2023-11-08 10:13:00
The public outing of the alderman, who did not hide his fed-up with the contempt of certain elected officials towards him, was linked to the point linked to the new parking plandear to Mayor Thierry Bodlet.
Robert Closset doesn’t want it. And he made it known, before leaving the assembly, at the same time as the minority. Because he does not understand the determination of the mayor in this issue which has been debated for several years. “Let us instead tax empty businesses, residents who do not renovate their homes, but stop making citizens pay. There is a way to find the money elsewhere than in the parking meter. We can bring ideas , but for that, you have to listen. And that’s not possible.”
Because, according to the first alderman, there is no no dialogue in the majority. “Thierry (Bodlet), he’s a machine. He’s the one who decides everything. When I want to speak at the college, he cuts me off directly. Even the points that I want to include at the college, they sweep them away from me. “
As for the majority meetings which would take place on Saturday mornings, as the mayor put forward Monday evening during the council, according to the alderman, “these are just preparation meetings, on Saturdays before the councils. But he knows that I’m not there, since I carry guns throughout my family. It’s always been like that. And anyway, everything is already decided. We have nothing to say, we are button presses .” Robert Closset, however, insists: Monday evening’s event is not a settling of scores. “But what is happening is dramatic for Dinant.”
Could “Bob” Closset leave the majority ship? “They can kick me out if they want, make a motion of no confidence. But I will continue with the college as if nothing had happened and I will finish like that. At the council, Monday, I dissociated myself from the majority, for the particular point of the parking lot. Because it’s too much. At some point, I need to say what I have to say and express my discomfort. But I will continue the work until the end, even if I don’t feel well. I’m keeping my head up.”
Robert Closset would not be surprised let the point come back from the next tip. “But if it happens, they will take responsibility because we will be gone for 12 years. Later, if we break the contract, we will have to compensate the company, and it will be terrible.”
“Collectively, the majority screwed up”
Laurent Brion does not spare the majority either… ©ÉdA – Florent Marot
The sound of the bell at the level of the majority is not more brilliant on the side of advisor Laurent Brion (Closset group, but they no longer have contact with each other; Laurent Brion had not signed the amendment to the pact majority in June 2022). He also left the council room on Monday to express his disagreement with the new parking plan. He regrets that the file was not built by the majority, but by Thierry Bodlet, alone. “We are a bit of a cash cow, we were a bit forced to say yes at the start. For me, this parking plan will not be a plus for local businesses.”
Laurent Brion participates “out of respect” in the Saturday meetings, before the councils. “But it’s very funny. At the last one, there were… two of us. Thierry Bodlet and me. But at these meetings, everything is already settled, we can’t change anything.” He doesn’t feel good in this majority either. “I don’t understand it anymore. Personally, I am satisfied to have been able to contribute two or three things. But collectively, the majority got it wrong. We did nothing for the citizens, while, for example, we spent €400,000 on studies. For nothing. As a simple advisor, we are powerless,” he confides, bitterly. He believes that this wobbly majority has no weight and no longer resembles anything. “For me, there is no longer a majority.”
And added: “If Thierry Bodlet and the majority are intellectually honest with themselves, they must not put the point back on the agenda for the next councils. Because there is no longer a majority, no more quorum and a real break. We have to put it back in ten months. Wait and do a sort of referendum later. We cannot impose it like that on people, and even less so at the end of the legislature, 10 months before the elections.”
“It was the only way to temporarily block the point in the parking lot”
Leaving the council room Monday evening, the minority (LDB), led by Alain Besohé, and the “Dinant” group of Robert Closset left the college and the other members of the majority at 11 around the table (out of the 20 people present at the start). The debates could no longer resume, as the quorum was no longer reached.
Explanation from the leader of the opposition: “This proposed parking plan will not help the people of Dinant in the city center. It will not stimulate people from the villages, nor the inhabitants of neighboring communities to come to the center, since everything will pay. The current majority lacks legitimacy. It is run by people who did not have the highest scores in elections. It is therefore complicated to make such decisions for the city, especially for a period of 12 years.”
And added: “We did not want to take the risk of going to the vote. Because 9 against 11, it passed, it was too risky.” Alain Besohé insists: “We are not only against a project passes, but this project, which is solely that of Thierry Bodlet, poorly put together, poorly prepared, we don’t want it. We wanted to mark the occasion. They don’t ask for help, they do everything in their own corner. Hey Well, we don’t like this project, and we showed it. The majority is shaky, they’re not there. It was the only way to block the point on the parking lot temporarily.”
The point could come up again at a future council meeting. If the quorum is not reached at this meeting, the local democracy code provides that the item can be put back on the agenda for a third session. This time, regardless of the number of advisors present, the point can pass. Using forceps. “They are capable of anything!”, says Alain Besohé.
Mayor Bodlet charges Alderman Closset with war bullets
Thierry Bodlet (ID!) says he does not understand the choice of the minority and the elected representatives of the Closset group to have left the assembly on Monday. “It’s regrettable since we had met the remarks of the councilors, both from the majority and the opposition, confided the mayor as he left the council on Monday. The new project included everything that had been requested. This is not It’s not democratic to act like that, because democracy is still the majority. I expected bad things, but not of this kind.”
“Un hold-up”
In a press release, sent during the day on Tuesday, Thierry Bodlet indicated that he had no intention of abandoning this new parking plan. He regrets the events of Monday and the attitude of the members of the LDB, who were “aware that the finalization of the point by a democratic vote would have validated the project, taking into account the number of councilors present, the 11 councilors remaining in the majority ( Editor’s note: except that Marie-Christine Vermer had not signed the amendment to the majority pact at the time) being more numerous than the 9 from the LDB and the “Closset” group.
And continued: “The opposition chose to leave the session to prevent the vote, the quorum no longer being reached. In doing so, they completely disregarded the Dinant population who are waiting for a parking plan worthy of this name for several years. This “hold-up” arrives at the end of the administrative process when numerous consultations have already taken place, a law firm has been hired to present an impeccable document and many members of the administration spent long working hours there.”
An “alleged malaise”
The mayor adds: “There were numerous possibilities for Robert Closset and his associates to express themselves upstream of the file. Before arriving on the council table this Monday, the file was, for example, validated by the college, and was voted by the members of the “Closset” group at the municipal council of February 6, 2023, without any voice being raised against it. It is therefore a deep contempt which is signified by these two groups (LDB and Closset) against the work of the administration. Their only objective was to produce a coup by relying on the discontent of Robert Closset and his alleged “discomfort within the college”.”
Thierry Bodlet does not spare his first alderman. He even makes serious accusations: “The College, whose objective from the start has been to work with honesty and transparency, did not accept certain requirements. It is indeed public knowledge that Robert Closset struggles to distinguish his private interestsof the public interest. The College, since the beginning of its mandate, has been keen to reaffirm its integrity in this matter, even if it regularly comes under pressure from the first alderman (and to cite a series of files in which Robert Closset allegedly tried to put pressure). It is therefore these inglorious circumstances which allowed the members of the LDB to influence Robert Closset and the members of his list and to carry out this political maneuver exempt from respect for the most elementary democratic principles.”And to conclude:” The “Parking Plan” project, clearly oriented to the benefit of Dinant residents, will be represented at a future Council meeting.” That promises.
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