With local elections due to take place across Latvia in June, much of the attention of political commentators, as always, tends to focus on Rīga. However, Latvian Radio has been venturing further afield to gauge public sentiment, on Wednesday reporting from the northern city of Smiltene.
Over the past four years in Smiltene municipality, the reconstruction of the beloved Jāņukalns open-air stage was a priority for the council, but due to economic reasons, it remains incomplete. Although cultural events in the municipality have become more diverse, difficult decisions have also been made – due to economic reasons, several municipal institutions have been reorganized and schools have been closed.
The next set of deputies will also have to make difficult decisions, for example, about the management of closed school buildings.
The renovation of Jāņukalns was indeed one of the priorities of the deputies of this term, admitted Inga Ērgle, the chairwoman of the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, who was elected from the National Alliance party, but will no longer be a candidate in the June elections. The council even announced a design competition to build a beautiful building for students’ creative activities on Jāņukalns.
“We have a challenge in the city – the music and art school, the premises where these institutions are located are too small, it is difficult to organize daily work. The music school is also spread across several buildings, so the learning process is more fragmented. There was a plan that Jāņukalns could be a creative place where children spend their daily lives, and events could take place on the stage on weekends,” said Ērgle.
However, the dream of rebuilding Jāņukalns has been a pipe dream, the MP admitted: “We have abandoned this idea because we understand that at the moment we will not really be able to do it financially.”
Currently, only stumps can be seen next to the pillars of the demolished benches in Jāņukalns, and the stage has also been dismantled.
Three years ago, when he started working at the Smiltene Culture Centre while a Riga resident, the first stop for Edgars Raginskis, the head of the regional cultural department, was Jāņukalns. He said: “I looked at the wreckage of the stage, the plank floor, which was in poor condition, and the benches, which threatened the safety of visitors, and one of my first decisions was to conduct an assessment together with the economic department. Of course, I did not organize any events here, causing outrage among a certain part of the audience that I was not respecting cultural values.”
Raginskis predicted that Jāņukalns could once again play a role in pre-election activities. However, due to the great interest of the residents, it will be immediately repaired at least minimally – by restoring the benches and stage cover, so that cultural events can take place again this summer.
Cultural events in the Smiltene region have become more diverse in the last four years.
Like the abandoned factory by the Abula River, where garbage cans were produced in Soviet times. In the Viedrades Quarter, as it is now called, there are plans to set up space for creative entrepreneurs, and to build a new library.
The Smiltene library has been moved from rented premises in the city center to a secondary school biulding and is no longer easily accessible. The building in the Viedrades quarter is currently in the design stage. It is said to be a priority, as is the construction of a new bus station and the dismantling of the old one.
In the seemingly prosperous Smiltene region, many local government institutions have been reorganized and merged in recent years due to economic difficulties. In order to optimize expenses, new parish associations have been created: Gaujiena-Trapene, Vireši-Grundzāle, Palsmane-Variņi, Launkalne-Drusti. Raginskis praised the decision-making authorities’ determination to maintain funding for cultural centers also in the periphery of the region.
Last year, the members of the Smiltene County Council decided that the Palsmane and Variņi, Trapene and Vireši, Launkalne and Drusti community centers and cultural centers would each have one leader.
“The short-term crisis was overcome, and I must say a big thank you to the previous city council chairman, Edgars Avotiņš, who categorically rejected the idea of implementing a four-day work week in the municipality and also in the field of culture, because it would have meant us doing exactly the same amount of work, only for 20% less pay,” said Raginskis.
The region is also recovering from the school network optimization, which forced the aforementioned former mayor Edgars Avotiņš (National Alliance) to close his native Bilska school on the outskirts of Smiltene. He resigned from office last summer after less than five years in office, making way for Astrīda Harju (New Unity) from Ape.
The Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) recommended closing small schools in Trapene, Bilska, Drusti and Variņi, which became one of the most painful decisions of the deputies of this term. It was possible to save about half a million euros from the annual budget expenses of 44 million euros.
However, the council made one mistake in its calculation: 40 children from the Variņi school, whose parents protested the most against its closure, did not go to the Palsmane elementary school, which is 9 kilometers away, as the deputies had intended, but most of them left the Smiltene municipality. These students went to study in Ranka in Gulbene municipality and Jaunpiebalga in Cēsis municipality.
Edgars Roslovs, the head of the Smiltene Municipality Education Department, laconically confirmed that the process has been completed. “Smiltene Municipality is among 12 municipalities that have organized their education network according to the criteria of the Ministry of Education and Science,” Roslovs noted.
Meanwhile, the next cadre of councillors will have to decide on the management of several former school buildings. The stunning Gaujiena Manor has just been put up for auction. The expropriation of the Bilska parish Manor, which also used to be a school, but is now the Smiltene regional museum, was stopped two years ago after protests from residents.
Deputy Mayor of the City Council Gita Mūrniece (“Latvijas attīstībai”), who previously headed the company “Smiltenes piens”, considers public-private partnerships to be a solution to the more difficult tasks. The same renovation of Jāņukalns is being organized in cooperation with the Alūksne and Ape County Foundation, also involving residents in the project. The municipality is currently trying to reach an agreement with a private entrepreneur on the construction of another rental house, because there is a shortage of apartments in Smiltene. Mūrniece will not run in the elections again this year, but as a deputy she had set care for seniors as her goal.
“We have succeeded 51% in our goal of developing a Red Cross hospital nursing home in Smiltene, because the project is already in place, we are just waiting for European funds to open this year,” said Mūrniece.
Will Smiltene municipality get a modern nursing home? As defense needs increase, administrative expenses will have to be further reduced, Mūrniece predicted.
Meanwhile, Gatis Bormanis, head of the Smiltene farm administration, said that 34 bomb shelters have currently been marked throughout the county, 8 of which are in the county center.
The largest shelter is in the basement under the Smiltene sports hall. Bormanis admitted, however, that it will not be enough for all the residents of Smiltene: “These are the largest rooms in terms of square footage, where up to 100 people can be accommodated. They are intended as changing rooms on a daily basis, but in case of a crisis they can be used as a shelter.”
The municipality has called on residents to assess the suitability of their basements as bomb shelters.
Local elections will be held across Latvia on June 7 in 42 electoral districts . There will be 974 polling stations open for the local elections.
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