Frequently asked questions.

I am Sabrina Wendt, independent candidate for mayor of Papenburg. Born in Papenburg, raised in Dörpen, at home today in Obenende. Mother of two children, happiest outdoors with my horse Monti and my dog Nala. My attitude fits into three words: listen, take hold, deliver.

Because I was asked, by people from politics, from business and from the town hall. I thought about it for a long time. In the end it was simple: I know this town from inside the town hall and from the business side, I know where it gets stuck, and I also know how to fix it. Papenburg was built in the moor, out of nothing. We make possible what elsewhere counts as impossible. That DNA has slipped away from us, and I am bringing it back.

Listening, taking hold, delivering. Listening means I do not decide over people's heads. Taking hold means I clear obstacles away instead of administering them. Delivering means two promises that hold are better than ten that burst. Add to that more than 25 years of professional experience in business and administration, over 15 of them in leadership, and a network that carries regionally and beyond.

More than 25 years of professional experience, over 15 of them in leadership. For eight years I was head of economic development for the town of Papenburg, for the past two years I have led the Emsland business association, and before that came 15 years in the private sector, among other things in purchasing for large industrial firms. My foundation: commercial training, a part-time degree as a graduate business economist (FH) and several further qualifications, including industrial management specialist and business coach (IHK).

My biggest weakness is probably my impatience. As soon as a project stands, the next one is already in my head. In the past that put pressure on me, and probably not only on me. Over time I have learned that good decisions are not always the fastest ones. Today I use the impatience as a drive, without losing the people along the way. That is exactly where my strength lies too: I do not stand still.

It is not a single post, it is a pattern: today I would hand over responsibility earlier. Because I want to move things forward quickly, I often used to think I might as well do it myself. But leadership does not mean doing everything yourself. Leadership means giving people responsibility and trusting them with their own route. All that matters to me is that we handle it openly and that there is feedback.

Because a mayor has to be there for everyone, not just for one party. The tasks facing Papenburg are rarely party political: building plots, fast procedures, economic development, those are tasks, not ideologies. I have the backing of the CDU, the FDP and the business community, and I stay open to anyone who joins in. In my decisions I remain independent.

From 2016 to 2024, as head of economic development for the town of Papenburg, I helped build the Value Port covering 81 hectares and was responsible for the economic development strategy in 2018 and 2022. During the pandemic the digital marketplace Papenburg with click and collect was created for the town's businesses, and it received the Digital Places Lower Saxony award. I also sat on the supervisory board of Seaports of Lower Saxony. I know this location from the inside.

I will say nothing about the others, that is not my place, and you can judge for yourself. What speaks for me is a rare combination: I know the town hall from the inside, eight years as head of economic development, and I know business from the other side, today as managing director of the Emsland business association. On top of that: I have not announced that I want to listen, I have a running process in which everyone can have a say.

The work of Dietmar Nee as the town's youth officer. The Pappstadt, the holiday pass and youth work as a whole. I benefited from offers like these as a child myself. We grew up in a craftsman's family, and the money did not stretch to a holiday every year. Through our parish holiday pass we were out and about anyway, at the swimming pool, at the zoo, at the baker's. A good deal of that has faded since. I am taking these offers back into the portfolio and expanding them.

I focus on six fields: business and a future-proof location, housing and a lively town, family and education, health and growing older well, volunteering and participation, and a modern, digital administration. You will find the full plan with concrete measures under Priorities.

250 building plots always in reserve. Four new companies a year, each with at least ten jobs. A Digital Papenburg as a short line to the town. An annual cost report for honest finances. And more green space for the climate and quality of life. Plus two firm commitments: one fixed contact person for every company and every club, and 50 company and club visits a year.

What I start with is your decision. In the citizens' vote anyone can submit a topic or vote for an existing one, and the topics with the most votes go into my first months. I deliberately do not fix them in advance, otherwise it would be another list from the back room. In parallel I start with what cannot wait anyway: clear responsibilities, fast procedures for standard cases and a fixed contact person for companies and clubs.

Two things, and they belong together. One I have already done once: the Value Port covering 81 hectares, developed out of a disused northern harbour. That does not make it finished, companies still have to move in, and that is exactly what I want to bring to a close. The other is what I want to be measured by in the end: that a young family finds a building plot in Papenburg without moving away. Without businesses there is no room in the budget, without room there is no development. That is why I name both.

