Tourists, bad weather, fires, security… no respite for mayors this summer

Don’t talk to him about holidays, he thinks it’s a “swear word“. Jean-François Soto, mayor of the small town of Gignac (Hérault), 6,000 souls, no longer knows what it is. Summer after summer, he suffered the remarks of his relatives who ordered him to take a few days off. But his function obliges him: the summer period is for him one of the most intense.

This year has only confirmed it, and even makes him predict the worst. “There is always a part that we underestimate, that of the hazards, and this summer… We had a series lawhe smiles resignedly. It must be said that its territory has been affected by fires of rare intensity, before being the scene of the death of a couple of octogenarians following an accidental drowning. “You add to that the anticipation in relation to the rains, the general context of inflationthe extra cost… It’s painful“, he breathes.

Increased vigilance

In this busy summer, the elected official is not the only mayor to be on a war footing. Especially in stations…