This Friday September 2 and Saturday September 3 is the 13th edition of the Carrefour des Collectivités Territoriales. An unmissable event for elected officials.
“The installation is carried out in half a day, it does not require a concrete slab, there is natural ventilation and there is no smell! » Jean-Pierre Meneux is sales manager for Sanisphere, an SME based in Drôme. Him, his job is to sell dry toilets, which he prefers to call “autonomous”.
“When mayors come to see me, their concerns are related to maintenance and odours. Precisely it is our strength. The cabin is cleaned with a water hose. Regarding odors, there are none thanks to the ventilation of the cabin carried out by suction of air through the bowl. » The principle ? Everything is drained into the ground. Solid waste separated from urine becomes conducive to the appearance of worms, it becomes compost, and the waste evaporates. “It costs between 25,000 and 30,000 euros”, let the salesperson know. And it never fails! If his company is present for the first time on the Foire de Châlons, he has already done it for another company.
In all, sixty-two exhibitors came to the Carrefour des Collectivités organized by the association of mayors and presidents of intermunicipalities of the Marne, spread over 1,000 m². It opened its doors yesterday and will close this Saturday, at the end of the day.
“It is essential to be present, the stakeholders make us proposals, we negotiate for current or future services”
“It is essential to be present, says Claude Guichon, business manager, mayor of Bussy-le-Repos and former president of the community of communes of Côtes-de-Champagne-et-Val-de-Saulx, for which he still works one day a week. As such, he brought all “secretary girls” of the intercommunality, “like that, depending on their skills, they see such and such a service provider. » Indeed, this event brings together both elected officials and their collaborators. He continues with a smile: “Stakeholders are of course here to make proposals to us and we, to negotiate this or that service, current or future. » If it’s a place of business, it’s also the time for community representatives to talk to officials or get contacts. “Every day, when we have a problem, we never have the boss on the phone. There, often, he is present. » Precisely, Claude Guichon needs to speak with two or three of them.
If we expect to meet experts who work in the field of photovoltaics, the burial of networks, fiber optics… there are also financiers such as the Banque des Territoires, a local branch of the Caisse des dépôts and of consignments. One of the representatives explains: “We finance local authority investments over 25, 40 or even 60 years. Elected officials often come with the total cost of their project, the subsidy rate they hope to obtain and what they want to know is how to finance the rest. And we’re here to guide them. »
The Carrefour des Collectivités is also a means of keeping up to date with legislation. “For example, social action for the benefit of local public service agents has been compulsory since a 2007 law, but many municipalities offer nothing”, indicates Aurélie Descamps, in charge of animation and development within the National Committee for Social Action (Cnas). The community pays a contribution for each agent who then has access to a range of offers in terms of solidarity, culture and leisure (50% discount on entry to the swimming pool of the town), loans (real estate, consumption…).
If business above all there is, this crossroads is also the time when elected officials meet, get together, share their experiences and maintain their network. It is therefore not surprising that 1,400 elected officials from the Marne and the Region responded to the invitation.