Köniz wants to leave the Anzeigerverband

At the end of October, there was a management buyout at the crisis-ridden Bern region gazette. The majority of association delegates agreed to this solution.

The previous Managing Director Christof Ramseier is thus taking over most of the business areas and outsourcing them to a new company.

The new company undertakes to publish the official gazette in printed form until the revision of the cantonal communal law has come into force and digital publication of official notices is therefore also possible. This is expected to happen in 2022.

Köniz does not agree with the strategic direction taken by the association of municipalities, in particular the management buyout, as the municipality writes in its press release. The municipality also refers to the possibility of digital official publications in the near future.

There is therefore no longer any reason for the municipal council to belong to the Anzeiger association. It is proposing to Parliament that it leave at the end of 2022.

Since 2006, the city of Bern and 16 municipalities in the agglomeration have formed a municipal association for the publication of a joint gazette. The publication of official notices is a statutory duty. This concerns, for example, building applications, changes to regulations, elections and municipal assemblies.

Formerly a goldmine

The Bern Region Scoreboard is published weekly with a circulation of 150,000 copies. It used to be a goldmine. In recent years, the Anzeiger has regularly produced deficits that the municipalities have to cover with taxpayers' money.

The managing director was also criticized for promising better results every year and then failing to deliver. In June, the delegates rejected the loss-making accounts to the Executive Board. The President then resigned.

At the end of October, the association decided on its exit strategy with the management buyout. (SDA)