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David Saint-Sernin
Published on
Oct 18, 2024 at 9:52 a.m.
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She followed through on her ideas and her political commitment. As far as she could morally and physically.
Thursday October 17, 2024, the mayor of Pibrac (Haute-Garonne), Camille Pouponneau, announced that she was resigning from her mandate.
Her resignation was accepted by the Haute-Garonne prefecture, “with immediate effect”, specifies the now ex-mayor.
A message full of dismay
In a message full of dismay, she gives the reasons for this sudden departure in complete transparency. Disillusioned and helpless:
“Today the deterioration of my mental health, leading to a progressive deterioration of my physical health, no longer allows me to carry out these functions with the necessary perspective and energy. I reached the end of what I could endure. After 10 years of devoting myself to elective mandates in the service of others and the common good, I must take care of myself. I would never have forced the smiles I sent you. However, we rarely measure what happens to our fellow man when he closes the door of his house. I tried to carry out my duties as an elected official with as much sincerity, humility and voluntarism as possible, despite a constant feeling of injustice and helplessness. I took my share.”
A cry of political alarm
In addition to this personal dimension, the one who was one of the youngest elected officials in the agglomeration during her election in 2020, wanted to launch a very political cry of alarm.
Like many mayors of small or medium-sized municipalities, in peri-urban or rural areas, with financial resources changing from year to year, Camille Pouponneau believes that she can no longer carry out her mission under good conditions:
“Today I feel like a simple manager without any room for maneuver, drowned under the weight of rigid state rules and intercommunal decisions on which it is difficult to influence, losing all sense of my commitment. My daily life is more devoted to controlling dog waste than to structuring projects for the future of the municipality. It is time for the little hummingbird to take a little rest after having carried so many drops to extinguish a fire which nevertheless continues to spread: that of a public service in pieces for lack of sufficient resources (and the latest announcements of “plane blows will make the situation even worse), leading to a cascade of difficulty in increasing skills within a municipality like Pibrac.”
“Progressive disempowerment of citizens”
It also directly evokes the complicated relationships between local elected officials and their constituents in a society where relationships are increasingly tense on a daily basis.
“Added to this is the progressive disempowerment of citizens who are more inclined to take legal action. A few days ago, I was again threatened with legal action over defamatory comments, threats and insults that I had made. You know me… Let’s be serious….”
A complex equation to solve
In recent months, she has often been at odds with some of her constituents over town planning issues. Like many elected officials in the Toulouse metropolitan area, she was faced with the difficulty of welcoming new populations, and therefore of building housing, while preserving the identity and quality of life of her municipality.
A very complex equation to resolve which undoubtedly had a certain weight in his decision.
She is going to ask for the RSA…
For the near future, the former elected official who did not count her hours for a salary of 1,127 euros – an “error of not having assumed decent compensation for my mandate as Mayor and of having carried out two functions : that of Mayor and that of Cabinet Director to ultimately dedicate to these functions at least 70 hours per week paid, therefore barely 80% of the minimum wage, she specifies” – announces that she will register to receive the RSA.
“I am going to prepare for my career change, having stopped all professional activity to devote myself to my mandates. Not being able to claim any unemployment benefit and not being eligible for the special fund dedicated to elected officials, I will therefore register to receive the RSA, a perception which will be effective in 3 months. I will therefore be without income during this period. Beyond the fact that it is difficult not to be bitter about this situation, I wanted to tell you this fact so that everyone becomes aware that the profile of a person with the RSA is perhaps not one. “a lazy profiteer.”
She completed the communal farm project
Before leaving her role as mayor, Camille Pouponneau completed the communal farm project which will allow school children in Pibrac to eat local products as much as possible.
A project that was close to her heart and for which she was supported by Toulouse Métropole as part of the agricultural policy of the Toulouse metropolitan area.
On the intercommunal level, as president of the Joint Union for the development of the Bouconne forest, she advanced the project to reopen the swimming pool at the Bouconne Leisure Center.
Camille Pouponneau was elected mayor of Pibrac in 2020 at the age of 30, making her one of the youngest elected officials in the area at the time.
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