2nd Mayor of the City of Nuremberg  

Horst Förther

Portfolio:

• Fire Brigade and Fire Protection Department
• SportService
• Zoo
• Franken-Stadion Nuremberg
• NürnbergBad
• Citizens' Offices North/East/South
• Service Provider Public Domain

 

Personal Details

Horst Förther was born in Nuremberg in 1950, in the Knoblauchsland district, more precisely Großreuth h.d.V.Horst Förther is married and has three grown-up children (Ann-Kathrin, Daniela und Marie-Isabel). After finishing intermediate school, he did an apprenticeship as a gas-fitter and plumber, then went on to study building services engineering in Munich from 1968 till 1972.

As a qualified engineer, he took over his father's business with a staff of three and went on to expand it to a medium-size enterprise employing about 50 persons.

This still left him time for hobbies related to his profession – in numerous executive positions in the Nuremberg crafts guilds – until he moved up to the City Council in March 2000. Since then he has concentrated mainly on politics.

He created quite a stir as a "red" entrepreneur, although he prefers to see himself as a representative of the "socially responsible middle class".

He became spokesman of the SPD party group for educational matters, and familiarised himself with environmental and energy policies – which were often quite contrary to what he was used to dealing with as an entrepreneur. Being a member of the board of directors of supply companies EWAG and N-Ergie, was a "home game", since he was very familiar with their core activities.

In the municipal elections on March 2, 2008, Horst Förther was again elected to the City Council. On 2 May, in its constituent meeting, the City Council confirmed his appointment as mayor, the post he has held since 2002.

 

Franken-Stadion and NürnbergBad

In 2002, at Horst Förther's suggestion, the City Council established the municipal undertaking "Franken-Stadion Nürnberg" in view of the necessary conversion of Nuremberg stadium for the 2006 Football World Cup. A further municipal enterprise "NürnbergBad" was founded to oversee the refurbishment and management of Nuremberg's public baths. For Förther, the demands of modern, more flexible management and the necessity of repaying mortgages with interest and repayments, was an interesting challenge rather than an obstacle.

Meanwhile the stadium refurbishment was completed – with lower costs than foreseen – and the public baths are being refurbished and made more attractive. The "Concept for Baths" was unanimously adopted by the City Council, and three of Nuremberg's eight swimming baths have since been expanded and modernised. Three further swimming baths will be thoroughly refurbished or newly built within the next few years.

 

SportService

The City's Sports Department was reviewed and streamlined. Now the emphasis is no longer on the implementation of measures and on sports activities offered by the City, but rather on initiating sports and increasingly supporting sports clubs via the internet. Nuremberg's SportService has been working in this way since March 2005.

Although clubs now have to pay rent for the city-owned gymnasiums, the city still subsidises club use of gyms and sports fields to the tune of 85 per cent, and club use of public baths to the tune of 70 per cent.

 

Zoo

In the zoo, the self-financing share has been raised from 45 to 75 per cent within a period of six years. This was possible due to well-considered additions to the animal stock, e.g. a snow leopard, an aviary for large birds and a wolf compound. Many of the compounds were built by the zoo's own staff. The new polar bear compound is very popular. With the birth of polar bear "Flocke", the zoo gained major world-wide attention. The City Council adopted the plans for a dolphin lagoon; the intensive planning phase has started. Finances were secured via a new structure of entry fees, rather than increasing the City's contribution.

 

Fire Brigade

The fire brigade was reviewed in the context of co-operation between municipalities. The review report was presented, and important synergies forged. The professional fire brigade submitted a tender for the Integrated Regional Headquarters for Central Franconia and succeeded in winning the contract.This makes the professional fire brigade Bavaria's largest regional headquarters. The next project is that of a replacement for Fire Station 1, in close proximity to the Old Town. By continually replacing and supplementing its technical equipment, Nuremberg Fire Brigade manages to keep its high quality standards.

 

Citizens' Offices North/East/South

These mini "city halls" on the outskirts of the city of Nuremberg which were established in the course of the 1972 municipal territorial reform, offer important services to the citizens living in the outskirts. In 2008, the Citizens' Offices became part of the portfolio of the Second Mayor.

 

Service Provider Public Domain

Since 1 January 2009, the Servicebetrieb Öffentlicher Raum (SÖR Service Provider Public Domain) has combined various departments and services under one roof: the parks department, street cleaning, the building yards of the citizens' offices North, East and South, as well as large parts of the civil engineering department. Thus SÖR'S tasks include street cleaning, winter road clearance, maintenance of playgrounds and parks, construction and maintenance of bridges and streets, as well as the planned conversion of the Frankenschnellweg expressway. The tasks have been brought together in one department with the goal of optimizing working processes and improving quality, economic viability and transparency. At the same time, the services will be closer to the public, for one hotline for all these services will give the public the opportunity to voice their concerns and suggestions with the SÖR directly.

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