Firstly, about governance

Our major goal is that people would not take part in managing their lives only once every four years, but continuously. We wish to involve as many people as possible in the organization of municipal life. We see this as the best measure to ensure that governance of the municipality does not once again fall into the hands of only a small clique.

Our municipality must be governed by all of us. Encouraged by the development of village societies and other civic associations in recent years, and by actively functioning roundtables of civic organizations, we see diverse opportunities to involve residents in the organization of municipal life. How do we envision this?

Civic associations, above all the roundtables of village societies and apartment cooperatives, must have an outlet in the organization of municipal life, and their voices must be taken into account. Roundtables and societies must be given clear tasks and responsibilities in municipal governance, which in turn increases the activity of citizens and their associations. Work unites.

In the planning of the activities of a specific village or area, the local village society must be involved, and its opinion must be heard. Where societies show interest, efforts must be made to delegate to them the provision of public services.

Public debates on important issues. In addition to ongoing activities, we must plan investments, and there will likely also be situations of reassessment of existing activities and the reversal of decisions. All interested parties must have the opportunity to express their views and give evaluations. One way to organize this is to do it together with the relevant committee of the municipal council.

Power in the municipality must rest with the council. Municipal officials together with the mayor should not be political figures (officials hired based on political loyalty), but strong specialists in their field who implement the decisions of the council.

We are of the opinion that the daily life of the municipality must be managed professionally and pragmatically. Our municipal annual budget exceeds 15 million euros, and the number of employees directly or indirectly on the municipality’s payroll will soon reach 400. This is at the level of a large company in Estonia, and it must be managed by a strong leader. Although in the ranks of Harku Liit there are also people with experience in managing large companies and major systems, who would do well in organizing the work of the municipal government, we ourselves do not aspire to take part in the executive management of the municipality. Local elections should not be a job competition; we wish to see a competition of ideas and plans. The work of the members of the municipal government must be operational management of the municipality, implementation of the council’s decisions, not dictating or steering those decisions. The executive heads of the municipal government must not engage in politics.


 

Secondly, our plans for the organization of municipal life

Harku Liit has an idealistic vision of municipal governance, but at the same time a pragmatic action plan. We see that these two fit together well.

1. GENERAL DIRECTION

In recent years, Harku vald has become a new home for very many people, several times more than lived here 15 years ago. Up to now, the municipality’s development activity has focused on building new dwellings and the technical infrastructure to serve them. It is time to raise to a new level also our external living environment, the services we need, and opportunities for creating jobs. Therefore, we do not see as our main direction the intensive development of dwellings and growth of population, but rather the creation of a better living environment for the existing population, development of social services, and support for the growth of entrepreneurship.

The municipality must become more widely known for its unique natural environment, winding coastline, and local cultural values and tourism objects. Our goal is to shape the municipality into a good living and business environment, where without leaving we can obtain high-level public and private services, and where new jobs are rapidly added. In this way, we slow down commuting to Tallinn and leave ourselves with a smaller ecological footprint.

Sub-centers are becoming real centers, where in addition to kindergarten and school there are shops, social and other same-level services based on village houses, and certainly opportunities for sports and gatherings of youth, middle-aged, and elderly. Such sub-centers, in addition to Tabasalu, are forming in Rannamõisa, Muraste, Vääna-Jõesuu, Vääna, Harkujärve, and Kumna. This process must be supported.

Much more than before we must involve EU funds in our investment activity, thereby increasing our limited financial capacity. The new EU budgetary period gives many opportunities for this. Our goal is to maintain the co-financing capacity required for applying for EU funding and to be active in applying for funds. Everyone can contribute – in recent years, the most diligent EU fund raisers have indeed been the village societies.

2. EDUCATION

In education there are two important topics: the capacity to provide kindergarten and school places for all children of the municipality, and the quality of education.

KINDERGARTEN PLACES. We have reached a situation where all children born in our municipality who turn three by autumn can obtain a place in our kindergartens if desired. Additional kindergarten places will be created in Vääna-Jõesuu for children of that area. As places will soon also become available for children under three, we will create nursery groups for those families who need them most.

SCHOOL PLACES. Large age groups of our children are soon reaching school age, four large cohorts are already in school, and the spatial resources of schools are running out. One of the municipality’s biggest problems at present is the shortage of school places. We must immediately create places for all first graders, and as the large age groups move into higher grades, we will need more and more space also at the lower secondary and upper secondary levels.

We are of the opinion that children in the first two school stages (grades 1–6) must be able to attend school close to home, and the school network must cover the whole municipality. New primary schools will be established in Muraste and Rannamõisa: in Muraste, a 9-grade school with at least two parallel classes, and in Rannamõisa a 6-grade primary school with one class per year.

As the first large cohorts of pupils will soon reach the upper secondary stage, Tabasalu Gymnasium will in coming years become too small. An additional building for the upper secondary level must be built for Tabasalu Gymnasium.