By young families finding a building plot without moving away. By new companies arriving in the town every year, my target is at least four a year. By a request at the town hall having a name and a response time. And by Papenburg being taken seriously again, beyond the town boundary as well. You can read it in the public report: what I promised and what I delivered. If something has been left undone, that is in there too.

Business is a matter for the boss, and I do not delegate it. Every company gets a fixed contact person, from the first enquiry to the permit. One person, one phone, one answer. On top of that 50 company and club visits a year, in person, on the shop floor. My target is four new arrivals a year, each with at least ten jobs. The land is there: as head of economic development I initiated the Value Port covering 81 hectares at the northern harbour, and the Bokeler Bogen comes on top.

It is the heart of this town. Around 3,300 people work there, and half the region hangs on its suppliers. The yard has been building ships for more than 230 years in a town that is really too small for it, and brings them out through an Ems that is really too narrow for it. That is Papenburg. Precisely because the yard matters so much, a healthy mix of sectors belongs alongside it. Papenburg has to be open to both, to developing what is here and to new arrivals.

Retail lives on reasons to come, not on parking spaces alone. A town centre grows stronger when the quality of the place is right and there are occasions. Our distinctive feature is the canal, and we should play with it better: an ice cream by the water, a market, a small festival, and at Untenende shop windows that are full instead of empty. One tool already exists, the Papenburg voucher, which I helped build as head of economic development. My aim is one visible project a year, one result everyone can see rather than twenty measures nobody notices.

250 fully serviced, marketable building plots always in reserve, spread across all districts, so that there are real alternatives everywhere. So that nobody ever hears again that nothing is available in Papenburg right now. That includes a mix rather than a monoculture: plots for young families, low-barrier flats in the neighbourhood for older people, smaller rental units for people starting out, and densification instead of always building outwards. Every year I also bring one disused site out of standstill and into use.

By planning building land and childcare together, not one after the other. The nursery place has to be round the corner, not at the other end of town. Where it really gets stuck is the fringe hours. Anyone starting at six at the shipyard or working late shifts struggles to find a place. But keeping people is not enough on its own. Anyone who leaves to study or train should be able to come back. My husband and I deliberately came back after five years in Austria, and I want to give everyone that option.

As a mother of two I know how everyday life really runs. Reliable childcare close to home is part of that, and I will implement the all-day entitlement from 2026/27 with hours that fit shift work. I will link schools and businesses more closely, with placements and training locally, and expand training at Campus Papenburg.

Three things: having a say, places to meet, and the prospect of staying here or coming back. Having a say does not start with a committee, it starts with me asking. Anyone can join the citizens' vote from day one, and in Lower Saxony you vote from 16. On top of that I want a youth parliament that really works, with its own budget. I do not need to invent it: the rules of procedure for the youth board from 2013 are still in Papenburg's local statutes, they are simply not being used.

There is far too little on offer for young people. I have two teenagers at home myself, and I want them to have a third place. A place they can use without paying for it. A place where they can simply be, without a programme and without anyone selling them something. My approach is to strengthen what young people have already built for themselves, instead of putting up something we thought out for them.

A mayor does not run a surgery, but she makes it possible. According to the needs planning of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, 16 general practitioner posts in Papenburg are unfilled, for around 37,000 inhabitants. I will clear the way for new surgeries and health centres, actively recruit doctors and nursing staff, and strengthen local care. For older people the routes matter most: safe, walkable with a rollator, plus accessible local shops and meeting points in the neighbourhood, so that nobody becomes isolated.

Volunteering is the heart of Papenburg and, alongside business, the second pillar of this town. Anyone who gets involved should feel a tailwind, not paperwork. What clubs need is reliability: commitments over several years, less bureaucracy, one contact person instead of four departments. Plus support with rooms, organisation and qualification, and a culture of recognition you can actually see. Participation means routes, entrances and squares without barriers. And every child in Papenburg should learn to swim. I am there myself, not only at the ceremony but for the setting up and the clearing away.

Very, and not only as a leisure facility. A pool is the place where children learn to swim, and for me that is not optional. Every child in Papenburg should be able to swim. On top of that comes what a pool means in summer for a town where not every family can go away.

