Town Council

General presentations

• SB040377 – Minutes of the Planning and Building Officer

  The minutes of the planning and building officer's disposal meeting of 13.04.11 were presented. Item A was dealt with by the building officer in accordance with the Building Act No. 160/2010. Presented.

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• SN010005 – Master Plan of Hafnarfjörður

  Item 3 from the SBH minutes of 26 April. To discuss the planning of the area west of Straumsvík, which was deferred for four years in the 2005–2025 Master Plan for Hafnarfjörður. The postponement expires on 18.05.11. A response letter from the Planning Authority, dated 08.04.11, was presented, stating that it is the opinion of the authority that the procedure according to Article 31 of the Planning Act no. 123/2010 does not apply, and therefore the postponement does not need to be advertised. Reference is made to section 35 of the Planning Act. The Planning and Building Committee agrees to postpone the area's general plan for a further 4 years, in accordance with the authority in section 33 of the Planning Act No. 123/2010, and refers the matter otherwise to the revision of the Master Plan of Hafnarfjörður, which the City Council of Hafnarfjörður approved on 30 June 2010 that work should commence on. The Planning and Building Committee makes the following recommendation to the City Council:$line$“The City Council of Hafnarfjörður approves the postponement of part of the Master Plan of Hafnarfjörður 2005–2025, the area west of Straumsvík, for a further 4 years in accordance with the authorisation in Article 33 of the Planning and Building Act no. 123/2010.“

  The First Vice-President, Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir, took the chair. Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir spoke. The President took the chair again.

  The town council approved the proposed motion with 11 unanimous votes.

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Minutes

• 1101098 – Minutes 2011, for presentation to the town council.

  Minutes of the Education Committee from 27th April.$line$Minutes of the Town Council from 28th April.$line$Minutes of the Planning and Building Committee from 26th April.$line$a. Minutes of the Environment Committee/Local Agenda 21 from 20 April. Minutes of the Family Council from 27 April. Minutes of the Executive Committee from 27 April.

  
  Geir Jónsson spoke under item 1 – The Work School – in the minutes of the Family Council meeting of 27 April. Kristinn Andersen spoke under the same item and item 5 – Loan refinancing – in the minutes of the town council meeting of 28 April. Gunnar Axel Axelsson made a point of order. Eyjólfur Sæmundsson made a point of order in response to Kristinn Andersen's previous speech. Kristinn Andersen replied to the rebuttal. Margrét Gauja Magnúsdóttir made a rebuttal to Kristinn Andersen's previous speech. Kristinn Andersen replied to the rebuttal. Margrét Gauja Magnúsdóttir made a second rebuttal. Kristinn Andersen replied to the second rebuttal. Margrét Gauja Magnúsdóttir made a brief comment. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir spoke under item 5 of the Town Council's minutes from 28th April and item 3 of the Education Committee's minutes – School Meetings 2011 – from 27th April. Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir made a point of order. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir replied to an intervention. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir made a brief comment on the conduct of the meeting. Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir spoke on items 3 and 5. – Implementation of PE teaching in Hafnarfjörður – in the minutes of the Education Committee from 28 April and item 4 – The Activity Bus, partnership, extension – in the minutes of the Municipal Council from 28 April. Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir made a point of order. Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason, the Mayor, spoke on item 1 of the Family Council's minutes from 27 April and item 5 of the Town Council's minutes from 28 April. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir made a point of order. Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason replied to the point of order. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir made a point of order a second time. Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason replied to the point of order a second time. Geir Jónsson made a point of order regarding Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason's previous speech. Eyjólfur Sæmundsson spoke under item 5 of the town council's minutes from 28th April. Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir made a point of order. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir made a point of order in response to Eyjólfur Sæmundsson's previous speech. Eyjólfur Sæmundsson responded to the point of order. Kristinn Andersen made a point of order regarding Eyjólfur Sæmundsson's previous speech. Eyjólfur Sæmundsson responded to the point of order. Kristinn Andersen spoke in reply for a second time. Helga Ingólfsdóttir spoke under item 6 – Strandgata 8-10, housing matters, in the minutes of the Executive Board meeting of 27th April.
  

