I have decided to make it a regular feature to put together a few words at the end of each month to report on interesting projects underway within the municipality and to share the highs and lows of the month's challenges, ideas, visits and meetings. There is much to report, but with this I want to better inform residents and other stakeholders about the progress of matters and plans within the municipality. <\/p>\n
They say time flies when you're having fun, and that is certainly no exaggeration. No two days are the same for the City of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, and there is great value in chatting with both its residents and those who use the municipality's services. The staff who provide the service have a good sense of what could be improved, as do the residents and businesses that receive and use our services. I see it as one of my main roles as Mayor to listen to as many voices as possible to get the clearest picture of the situation. That is how we can best put things right. I then work on the ideas and suggestions with my department heads, who are fortunate to have in their teams proactive and thoughtful individuals who keep the interests of the wider community in mind in their projects and actions. This approach has proven successful, and I will continue, as much as possible, to meet with as many people as I can and do my part to connect the right people and individuals, with the aim of improving and paving the way for realistic new ideas and opportunities. The power lies not just in what we, the staff of the City of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, can do, but in what the community as a whole can do, and we must therefore focus on paving the way for implementation and success.<\/p>\n
Last winter, I visited the primary schools of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur with a distinguished entourage, where I met the school staff \u2013 my colleagues \u2013 who have the significant and challenging task of educating our children, great and small. These visits were very rewarding, and the outcome was a list of ideas for actions designed to improve the services of the primary schools, as well as the satisfaction of staff and pupils. This list has now been handed over to an action group. Currently, similar visits are underway for staff at the nursery schools here in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. We have already visited five nursery schools and will complete these visits in the spring. In these visits, I will meet at least 500 of the council's roughly 1,800 employees, and I feel that the visits are bringing me closer to our core services. I already have the sense that it is often the small details and minor things that make a huge difference. and make a big difference to the whole. It is necessary to work on the major projects too, but we must not get so caught up in them that we forget the rest. Yes \u2013 the lessons from these visits are many, and for that, I am grateful.<\/p>\n
It is quite clear that the austerity measures and the council's difficult financial situation in recent years have not only had an impact on the residents and businesses in the borough, but also on our staff. People have, until now, found it difficult to believe that brighter times are ahead and that the council's position is improving, which is truly the case. To some extent, external factors influence this, but no less so do factors relating to the council's operations and the change in mindset that has occurred in recent quarters. We at the City of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur have been treading carefully in many respects, minimising borrowing, repaying unfavourable loans and carrying out projects with our own capital. All of this is done to build for the long-term future. These steps are intended to ensure the council continues to be well-positioned, despite fluctuations in the economy, although such fluctuations will, of course, always have some impact. It is also the role of our staff to minimise the impact of such fluctuations and to continue to maintain the services of which we are proud and strive to improve.<\/p>\n
We continue to look forward with optimism. I would like to take this opportunity to thank residents sincerely for their response and participation in the snow clearance following the recent snowfall. If everyone clears snow from drains, cleans around their rubbish bins and shovels in front of them, things go incredibly smoothly. That was proven a few days ago. Or\u00f0 fr\u00e1 b\u00e6jarstj\u00f3ra eftir m\u00e1na\u00f0arm\u00f3t \u00c9g hef \u00e1kve\u00f0i\u00f0 a\u00f0 hafa \u00fea\u00f0 sem fastan li\u00f0 a\u00f0 setja saman nokkur or\u00f0 um m\u00e1na\u00f0am\u00f3t til a\u00f0 segja fr\u00e1 \u00e1hugaver\u00f0um verkefnum sem \u00ed gangi eru innan sveitarf\u00e9lagsins og upp og ofan af \u00e1skorunum, hugmyndum, heims\u00f3knum og fundum m\u00e1na\u00f0arins. Af m\u00f6rgu er a\u00f0 taka en me\u00f0 \u00feessu vil \u00e9g uppl\u00fdsa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frettir"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13285"}],"curies":[{"name":"WordPress","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong>Let's go, everyone!<\/strong>
<\/em>Attached is a summary of the news for February, and my aim is to compile such a summary at the end of each month for all our information:<\/em><\/p>\n\n