Reykjanesbær visits Hafnarfjörður  

Colleagues discuss matters in the historic Bungalow

The importance of discussing projects, implementation, procedures and challenges in the day-to-day running of local authorities is often underestimated. Recently, the mayor and department heads of Reykjanesbær visited Hafnarfjörður for this very purpose and received presentations on the plans and projects of their colleagues in Hafnarfjörður. Mayor Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir of Hafnarfjörður welcomed the group with well-chosen words about Hafnarfjörður and the town, the council's services, and projects that encourage and strengthen the community.  

31,801 inhabitants in March 2024  

In her introduction, Rósa went through, among other things, the key figures for the municipality:  

• 31,801 inhabitants at the beginning of March 2024 
• 18 nurseries  
• 11 primary schools 
• 1 music school (+ 1 branch)  
• 3 swimming pools  
• 70 council facilities throughout the town  
• Around 2,500 employees – the number doubles over the summer  
• Around 2000 full-time equivalent positions  
• About 200 job titles  

The vision for the year 2035  

The City of Hafnarfjörður has six department heads overseeing as many departments. Sigurður Nordal, Head of the Administration Department, reviewed the city's overall strategy and the implementation of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals in the municipality's operations. This is a vision for 2035 with nine main objectives linked to the Global Goals, which focus on the well-being of residents, physical activity and health, a flourishing business community, vibrant communities, an environmentally friendly society, and a strong cultural life,  education for all, targeted participation and efficient services. All these key objectives are interconnected and directly linked to the operation of the municipality and the projects that the heads of department presented to their colleagues in Reykjanesbær.

Infrastructure development – in the present and the future  

Sigurður Haraldsson, Director of the Environment and Planning Department, went over the infrastructure development that is already underway and that which is planned for the near future; Haukar's sports hall, Sörli's riding arena, the Skateboard Association's premises, a nursery school in Hamranes, a primary and nursery school in Hamranes, roadworks in Ásland 4 and the allocation of plots there, and the development of industrial plots in Hellnahraun 4.  In addition, Sigurður discussed the infrastructure development planned for Hraun-vestur, the Óseyrarhverfi area, Hvaleyrarbraut, Flensborgarhöfn, Straumsvík, as well as for the Technical College and the Hafnarfjörður Library.  

On the journey to greater well-being  

Fanney Dóróthe Halldórsdóttir, Director of the Directorate of Education and Public Health, presented the department's main focus on providing robust support for children, young people and their families through school and leisure activities. This is primarily achieved through extensive cross-disciplinary collaboration between the schools, the Department of Family and Child Affairs, and the Department of Education and Public Health. This increased focus is linked, among other things, to the municipality's implementation of the recent Well-being of Children and Young People Act and the integration of services for their well-being. A project that the City of Hafnarfjörður has been working on for several years under the name Brúin.  

Fanney then spoke about the educational strategy of Hafnarfjörður, 'Reading is the game of life', the 'Barnahnappi' innovation hub, and the restructuring of the school day. Guðlaug Ósk Gísladóttir, Director of the Department for Family and Child Affairs, spoke about ÞÚ, a new central team that works with a variety of resources, including home care, support services and auxiliary services for disabled people. Guðlaug spoke about social housing in the City of Hafnarfjörður, refugee issues, child protection, the well-being of children and the affairs of disabled people.  

Fannar Jónasson, Mayor of Grindavík, and Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir, Mayor of Hafnarfjörður.

The digital journey of Hafnarfjörður Municipality  

The focus of the presentations by Helga Benediktsdóttir, Director of the Finance Department, and Árdís Ármannsdóttir, Director of the Service and Development Department, was on the municipality's digital journey.  

Helga then spoke about improvement projects designed to make financial management and the reliability of the City of Hafnarfjörður's financial accounts even more effective and better. Evolv is the newest and most recent example. Evolv is about using digital robots, i.e., bots, to simulate the actions of staff with the aim of automating and simplifying certain processes. Examples of Evolv projects include creditor reconciliations, property statements, movement statements, cash management and payment planning, automated invoice approval, and general ledger variance analysis.  

Árdís then presented the launch and already achieved results of the municipality's digital journey, increased transparency, simple calculators, a feedback portal that receives around 150 suggestions a month, a waste collection calendar, and an intelligent search engine. In addition, Árdís presented larger digital projects such as a new design system which has facilitated all collaboration with various parties, the redesign of the primary school websites, nursery websites on the City of Hafnarfjörður's website, a new app for the nurseries, an English website, a photo library, and a digital revolution in building and human resources matters, which have delivered significant results.  

At the end of the presentation, the cultural town of Hafnarfjörður was highlighted with a list of annual events, grants and support designed to promote and enhance the cultural and artistic life of Hafnarfjörður. 

The heads of department and the Mayor of the City of Hafnarfjörður sincerely thank their colleagues in Reykjanesbær for their visit and interest. It is planned to organise a similar visit to the South-West region shortly.