Jacques Auzou officially confirmed the news this Tuesday, October 1. He leaves his functions as mayor, but retains those of president of the Greater Périgueux Agglomeration, departmental councilor and municipal councilor. He hands over to Fanny Castaignede who should become the first female mayor of Boulazac.
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“I am still mayor until the next municipal council which will elect the new mayor, that is to say October 12“. For a few days, you still have to call Jacques Auzou “Mr. Mayor”. And the habit will undoubtedly be difficult to break: we have been calling him that for 36 years. Jacques Auzou has never hidden that he wanted to end his function before the end of his mandate.
He will still have waited to beat the record of his predecessor and mentor. It was Lucien Dutard who called Jacques Auzou, originally from Lot-et-Garonnais and the son of a forestry worker, to Boulazac in May 1982. Lucien Dutard, a communist teacher, had been elected mayor of Boulazac in May 1953 and had served his mandate until January 1988, i.e. for 35 years. Jacques Auzou, tax collector, succeeded him from January 1988 until October 12, 2024, that is to say for 36 years. “I did exactly the same thing, I was elected for five years, and before the end of the mandate, he handed over to me. This is what I am doing, what I announced during the last elections. I do the same thing with Fanny.“
It’s actually Fanny’s Castaignede, his collaborator for 25 years and chief of staff for 18 years, that Jacques Auzou wishes to pass the torch. “I am proud to be able to hand over to a woman, it is the first time that Boulazac will have a female mayor.” he rejoices. His deputy in charge of participatory democracy and citizenship, who is also a regional advisor, knows the files like the back of his hand. This territorial function executive is also a child of the country. With the support of the outgoing mayor, she is almost guaranteed to successfully pass the test of the municipal team’s vote of confidence on October 12.
Fanny Castaignede should succeed Jacques Auzou as town hall of Boulazac
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© France 3 Périgords
No hidden reasons for this departure, Jacques Auzou simply evokes his natural limits. “Very simply, I am 75 years old, I am disabled. I am lucky to have kept my faculties intellectually, but I remind you that I am at the town hall, in the department and in the agglomeration, that’s a lot of things.“Besides, he intends to keep his other mandates municipal councilor, to complete a few files, president of the agglomeration of Périgueux and of departmental advisor.
Today, on a cultural level, on a sporting level, on a social level, I believe that Boulazac has found a status in this department, and I believe I have a little to do with it all the same…
Jacques AuzouMayor of Boulazac-Isle-Manoire
Among the achievements of which he takes a certain pride, there is first of all the Agora district which gave an identity and an image of modernity to a group of previously disparate districts. There is also Boulazac’s status as the leading international center for circus arts, the pleasure of having a professional sports team and quality school equipment. Not to mention the investors who were attracted by these assets and the employment which jumped in the commune, going from 3,200 upon the arrival of Jacques Auzou to more than 8,000 when the commune merged to become Boulazac-Isle-Manoire .“I come from a very basic, agricultural school. I was always taught that I will be rich if I spend the money that I have already earned… This is the whole meaning of my approach in Boulazac“, explains the mayor.
This approach is to generate economic development which creates wealth, and then, we ensure redistribution for the benefit of everyone.
Jacques AuzouMayor of Boulazac-Isle-Manoire
Not excluding anything on the possibility of a new presidency of the agglomeration in 2026, Jacques Auzou recalls that everything depends first of all on who will be elected in the municipalities. But he admits “that there are still very, very beautiful things to do in the city“At a time when many intermunicipalities are in crisis, the way in which he succeeded in uniting elected officials is a recipe that” proves a certain effectiveness” and which he does not rule out putting to the test again.
Interview conducted by Émilie Bersars.