Yes, and I will tell you honestly how things stand. There is no closure decision, that is the good news. But there is also no adopted pools strategy and no adopted full refurbishment. The maintenance backlog at the indoor pool has been on paper since a feasibility study in 2017, and since then things have been repaired piecemeal and nothing decided as a whole. This is what I am committed to: a pools strategy with figures, a timetable and costs, adopted by the council and not merely noted.

Yes. A mayor is not a police authority, but she is responsible for a great deal that decides whether you feel comfortable in the evening: lighting, paths, squares, the condition of underpasses. That is everyday safety, and it is a municipal matter.

First the routes children take to school, and the places where older people no longer dare to go. Both are concrete locations, not programmes. Lighting where it is dark and hard to see. Paths that also work with a rollator or a pram. Squares that are not left to decay. It cannot all happen at once, so a clear priority plan with a timetable and costs, tracked in the council at least quarterly. And if someone points out such a place to me, I want to see it, not just read about it.

That is not for me alone to decide. The citizens' vote holds the topics that really press on people, and for traffic those are the cycle paths, Friesenstraße, the bridges and safe routes to school. What annoys me most: a finished concept for cycling with a list of defects and measures has been on the table for years, and to this day it has merely been noted. A concept on the shelf helps nobody cycling to school in the morning. By 31 March 2027 I will present a binding cycle path roadmap with routes, a timeline and a cost framework.

I do not play them off against each other. Papenburg is spread out, many people depend on the car, and that stays that way. My priority is wherever it is unsafe, and that is usually where children and older people are out and about. A cycle path broken up by roots is not a cycle path, it is a place to fall. That is where I start. And I think about shift work: anyone finishing at ten in the evening needs a way home then too.

The ones you can see and that help straight away. Prevention first where it hits us concretely. We still have the pictures of the flooding over Christmas in our heads, and the August market that stood under water within two hours. That is not abstract climate protection, that is the family whose cellar now fills twice a decade instead of once. On top of that, more green space and shade where people actually spend time, energy refurbishment of municipal buildings and photovoltaics on our own roofs. Plus a climate strategy with an annual public progress report.

A town does not decide energy policy. It decides about trees, roofs, land and how it runs its own buildings. That is less than some hope for and more than many think. My yardstick is not ideology, it is whether something works and whether it pays off for Papenburg. I will not impose requirements on any family or business that are absurd in relation to their effect. And I do not play industry and climate off against each other.

Not why something cannot be done, but how it becomes possible. Standard cases get fast procedures with clear responsibility and a short response time. Digital Papenburg is reachable around the clock. The data stays in Europe and belongs to the town, operated by regional partners.

The people who work there. They genuinely want to, and after eight years in the town hall I can confirm that. Many do their job well and gladly, often under conditions nobody sees from outside. In my time the town hall had a motivated team, and I am bringing that spirit back. Papenburg has an administration that can do considerably more than it is currently credited with. What is missing is backing from above: less "that will not work because", more "how do we make it possible".

Matters get postponed instead of decided. And anyone who wants something often does not know who is responsible or when an answer will come. An example from a conversation with a business: someone buys a plot and builds a business, then the waiting begins, first for weeks, then for months. For the same facts and the same laws one authority needs hours and another needs months. These are process and interface problems, and they can be solved. This is not a reproach to individual staff, it is a question of leadership and priorities.

Every request gets a name, a responsibility and a response time. My yardstick is an answer within 14 days, even if the answer is: we do not know yet. Standard cases should run through instead of going in circles. And Digital Papenburg is reachable around the clock, after a shift as well, because not everyone can get to the town hall between nine and twelve.

The aim is simple: anything that today only needs a form and a stamp should also work digitally. And you should be able to see at any time how far your application has got, the way you can with a parcel. I will build that in achievable stages, the first visible within a few months, rather than announcing a huge project that still is not running after four years. The data stays in Europe and belongs to the town.

Tense, and not because of a single year. I only quote figures anyone can look up. By the end of 2026 the level of debt stands at more than 50 million euros, and for the years 2026 to 2029 the town's financial plan shows around 39 million euros in net new borrowing. What worries me at least as much is the buffer: liquid funds fell from 5.9 million at the end of 2024 to 5.3 million at the end of 2025. There are no liquidity loans so far, and that is how it should stay.

