Bühl (dpa / lsw) – Whether the city of Bühl (Rastatt district) is applying for the official title “Plum City” could be decided in a month. On October 26, Mayor Hubert Schnurr (non-party) wants to submit a corresponding proposal to the municipal council for a vote, said the head of the department for committees and municipal affairs, Reinhard Renner, on Monday.
Schnurr thinks it is conceivable that the result will be different than at the end of June as a result of a collection of signatures from the population. At that time, three votes were missing in order to be able to apply for the official municipal additional designation “Zwetschgenstadt”.
Citizens had then collected votes for a citizens’ initiative in order to obtain the decision. The lists with around 3,300 names were handed over on Monday, as Renner said. However, some would have signed twice and three times, and foreigners were also there. That will now be checked. In the end, around 1640 valid votes are needed. “We assume that enough will remain,” said Renner.
A decision on the referendum will be made as planned in mid-November. If the council got ahead of it, that would have been the end of it. “Then everything went well,” said Renner.
The costs of a referendum are high. That could change the mind of one or the other council member.
Bühl has long called itself the home of plums. According to the city, Bühler early plums were discovered around 1840. In honor of the fruit, the plum festival has been celebrated as a harvest festival since 1927. Since then, a plum queen has also represented the blue fruit in the region. The title “Zwetschgenstadt” is an additional designation on the city entrance signs, which cities in Baden-Württemberg have been able to get more easily for a few years.
