# Educate Me About Mayors, Please



## Nunthewiser

So I am American (ok US/IT dual, always lived in the US) moving to France in a few months and never met any mayor in the US, nor even went into any city hall that I can remember, except to pay a bill, maybe. 

There seems to be a lot of interaction with them in France, or at least, their underlings. I would assume in a small village there is a lot of influence, less so in larger cities.

What use are they, in France? Please tell me...


----------



## Franco-Belgian Brit

Local decisions are made locally and the mayor plus his elected "college" will have a lot of say. The beauty of this is that you can get to talk to the people with influence rather than faceless bureaucrats. Not sure how this operates in the bigger cities, mind.
If you disagree with a local decision, you can always escalate your dispute higher.


----------



## Befuddled

You can, but life may become a little more complicated if you upset the mayor. For instance if at some point in the future you want planning permission, etc. Your local mayor can be a pain in the butt or a valuable asset to the commune. I have seen both.


----------



## Poloss

When moving to a new commune in France, 
I always go to the mairie to introduce myself within the first 2 or 3 months.

I'm talking particularly about smaller, rural communes.
Beginning of January, the maire often invites all the inhabitants for an apéro with drinks 
to wish everyone a happy new year.

It's always useful to have a good relationship with the team at the mairie.
The maire is legally the "first magistrate" of the town or village
and has all kinds of power to resolve conflicts between neighbours,
barking dogs, hunters, voting subventions to clubs and associations,
cleaning up litter & dumps, granting access to the salle des fetes for birthday parties, weddings or meetings or discos.
He will be the boss of the police municipale if the town is big enough to have them.

The adjoints (deputies)can help with local schools, planning permission, 
leasing buildings or land for commercial or cooperative projects.

And the secretary is the key to everything.
Who knows when you'll need some kind of complicated document only available through the mairie?
If you benefit from an inheritance,
you'll need to ask the maire to sign and stamp a document proving your identity.

It can also be interesting to follow the debates at the conseil municipal, especially when they vote the annual budget.
It gives you an idea of what's going on behind the scenes.


----------



## Bevdeforges

One other thing to be aware of is that the job of mayor is NOT considered a full time job other than perhaps in the largest cities (like Paris). In most smaller towns, the mayor also has a day job, and while s/he is paid for their service, it is really a stipend and not a "salary." There are smaller stipends paid to a certain number of the "maires adjoints" (kind of the assistant mayors - usually with important areas of responsibility, like the treasury function and such).

My husband's father was mayor of their town for a good 30 years, all the time still running the two pharmacies in town with his wife (also a pharmacist). So their "day job" may limit when they are available to meet with local residents, and you may find that the town council meetings (VERY interesting to sit in on, as Poloss says) are mostly held in the evenings after the council members are done with work. In many smaller towns, the mayor is usually a retired person in the community, simply because they have the time to devote to local matters.


----------



## RayRay

My experience is that knowing the secretary at the _mairie_ is invaluable. It doesn't hurt to know the _maire_, as well, however, it's the secretary who knows how to do everything! For example: 

*Notarization of Documents: *The office of the _maire_, via the secretary, can attest to your signature on a document. They will affix a stamp and a signature, similar to a Notarization in the US. In the first few years we lived in France, they attested to my signature on a variety of documents that I sent back to the States. 
*Permissions: *The _mairie_ (sometimes with the _architect de france_) provides all sorts of required permissions. The secretary knows all the procedures, forms, and letters to use for each request as well as how long it will take to get a decision. We live in a historic district of a small village. The secretary guided us through getting permission to use a particular color & shape of roof tiles, permission to use a specific paint color for shutters and windows, house renovations, and written permission to park our electric car next to our cave in order to charge it. 
*Ownership: *We wanted to purchase a small property behind our house to use as a garden. The secretary provided us with the name of the owner and his address.
Best of luck.

Ray


----------



## rynd2it

Nunthewiser said:


> So I am American (ok US/IT dual, always lived in the US) moving to France in a few months and never met any mayor in the US, nor even went into any city hall that I can remember, except to pay a bill, maybe.
> 
> There seems to be a lot of interaction with them in France, or at least, their underlings. I would assume in a small village there is a lot of influence, less so in larger cities.
> 
> What use are they, in France? Please tell me...