  
  The First Vice-President, Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir, took over the chair. Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason intervened to respond to Helga Ingólfsdóttir's speech. Geir Jónsson spoke under item 4 – The employment situation – in the minutes of the Family Council meeting of 27 April. Gudmundur Rúnar Árnason, the Mayor, responded. The Chair resumed the chair. Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir spoke under item 10 – Employment Initiative, Task Force – in the minutes of the Planning and Building Committee from 28 April, and item 1 in the minutes of the Family Council from 27 April. The Chair ruled that the councillor had gone beyond the agenda item in her speech. Gudmundur Rúnar Árnason made a brief comment regarding the Chair's ruling. Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir likewise.
  

  
  

  
  Gunnar Axel Axelsson spoke under item 1 – The Work School – in the minutes of the Family Council meeting of 27th April. Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir responded. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir spoke on item 6 of the executive board's minutes from 27 April. Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir responded. Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir replied to the response.
  

  
  Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir took the floor and, on behalf of the Independence Party's representatives, submitted the following statement: „The town councillors of the Independence Party regret the redundancies and major cuts that have recently taken place among staff at Hafnarfjörður's primary schools, but it is clear that cuts and cost-saving measures are unfortunately unavoidable due to the town's difficult financial situation.the municipality and its accumulation of debt in recent years. It does nothing to increase the chances of understanding or consensus among staff and residents regarding such cost-saving measures if they are not applied across all of the borough's institutions. It is therefore incomprehensible that in the review and changes to the governance of Hafnarfjörður, no avenues for cost savings or cuts were explored, such as by merging the Education and Family Department with the Works and Construction Department, instead of adding a new post of director to the administrative department. The administrative changes were, however, pushed through without discussion, for example in the Family Council, where changes to the management team are also planned.
  

  
  The majority on the town council has now decided to lease a 700 sq m property for the education and social services departments. However, moving there from the council's own premises and refurbishing the building will cost at least 80 million króna. This is a sign of completely wrong priorities and raises questions as to how funds can be available for these works at the same time as there are mass redundancies in the municipality. It is also highly irresponsible to increase the council's financial commitments by moving from its own property into rented accommodation at a time of great uncertainty over the outcome of refinancing a 4.3 billion foreign loan that was due for repayment at the beginning of last month.“

  
  

  
  Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir (sign), Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir (sign), Kristinn Andersen (sign), Geir Jónsson (sign), Helga Ingólfsdóttir (sign).
  

  
  A short break was taken.
  

  
  

  Gudmundur Rúnar Árnason, the mayor, spoke and, on behalf of the representatives of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Party, submitted the following statement:

  
  “Changes to the administration are the joint outcome of the work of the leaders of all parties. Among other things, we reviewed what is referred to in the Conservatives' minutes as a possible merger of departments and took a position on those matters. The biggest efficiency gain in staffing so far this year was in central government, so all talk of additions rings hollow. Furthermore, we are taking on complex projects in the social services, which calls for increased integration and interweaving of projects, and is looking, for example, at moving education and family affairs to a single location. The changes being worked on in housing matters will lead to significant financial savings, in addition to the considerable advantage for residents of moving the operations to a single location. The most expensive option would have been not to make these changes.
  

  
  The basis of the refinancing process is that the budget's objectives and the projects defined within it are met. These projects are part of that work.
  

  
  It is disappointing to know that the Independence Party is once again tabling a motion on an issue that has already been discussed and dealt with in numerous meetings, and which is not on the agenda for this meeting. They have obviously chosen to make all matters suspicious, however positive they are, even though their leader, who is not at this meeting, took an active part in their preparation.“
  

  
  Guðmundur Rúnar Árnason (sign), Sigríður Björk Jónsdóttir (sign), Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir (sign),
  

  
  Margrét Gauja Magnúsdóttir (sign), Gunnar Axel Axelsson (sign), Eyjólfur Sæmundsson (sign)
  

  
  Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir made a brief comment on the chair's conduct of the meeting.
  

  
  A short break was taken.
  

  
  The meeting was adjourned and concluded.