The history of districts in Hungary goes back many centuries, but the continuity was broken when they were abolished in 1983. In the period that followed, the territorial units roughly corresponding to the districts were the city and metropolitan areas (1984–1990), then the small regions (1994–2012). After a thirty-year hiatus, the districts were re-established on January 1, 2013, a total of 175, 6-18 per county.
Dunakeszin had never been a district office before, so its establishment was a historic moment in the life of the town, which includes Dunakeszi, Göd, Fót and Csomád. The office was headed by Dr. ten years ago. Attila Bíró was appointed, who, due to his government assignment, handed over the management of the office to Zsolt Imre in 2017, who before him, from 2013, managed the Hatvani Járási Hivatal. In the light of the district’s decade-long operation, we asked the registrar Zsolt Imre how he assessed the years spent in Dunakesz from a professional point of view, which included the fact that they took over many tasks from the municipality.
The registrar began his speech by looking back to 2010, when the Orbán government was formed. As he said: one of the government’s first measures was to reorganize the public administration, in which Tibor Navracsics undertook the reorganization of the regional public administration. The first step was the establishment of government offices, which previously took the place of public administration offices. These have already received and taken over such state administration matters and powers that were previously exercised by public administration offices and specialized administrative bodies. The districts formed in 2013 took over such matters as, for example, the performance of official duties, employment, guardianship, guardianship, public health, and construction supervision. The most important face of the government offices and district offices was the government window, which served one-stop, immediate administration.
“In my opinion, the past ten years have confirmed that the reorganization of the regional public administration was justified, important and successful,” – we heard the opinion of Zsolt Imre, who added that the reorganization of the public administration became practically complete with the creation of the district offices.
One of the most beautiful government windows in the country is in Dunakesz
– The government window took over the tasks of the document offices, which were supplemented by immediate administrations taken over from professional administrative bodies (the tb-card from OEP) or non-immediate handling of social security and family affairs tasks. For this, they provided a suitable image, space and color space, with suitable design elements. Dunakeszi is worth highlighting from this point of view, because now we can find one of the country’s most beautiful government windows in the city – stated Zsolt Imre.
As the locals know, the district office became really customer-friendly two years ago, when the office’s new, modern building in Verseny utca was completed, in which, together with the government window created in the patina building of the Dunakeszi Railway Station, all the professional background was provided for it serves the citizens living in the city and the district to the satisfaction of all their needs.
“Over the course of ten years, there were reorganizations of powers resulting from changes in the laws, which were justified by functional reasons and demographic changes,” highlighted Zsolt Imre, who added: “You should know that Vác operates as a kind of regional center with several powers – animal health, public health, in terms of employment and environmental protection – which we do not have. From this point of view, we are considered a medium office.”
When asked why the Göd document office ceased to exist, Zsolt Imre said:
because the number of clients and cases was much lower here than in Dunakeszin, so the measure to terminate it and redeploy the freed up workforce was rational.
Serving customers has become faster and easier
The registrar believes that the district offices have proven their viability functionally. It is not worth touching on this to a large extent now, and I don’t think they will. Due to demographic changes, some reorganization of powers could be justified. For example, in 10 years, the population of Dunakeszi increased by at least 5-6 thousand people, which could justify the allocation of new powers.
“The truth of this was confirmed when we had to face some extraordinary event. For example, the admission of refugees due to a flood situation, the COVID epidemic, or the Ukrainian-Russian war. In all of these crisis situations, it was the district offices that contributed directly to defense works, epidemic prevention, or the distribution of refugees. Of course, the leadership of the local defense committees is also concentrated in the district offices, since the head of the district office is also the president of the local defense committee, and in this way he makes these coordinations in consultation with the mayors. As for the refugees, their distribution at the settlement level was quite hectic, currently there are only 4 families left in Dunakeszin, 8-10 families in Fót, and we do not know of any accepted Ukrainian refugees in Gödö.”
The Self-Government of Sixty Cities recognized the work of the district office it had led until then with the Pro Urbe award
What was the challenge for Zsolt Imre after managing the Hatvani Járasi Hivatal to take over the leadership of the Dunakesz Járasi Hivatal? – we were also curious about that.
The registrar revealed: it was a huge challenge for him in 2013, when he was asked to lead the Hatvani Járasi Hivatal. Prior to that, for two terms from 1998 to 2006, he was an individual representative of the city of Vác and a local government representative of Vác. He was practically familiar with the functioning of local governments, later working as a school director and then as a county chief of staff. Then Vácon became the managing director of TISZK. Before 2013, he was the director of the Endre Váci Király Technical and Vocational Training School, then the head of the Hatvani Járási Hivatal. For this position, he had to pass the public administration examination.
“This was a new field for me, so to this day I am still grateful to the colleagues there, who received me with absolute helpfulness. Seven settlements belonged to the Hatvani Járási Hivatal, but they were smaller in terms of territory and population than the Dunakesz district. I spent a good four years in Hatvan. I loved working at Hatvan, I made a lot of acquaintances and friendships in addition to gaining professional experience. Perhaps this is somehow confirmed by the fact that when I left, the municipality of the settlement awarded the district office that I led until then with the Pro Urbe award.”
As a Váci, he served the public good in all his jobs, and now he faces another challenge
With a lot of experience behind him, Zsolt Imre is facing another challenge in the upcoming municipal elections. According to the information that has already been made public, the basic organizations of Fidesz and KDNP in Vác unanimously vote him as a mayoral candidate in the June 9 election in Vác.
“I’ve been to many places over the past years, serving the public good has always been at the forefront of my life. Whether as a parliamentarian, school director, or district registrar in Hatvan or Dunakesz. For me, after all these positions, it would be a great honor to work for the citizens of Vác as mayor and to serve the development of the city with other challenges. Although I worked in many places, I always lived in Vác. I always said: I was able to give my heart to Hatvan and Dunakeszi in connection with my work, but my soul always remained empty.”
For 4-5 years, Zsolt Imre has been the president of the Váci Civic Forum, a non-governmental organization that deals with the public life of the city. His stance in favor of the national-Christian value system has never changed, and he wants to enforce this in his involvement in public life in the city.
(B. Szentmártoni)
Photo: KesziPress
2024-03-09 17:54:07