They can be (and have been in my experience) a very valuable resource and have a great deal of influence on how the town is run. Make a point of introducing yourselves at the Mairie on the first available opportunity and let them know who you are. Never get on the wrong side of the Maire


----------



## Befuddled

On that point about introducing yourself at the Mairie, I have seen this mentioned in various publications aimed at people coming to live in France. I have never done it due to language problems and I only know of one person who actually tried it. The response they got was one of total bewilderment. Clearly not all rural French mairie staff have read of this custom. Another point is that if you want to be included in the local goings on, you will need to frequently visit the maire office and scan the bulletin board inside. Where I have lived in Brittany there is no newsletter or announcement outside so access to local events is largely a mystery. In my previous village another Brit turned up at the door with a gent who was introduced as the new mayor. He asked if I had voted for him. I replied I didn't even know there had been an election, such is the lack of information. It turned out he was a brilliant man for the job and in about 18 months he transformed the village and managed to get most of the funds to do so from the regional and national government without raising local taxes painfully. Where I live now there used to be an annual newsletter informing of what had taken place during the previous year. Sadly they didn't elect to list the events planned for the coming year. They stopped sending them out after a short time so nothing gained, nothing lost.


----------



## Nunthewiser

Befuddled said:


> On that point about introducing yourself at the Mairie, I have seen this mentioned in various publications aimed at people coming to live in France. I have never done it due to language problems and I only know of one person who actually tried it.


I may be the second...


There is a little known statute that says EU citizens (I am a dual) must register with the mairie if they wish to be considered a French resident.
Article L231-2 Ordinance n ° 2020-1733 of December 16, 2020 - art.
"Citizens of the European Union who wish to establish their habitual residence in France register with the mayor of their municipality of residence within three months of their arrival. Those who have not complied with this registration obligation are deemed to have resided in France for less than three months."

From what I have read about flipping my FL license, I am going to need this to establish the start date of the window in which I can start the process with ANTS.


----------



## EuroTrash

Nunthewiser said:


> There is a little known statute that says EU citizens (I am a dual) must register with the mairie if they wish to be considered a French resident.
> Article L231-2 Ordinance n ° 2020-1733 of December 16, 2020 - art.
> "Citizens of the European Union who wish to establish their habitual residence in France register with the mayor of their municipality of residence within three months of their arrival. Those who have not complied with this registration obligation are deemed to have resided in France for less than three months."


The trouble is that this statute is so little known that even the mairies don't know about it.
I don't think any system has actually been set up as yet to register EU citizens arriving in a commune. 
Maybe eventually it will be implemented and linked up with ANTS etc but not yet.


----------



## rynd2it

Befuddled said:


> On that point about introducing yourself at the Mairie, I have seen this mentioned in various publications aimed at people coming to live in France. I have never done it due to language problems and I only know of one person who actually tried it.


I did it in Brittany and here in Charente, on both occasions the gesture was welcomed and paid off when I needed some help from the Maire. All of our friends here have done so and we are very lucky to have a Maire who is working very hard on improving the town; really nice bloke too!


----------



## Nunthewiser

EuroTrash said:


> The trouble is that this statute is so little known that even the mairies don't know about it.
> I don't think any system has actually been set up as yet to register EU citizens arriving in a commune.
> Maybe eventually it will be implemented and linked up with ANTS etc but not yet.


Probably not, but I think I am still going to politely try to get "checked-in" at the Mairie. Even if they don't have some official document prepared, I will write my own, reference this law and see if I can get acknowledged. And probably get a "Non!" with an explanation that I won't understand...


----------



## Befuddled

And hopefully not be branded as "another foreign troublemaker".


----------



## BackinFrance

Nunthewiser said:


> Probably not, but I think I am still going to politely try to get "checked-in" at the Mairie. Even if they don't have some official document prepared, I will write my own, reference this law and see if I can get acknowledged. And probably get a "Non!" with an explanation that I won't understand...


That's perhaps not an issue if it's not an area where you know you do not want to remain. If it is an area that might possibly suit you, you are walking into a minefield. I understand you are not intending to move before this summer, but it was a major issue with mayors across France and I am not aware of any maire that does it. With Presidential and Legislative elections due soon and all the brouhaha that is going on politically around France, I doubt that side issues such as this will be resolved this year, irrespective of who wins.


----------



## Bevdeforges

The important thing is to find a reasonable "excuse" to stop by the local mairie early in your stay in France and just introduce yourself ("Hi, I've just moved in.") and ask the "usual" types of questions - When are the garbage and trash pickups? Is there a newsletter or other information source (some towns use smartphone apps to send out individual news items)? What associations are there in town? (most towns have a listing or small booklet or brochure with associations, sports groups, etc.) 

Many towns now have fairly informative websites where you can find out much of this stuff, but going in to ask your questions at least establishes you as an interested new arrival. OTOH, some small towns only have their mairies open and available a couple of afternoons a week.


----------



## tardigrade

This law has been on the books for ages. I can remember the french girl at the embassy telling us to check in with the mayor when we move in within the first 3 months.. 1998 this was.. Maybe it is all digital now and they know you are there but it is still a law. What the penalty is who knows?


----------



## ccm47

In addition to the tasks mentioned the Maire conducts, or deputises, all the civil weddings and verifies the body in a coffin is that of the named deceased person just before the coffin lid is screwed down. In our village he also attends all funerals as a representative of the community who cannot attend for whatever reason.