MUSIC SCHOOL. Our municipality has a strong music school with long traditions, which needs a new building for its development. We will build the new music school in the Rannamõisa Cultural Village, next to the kindergarten and basic school. The building will fill a very important gap in our municipality’s public space – it will be a place where also adults can engage in cultural hobbies and where performances and concerts can be attended.

The second major topic is CONTENT OF EDUCATION. Growth of the school network requires management at a new level. At present, Tabasalu Gymnasium is not yet a natural choice for very many parents for their children’s education. Considering the large and growing number of our students, we definitely need a strong gymnasium in our municipality also in the future. Tabasalu Gymnasium needs further changes for the better.

Considering the importance of education among municipal responsibilities and the growing number of educational institutions, the municipality needs a real education policy and its actual coordination at the municipal level. At present, both are lacking.

EXTRACURRICULAR EDUCATION. The municipality must provide diverse opportunities for extracurricular activities. Both children and adults must have the chance for suitable sports or hobby activities near home, in their own area, in their own municipality.

We must invest considerably more in the work education of our children. Here, a great opportunity is provided by summer mowing and other maintenance work organized by the municipality. Such work would provide reasonable use of time and an opportunity to earn pocket money.

3. PLANNING

Both our current comprehensive plan and the new comprehensive plan under procedure are morally outdated and do not serve the interests of the good and balanced development of the municipality. The comprehensive plan under procedure is in fact a compilation of plans that were under procedure at the time of its drafting, its strongest part being some elements of a green worldview that were incorporated into the plan.

The best possible way in the current legal framework to move forward with the planning process we need is to prepare partial comprehensive plans by areas. The principles on which these plans would be based are as follows:

• We base planning on area-based approach, creating centers of larger areas with educational institutions, local commerce, and services.

• We allocate in sub-centers land suitable for entrepreneurship.

• We base planning on use of existing infrastructure, efficiency, energy saving, minimizing future infrastructure maintenance costs borne by the municipality and residents, and minimizing commuting between Tallinn and our areas.

• To achieve the goals mentioned in the previous point, no new apartment buildings or commercial/service centers larger than the needs of sub-centers will be planned.

• In more densely populated areas we will end housing construction on the dispersed settlement principle.

• Planning of agricultural land must be started again, which is not foreseen at all in the municipality’s current new comprehensive plan.

• A tourism thematic plan must be initiated and implemented, enabling the creation of new jobs in the municipality.

• In the case of new detailed plans, an unavoidable precondition for initiation is that the developer takes fully upon themselves the obligation to build the technical infrastructure. In the case of detailed plans involving residential land, this requirement is joined by the obligation to contribute to the development of social infrastructure, the cost of which depends on the number of dwelling units permitted by the plan.

4. MUNICIPAL AND HOUSING MANAGEMENT

Our most important planned infrastructure project is Harku vald’s Cohesion Fund water management project, which must now be fully completed. In addition:

• We will make the unfinished roads in new residential areas dust-free.

• We will make energy saving a priority in the municipality. We will direct apartment associations to insulate their buildings and use energy-efficient solutions, and also guide private homeowners toward energy-efficient solutions, as the continuously rising price of electricity requires a new active approach.

• In setting priorities for technical infrastructure construction, we will prefer those that benefit a larger circle of municipal taxpayers.

• We will reorganize public transport so that internal routes of the municipality connect with a frequent and fast Tabasalu–Tallinn city center line.

• We will start negotiations with neighboring municipalities and the Road Administration to jointly find opportunities to improve the municipality’s traffic conditions through the completion of the Tallinn ring road and other new main roads, and to eliminate traffic jams.

• To ensure the quality of roads and networks, we plan that all technical infrastructure construction in the municipality will be organized by the municipality itself. In future, the municipality should not transfer this right to developers. In case of development interest, the developer must first reimburse the municipality for the cost of constructing the streets and networks of the area, after which the municipality itself will organize the construction work.

5. IMPORTANT SOCIAL OBJECTS FOR THE MUNICIPALITY

Our growing but at the same time aging population requires, in addition to roads, streets, and educational institutions, also cultural objects, sports opportunities, and age-appropriate service centers. In addition to educational institutions, important social objects of the municipality await investments.

• Rannamõisa Cultural Village. Our goal is that the music school, youth center, sports hall, handicraft workshop planned for the Rannamõisa Cultural Village, together with the kindergarten and Rannamõisa primary school, would form a vital educational and cultural environment that complements and supports each other’s functions.

• Tilgu Harbor. We plan to adopt the zoning plan and design the harbor by the end of 2015. For construction funding we see possibilities only on the basis of EU structural funds in the coming years.

• Family health center. Tabasalu should have a family health center serving our municipality; we are ready to contribute to its development from the municipality.

• Social center. A sub-institution of the municipality, where services meeting modern requirements are provided for different age groups and people with disabilities. Our elderly should not be placed in the care institutions of other municipalities, but must be cared for by ourselves. The network of open social care services must be organized and brought into line with today’s needs, and home care services must be organized together with the community.

And finally: Harku Liit is ready, if there is interest from the residents of Saue municipality, but above all of Vatsla, Hüüru, Püha, and Kiia villages, to consider restoring the former boundaries of our municipality.