Pavel Rek has been the mayor of the village of Ratenice in Central Bohemia for over three years. Yet it was not his own political ambitions that led him to his position at the town hall. Pavel had had a history of organizing various community activities in the village, some of them supported by grants from Via Foundation, and it was because of his community efforts that his neighbors suggested him for the village leadership. “We are convinced that people who devote their time to taking care of the place where they live are the ones who belong on municipal councils. That is why we support them by preparing them for this role,” explains Ludmila Zájedová from Via Foundation. In addition to professional seminars, the program “Taking the Fear Out of Local Politics” offers tailor-made mentoring with experienced politicians. One of this year’s participants is Jitka Ottová from Dolany in the Hradec Králové Region, who plans to run for local office in the next municipal elections. She has chosen the mayor of Ratenice, Pavel Rek, as her mentor. In the two-person interview below, with both Pavel and Jitka, you can read about how she is preparing to enter municipal politics.
How did you get into municipal politics?
Jitka: Five years ago, I had no interest in municipal politics. I was under the impression that everything was working as it should in our town, Dolany. But in 2020, something happened that changed everything. The municipality decided to fill in the pond in the village square. The Dolany community didn’t like that – many people had childhood memories of the pond. It was a prominent landmark of the village and suddenly it was being filled in with rubble. When we started to protest, the municipal authorities told us that if we had attended the council meetings, we would have known about it. So I started going to the council meetings. There I found out that the leadership of the municipality was not nearly as well managed as I thought and I started thinking about running for office myself. Then we founded the Letokvět Association, the core of which is made up of the people who protested against the filling of the pond. The pond was saved. It brought us together and now we are trying to change some things in the village.
Pavel: My journey was very similar. Twenty years ago, we founded the Ratenice Bee Association in Ratenice to bring culture, education and public space improvements to the village. People noticed that we were doing things for the village in our spare time that we considered important, that we were helping the village develop. In the lead-up to the municipal elections in 2022, some councillors who were unhappy with the status quo came to me. They were looking for someone who was willing to be mayor and in my youthful imprudence I gave them the nod. We (this party of councillors and I) were elected and I became mayor.
RATENICE: Left: The annual “Coffee with the Mayor” event is popular among residents. This informal meeting is a chance to find solutions to many problems. Center: Preparations for the installation of a new workout park, spearheaded by youth and the sports-minded councillors. Right: The grand opening was accompanied by a professional inspirational show.
Why did you apply for the program "Taking the Fear Out of Local Politics"?
Jitka: It was a coincidence, but it came at the right time. I didn’t know Via Foundation before – the offer popped up on my internet browser. Since I already knew I wanted to run in the next local elections and there was still time to prepare, I decided to take advantage of the program offer.
Pavel: I was approached by Via Foundation to be a mentor. I pushed back, arguing that surely there are other, far more brilliant mayors with more experience who have more to share. But Via’s program team talked me into it, saying they needed someone who had recently started and had been through a tough start. I remembered getting the keys to the building and not knowing which key went where. So, I figured I could really help someone with advice for those early, difficult days.
Pavel, how is Jitka as a mentee?
Pavel: Amazing. Mentoring has turned out to be very beneficial for me as well. Jitka Ottová is not afraid to ask questions. When she has an idea, she puts it out there and when she has a question, she just asks it. Thanks to her approach, I get great ideas through mentoring that I can think about in the future. I appreciate Jitka for the fact that we can discuss the things that didn’t go well, the things you don’t brag about to people.
And Jitka, how is Pavel as a mentor?
Jitka: Via hit the nail on the head when they paired me with Pavel Rek. We have similar personalities, common interests – we are even both beekeepers! Our communities are also similar, they are both about the same size and deal with similar issues. And as a mentor, Pavel Rek is great because he is willing to explain anything that interests me. I appreciate that he also shares problems openly with me, nothing is painted rosy. I have gotten a lot of valuable advice from him.
Jitka Ottová at the Dolany pond, which spurred her interest in local politics.
What is your biggest mission and how will you know you have been successful?
Jitka: My biggest mission right now is to getting elected to the council. After that, I will try to get the municipality to do things differently, especially when it comes to the environment. The municipality is laying new asphalt, mowing the grass short, and so on. There is simply a lack of basic environmental awareness. In addition, as a councillor, I would like to be more transparent and not cause divisions between people in the municipality.
Pavel: I want the people of Ratenice to say, after my four years as mayor, that we have done something for the municipality that has made a difference. We have no ambition to win the next election at any cost. We want our neighbours to see that we have tried and developed principles in the village that we ourselves believe in. For example, we have commissioned a site design for the village square and a conceptual design for the parish garden, which are examples of what we would like the village to look like. We are not about just putting in the cheapest asphalt. We have discussed the site issues with residents and are presenting spatial solutions that include blue-green infrastructure. We believe that these projects would not have come about without us and that the community will appreciate this, because they have had a role in them as well.
What plans do you have in your municipalities?
Jitka: We just had our very first participatory planning process in Dolany. It was about the village square with the pond where it all started. The site design was developed by architects, but residents gave input about what activities they would like to enjoy there. The result looks great and you can see it at https://dolany-na.cityupgrade.cz/. I was fortunate that participatory planning was one of the themes of the Taking the Fear Out of Local Politics program, so we were ready. But when I saw how Ratenice interacts with its residents, I realized that we still have a lot of room for improvement.
Pavel: I believe that in Ratenice we have the advantage of having kick-started the process in the last four years, and whoever comes into leadership after us will be able to build on that for several decades. We have been able to significantly advance comprehensive land management around Ratenice, which means our landscape has a chance of fundamentally improving – for people as well as wildlife, water management, land management – and becoming more stable overall.
What do you view as the biggest challenge in local politics?
Pavel: The biggest challenge is people. Everyone looks at the issues through their own eyes, but as mayor I have to distinguish between what the community needs and what a particular resident needs. I used to make my living as an engineer and so of course I worked with people, but communication in that role had a clear thread that had a beginning, a middle and an end. But municipal politics has neither a clear beginning, nor a clear thread, nor a clear end. Most of the problems stretch beyond one term of office, the challenges are more complex in a multitude of ways and you have very limited resources to deal with them.
Jitka: I feel the same way. When I interact with people today, as a water resource manager, it’s different. It’s clear to me that I would have a much harder time as mayor. Plus, I’m not an extrovert, so municipal politics for me would be stepping out of my comfort zone in that regard as well.
Jitka, what have you gained from the program "Taking the Fear Out of Local Politics"?
Jitka: The program gave me more courage. Local politics is far beyond my comfort zone. I’m more confident because I have more knowledge, I have a better understanding of relevant issues. And I would highlight one more thing: Via Foundation has supported us by saying that it’s good to transform a protest voice into a positively oriented one. It made me realize that our approach in Dolany was spot on, because we didn’t just remain protestors – we created a community that wants to do good things for all of us. It gave me a great foundation for running for office.
