 4,000, this has allowed the introduction of a full-time mayor, and Bönningstedt currently has more than 4,500 residents.

The current mayor, Rolf Lammert from the CDU, has already announced that he will resign from office on August 31, 2025 for reasons of age. Lammert was unanimously re-elected as mayor some time ago and enjoys the trust of all parliamentary groups, who presented him with bouquets of flowers upon his re-election and emphasized the unity in the council. Once he retires in August, the municipality will have to budget around 120,000 euros per year for the new full-time mayor.

Direct election of the mayor

Another interesting detail is that citizens are allowed to actively participate in the election of the full-time mayor. Since 1998, people in Schleswig-Holstein have had the right to directly elect their mayors. This procedure is one of the progressive principles of local politics in the region, which enables citizens to ideally represent opinions and needs. All eligible voters who are at least 16 years old and have lived in the community for at least six weeks have one vote.

Older regulations, such as the indirect election of district administrators, have been abolished, and today it is important that eligibility includes all EU citizens who have this right. On election day, voters must be at least 18 years old. The term of office of the new mayor is also set: This is between six and eight years and begins when he takes office.

The entire electoral process is organized by electoral committees that are independent of instructions, with responsibility lying with the municipal returning officer. In order to nominate the candidates, both parties and individual candidates can submit proposals, although the latter require some supporting signatures in order to run.

So let's look forward to the changes in Bönningstedt and the upcoming elections, which will give citizens the opportunity to actively participate in shaping their community and elect their new full-time mayor.

For further information on the decisions in the municipality of Bönningstedt, please read the reports from ndr.de and shz.de. Detailed information about the elections can also be found on the platform schleswig-holstein.de.