We need more people east!
Dagmar Sr Stefánsdóttir, a brand new mayor in Múlaþing, invites a journalist to his office at the headquarters of the mayor in Egilsstadir. She has long experience in management and was therefore hired from among the applicant earlier this year. Now she is more than ready to do a good job for the people who live in Múlaþing, but the municipality was created in 2020 when Fljótsdalshérað, Borgarfjörður Eystri, Seyðisfjörður and Djúpivogur merged into one municipality. The projects are numerous and it is clear that her are many challenges.
« I took on February 1st and am still wet behind my ears, » says Dagmar meek, laughing.
In a dormitory six -year -old
Dagmar is raised on the town of signals in Jökuldalur, where there is a sheep farm that her parents still operate.
« There are my roots. I am a country girl in the foundation and often go home to assist during peak hours. It has not been of much use to me now in the sheep farm because it is quite enough to do at other fronts, » says Dagmar, noting that a serious situation is facing sheep farmers today.
« We are worried about what will happen to our countryside. We see nothing but a reduction, but we need to consider the food security of the nation. It does not mean to tell everyone to go to tourism. We need to be able to produce our most of the food we eat but are not doing it anymore, »
Dagmar says it is a great privilege to have grown up in the countryside, but she went to a dormitory.
« Maybe I am of the last generation of those who were always in boarding schools. We were shuttled into a dormitory from the age of six, which today people find quite amazing. I found this fun and grateful in this environment, » says Dagmar, refusing to have ever cried.
« We were just three together in class and in our first year we got to sleep inside with the » big « girls. They were support for us Krilin and there were unique friendships there. I learned early on standing on my own feet, ”says Dagmar, but she was also partly at a dormitory in Egilsstaðir High School before she started to rent herself. After high school, she went to a public university in Denmark.
« After my studies, I came home and went to media studies at the University of Akureyri, so that is my foundation, » says Dagmar, who later became Managing Director of Austurbrú, but previously worked for a decade as the head of communication and social affairs at Alcoa Fjardaál, as director of the University of Iceland.
« I did not expect to get the job at Alcoa, but it was incredibly fun and a lot of recognition. I learned a lot there and it was the case with many years of university studies. A large part of the job was communication with the community, but this is by far the largest workplace in the East and is a great responsibility that the company takes.
« When the position of Secretary General of the East Bridge was released, I struck and applied, as I burned for this community and saw the opportunity to work for it, » she says, but for explanation, the Austurbrú organization is formed from five institutions; Municipal organizations in the East, the East Iceland Marketing Agency, the Business Development Company, the Knowledge Network and the Cultural Council.
« These five institutions went under one hat and it has been very successful. I was the managing director there shorter than I expected, but then the position of the mayor of Múlaþing and I couldn’t let it pass myself. I applied for the last minute and don’t regret it.
Dagmar is raised on the town of signals in Jökuldalur, where there is a sheep farm that her parents still operate.
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Fighting for a period of time
How is a typical day with the mayor?
« There is really no such thing as a typical day. This is to some extent a formal job because administration is inherently. One, without a conversation, a fee is raised to one type of tourism.
« These passengers are delivering tremendously in the box and are the largest share of the port fund’s income, as well as the ships create a lot of employment here in our communities, » she says.
« We are the farthest from the biggest airport into the country and tourists do not return here to the same extent as in other parts of the country. Our biggest struggle, in terms of tourism, is being able to build up tourism in winter, here is plenty to do in the summer, but this has to be a year to see a year.
Did you get into the job with ideas for change?
« » I am very aware that I am a mayor and so I am an official. As people of the East can apply for it.
« Here is an extremely powerful agriculture but could be more product development and we also want to see public jobs increase. In the East, there is no public institution with its headquarters.
Lack of transport benefits
Regarding a new downtown, are you looking at Selfoss in that regard?
« Yes, we are very excited about it. Opportunity.
« We want to expand this community and get more people. We are extremely important for the economy. Various things need to be improved in the road system.
« One of these is a full -year road over Ax, to connect Djúpavog and the province, but that road is extremely multifaceted. It is so dangerous, as it is an old -fashioned, and not everyone’s capacity to run it, especially in winter. So is the huge issue; a tunnel under Fjarðarheiði, between Seyðisfjörður and Egilsstadir.
« This would be the first phase of the East Iceland roundabout and is about shortening the distance between Egilsstadir and Neskaupstadur. Then we are ensuring a safe road connection between hospitals and airport Most important for the East, ”says Dagmar.
« I have a great passion for seeing everything here growing and prospering. That’s why I took this job, » says Dagmar.
