At six o’clock in the evening of November 1, the members of the municipal council gathered for an extraordinary session in the large hall of the Tapa House of Culture to put an end to the power crisis that had been simmering for a long time. Although there were initially six items on the agenda, it was decided to limit to two, which were the election of the chairman of the municipal council and the mayor.
Before that, on October 23, a new power alliance was formed in the municipality of Tapa, which included the Estonian Reform Party (four seats in the council), the Estonian Central Party (four seats), the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (three seats) and the electoral alliance Koostöö (two seats). This left the opposition electoral alliance Valgejõgi (eight seats), whose leader Alari Kirt resigned as council chairman on October 26. Valdo Helmelaid, a member of the EKRE, signed his resignation in such a way that it took effect on November 1.
Although the new power coalition tried to keep the candidate for both the chairman of the municipal council and the mayor a secret for the time being, it was already clear last week that Maksim Butshenkov, a member of the Center Party, and Riho Tell, a member of the Reform Party, will be nominated as the chairman of the council. That’s how it went. At the extraordinary meeting of the municipal council on November 1, both men received the support of 12 members of the municipal council. There are a total of 21 seats in the Tapa municipal council.
On Wednesday evening, answering the questions of members of the municipal council, Maksim Butšenkov repeatedly emphasized the need to build a proper swimming pool in Tapa municipality, involving both private investors and the Ministry of Defense. Riho Tell considered it important to balance the municipality’s budget, optimize the education network and improve the living environment.
