The members of the Ausländerbeirat must be getting used to longer meetings, as the one they held on Monday, 20th January, 2014 went on until almost 8.30pm.  That is according to my notes.  The official minutes of the meeting are not yet available on the town’s website to verify this fact, and this may well have to do with one of the new rules that have come into effect for such committees this year.

Until now, the minutes of the meetings have been written by the independent town hall employees known as the “Büro der Gremien”.  Since they are understaffed, it is now up to most of the town council’s sub-committees to nominate someone from their own ranks to write them instead.

The Ausländerbeirat nominated their only paid member – Thomas Eifert – to do the job, and he started mid-meeting, however they made it a condition that he receives additional paid time in order to write up the notes later. [Read more…]