FREDERIKSHAVN:– I have received a message from a citizen on messenger asking if I should now be mayor of Aalborg, but I have no plans to do so.
This is how Frederikshavn’s popular mayor, social democratic mayor Birgit S. Hansen, answers with a smile in her voice when she answers the phone and before she gets the question: What do you think regarding Aalborg’s mayor Thomas Kastrup Larsen quitting?
– I have respect for Thomas turning away because he wants to try something new. That he wants to go another way, because sometimes our work can also feel like a hamster wheel.
Birgit S. Hansen says honestly that she thinks it is mostly uphill for her to be mayor when, year following year, savings must be found and redundancies implemented in core areas. Areas that should not be skimped on. This week, for example, 29 teachers have been told that they have been fired.
In 2023, Frederikshavn Municipality must save 30 million kroner and reallocate another 20 million kroner, and in 2024 the politicians must once more save around 30 million kroner.
– But I still get up every morning with light in my eyes and think: We’re scratching our heads. And believe that I am the right person for the post both personally and for the municipality.
Birgit S. Hansen is a trained nurse, but if she no longer had to lead Frederikshavn Municipality, she has a dream of working as a priest. Or study sociology.
– I come from a Grundtvigian Christian family, my father was a gravedigger, and for me there are many similarities between being a mayor and a priest, she explains and mentions being able to deliver a message and talk to people.
– I can also comfort and provide spiritual care. But training to become a priest remains a dream. The study takes too long, concludes 56-year-old Birgit S. Hansen, who has been active in municipal politics since 2002, including mayor of Frederikshavn Municipality since 2014.