Not in volunteering and not in childcare, every euro there comes back. Savings are possible in procedural steps that take too long or exist twice over, in projects without a clear priority, and in follow-up costs nobody calculated in advance. Anyone who removes interface problems between departments saves time and money at once. My approach is not a lawnmower, it is an honest list of priorities that is public. Anyone who finds everything equally important saves a little everywhere and achieves nothing.

In whatever brings money in afterwards or saves money. So in land for businesses and in building land, because jobs and tax revenue grow out of that. In childcare, because otherwise parents cannot work. And in maintaining what is already there, roads, paths, buildings. Deferred maintenance is the most expensive form of saving.

Yes. My yardstick is simple: anyone who wants to know where the money goes and why something was decided that way should be able to read it up without filing a request. That is why I present a public priorities and cost report every year. And participation for me does not mean explaining afterwards, it means asking beforehand.

I am in favour of transparency, and I have no problem with a live broadcast. In the council's rules of procedure, version of 18 November 2021, broadcasts do not appear at all. So there is no ban that somebody would first have to clear away, there is a gap. The council has to decide that, not the mayor alone. I will bring it in and campaign for it. What has to be settled first is the consent of those who speak there, and that belongs to an honest answer.

Yes, that is one of my five promises: an annual public priorities and cost report. It sets out what things cost, what has arrived and what has been left undone. Above all what has been left undone, otherwise it is not a report but advertising.

The same way my candidacy came about in the first place. I am independent, and that is not a pose: the CDU gave up its own candidate slot for me, and the FDP did without a candidate of its own. Two parties that otherwise argue agreed on a candidate who belongs to neither of them. That is exactly how I picture cooperation: you agree on the matter at hand. In the council I will talk to every group that wants something for Papenburg.

I can take it, and I need it. Anyone who only hears agreement eventually makes bad decisions. You can see it clearly in the citizens' vote: anyone can also submit a counter-proposal, which runs alongside on equal terms. At the von Velen grounds, regulating the boat trips and expanding them currently stand side by side, and both stay. What I do not like is anonymous attacks on people. About the matter itself I will happily discuss at length.

You propose a concern or vote for an existing one, by text, voice, photo or video, anonymously if you prefer. From 50 votes I respond publicly, from 100 votes I come and look at the spot myself, from 250 votes the whole of Papenburg votes on it. The rule applies whether or not a topic suits me. The top 5 go onto the 100-day agenda, in black and white. Starting from 29 June 2026, and the status of every topic can be checked at any time.

Yes, and not only in the town hall. I have committed to visiting 50 companies and clubs a year, permanently, not just during the campaign. Not for a photo, but to hear where things get stuck. On top of that comes participation in every district, because the questions in Herbrum differ from those in Obenende. For me the citizens' vote is not a campaign tool, it is how I want to set priorities.

The first round is on 13 September 2026. If nobody reaches more than 50 percent, the run-off follows on 27 September 2026.

In Lower Saxony the term of office runs for eight years instead of five from 2026, so until 2034. Anyone who does not vote on 13 September will next have a say in 2034. Papenburg cannot afford eight years of administering instead of shaping while other towns move past.

Most effectively through the citizens' vote: say what matters to you, and vote. On top of that the newsletter, a compact email on Sundays at 6 pm. Soon you can become an ambassador and tell people around you what I stand for. You can donate or invite me to your district.

Through two secure bank accounts, all under Donations, including a GiroCode to scan. As an independent candidate my donations run through party accounts, which is the only route with a tax benefit. It amounts to 50 percent, up to 1,650 euros per person and 3,300 euros per married couple per year. For the donation receipt, put your name and address in the reference field.

I will answer that question after 13 September. Beforehand it would be dishonest, because right now I work every day to make sure it does not arise. What I can say already: whatever comes together in the citizens' vote during these weeks belongs to the people of Papenburg and not to me. Whoever wins should look into it.

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By email to moin@sabrinawendt.de, by phone on +49-174-1802087 or through the contact form. Quick questions about me and about Papenburg are answered around the clock by the assistant Monti, right here on the site. You will also find me on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.