At times of accident or disaster he acts as a project manager coordinating/overseeing the emergency services. Newspaper articles often mention their presence at this clearly unpleasant task which can require their attendance at any time of day or night.

The Maire also represents the village on various departmental committees and has to attend Maire specific conferences in Paris.Those who went last year from our area came back Covid positive, not having been exposed to it previously as we are in a low incidence zone!

I don't know if it's normal elsewhere but ours marks the start and end of the school year by going in, talking to the pupils to encourage them and then giving them a "graduation" gift when they leave.
The Maire is also open to public criticism on social media e.g. some of the locals here organised a rubbish and weed clearance day along the banks of a minor river. The mayor didn't attend (it was a Sunday) and thereby demonstrate his support of a local initiative. Definitely down marked on Facebook, no thought that he's in his 70s and may have needed a day's rest!
I feel it has to be a very special type of person to even want to do the job.


----------



## EuroTrash

For sure being mayor is not a nine to five job. Whenever there is an incident in my town, such as floods or a fire or explosion or bad RTA in the wee small hours, ours always seems to be called out, even if it's not obvious what he can possibly do in practical terms. I suppose it's just a case of, it's his town and he needs to know what's going on, talk to the media, perhaps organise support for the victims etc.



Befuddled said:


> I only know of one person who actually tried it. The response they got was one of total bewilderment. Clearly not all rural French mairie staff have read of this custom.


I may be off beam here but I do just wonder whether the bewilderment was partly that the person said, Hi I've come to live in your town! (which to be fair if the secretary is having a bad hair day she might think, OK so what am I supposed to do about that? do you want me to roll out the red carpet?) rather than, Hi, I'm considering moving to your town, I'm an engineer with a young family and currently we live in xxx but we want to move because xxxx, and I would like to find out a bit more about your commune, what do you offer in the way of schools/business premises/care for the elderly/etc etc? which might be more likely to bring out the secretary's helpful welcoming side.

There was a rather surreal incident shortly after I'd moved to my house: the next year when I returned from working away for the summer, I opened the garage that I rent to put my car away and found it packed full up to the gills with furniture. I'd been on the road for a long time so I was feeling a bit spaced out and I really thought I was hallucinating or perhaps I'd landed in that ghost story where all the furniture walks out the door, except this time it had walked in. But, it turned out that the lockup next to mine is one of several that the commune rents from the owner, and a family who was in the process of moving to the town had arranged with the mayor to temporarily store their furniture in that garage but then by mistake they'd put it in mine instead  So obviously on this occasion at least, the newcomers had made themselves known in advance, and being new myself I started worrying that I'd breached etiquette and appeared rude or disrepectful for not having done this myself. I could quite imagine that the mairie of a smallish commune might want to know something about a family before they actually moved in, so as to be reassured that they were "des gens bien", rather than be presented with the fait accompli of a person they know nothing about having moved in and all they can do is wait and see what they will turn out to be like.
But it was probably just my own insecurities and complexes over getting etiquette wrong that made me worry like that, I have no idea how many families do this or whether it is actually expected.


----------



## Bevdeforges

ccm47 said:


> I feel it has to be a very special type of person to even want to do the job.


Which explains why each time they hold municipal elections, there are a few of the small towns that can't raise enough candidates to run for town council and/or anyone willing to serve as mayor - even if the list for the town council is unopposed. In that event, the town without a council has to be consolidated with a neighboring town before the elections. 

To be honest, even just serving on the town council is a rather demanding job - and unless you're one of the "maires adjoints" there is no pay involved at all. I used to bump into our maire (at the time) at Costco, where she was working. I suspect that Costco was one of the few employers in the are willing to work with her need for a flexible schedule - but there were always complaints that she wasn't available when people expected her to be. (Then again, it's apparently just fine to have one of the maires adjoints fill in for the maire - but I think our maire was a bit too much of a control freak to allow that to happen.) And, by the way, the maires adjoints also do weddings and all the other ceremonies. An acquaintance of mine was elected to her town's town council and wound up one of the adjoints. I remember her being all excited about doing her first wedding in her new position.


----------



## Franco-Belgian Brit

ccm47 said:


> In addition to the tasks mentioned the Maire conducts, or deputises, *all the civil weddings* ....


In 1991, we got married at the mairie of the village where we had a holiday home. I was born in Edgware, whish is rather a confusing jumble of letters to a native French speaker.

Well, he had obviously done his research and when it came to him saying the place he got it as correct as he possibly could. He then went on to pronounce Margate as "Margatt" and Cummings as "Coomeengz", but hey, hats off to the guy.

We sold up in 2007, but in 2019, we bumped into him when we went back to see our old neighbours. He recognised us and remembered the wedding well.

I love village life.


----------

