Even though the number of residents in Latvia and Balvi municipality is declining every year, there is no sufficient residential infrastructure available in Balvi municipality and Latgale in general, leaving a negative impact on business development. Balvi regional council chairman Sergejs Maksimovs (Latgale Party) has been speaking with several ministers about the fact that Latgale region needs a support program for construction of residential infrastructure, and this will also be a topic of discussion at Latgale Congress in late April in Rezekne.

Like in other places in Latvia and Europe, the number of residents is declining steeply also in Balvi municipality. Is there any plan to promote return of residents to the municipality from other Latvian regions and from abroad?

Unfortunately, regions are becoming more deserted, but the number of residents in Pieriga and Riga is increasing. Young people still choose to live and organize their lives around Riga. Why? Right now, when purchasing or building a property in Pieriga, the property has a different market value against the construction costs. I have spoken with several ministers, also Saeima budget and financial committee chairman Martins Bondars (For Development), underscoring that Latgale region needs a support program for construction of residential infrastructure. We will also speak about it at Latgale Congress in late April. The current trend is that many young people, families are returning to live with their parents, but they still rent apartments in Riga, work remotely. When they reach the credit rating necessary for starting construction of their own house, they choose to do it in Pieriga because in Latvia, unfortunately, we have just one central city around which everything rolls.

Every second week we receive applications from young families with children who want to improve their living situation, they ask for help in renting of apartments, but we have nothing to offer. We will analyze the private rental sector, think about what activities are necessary. Possibly, we will need a database. It is very hard, practically impossible to rent a flat in Balvi right now. We have to solve this issue together with business representatives, otherwise it is hard to develop business because employees need a place to live.

Several family physicians working in Balvi municipality have reached retirement age. What are the possibilities of the municipality to attract new family physicians or specialists to the hospital?

We are using every possible way to attract family physicians and specialists. Thanks to family physician Liga Kozlovska who attracts resident doctors to her practice. Several young resident doctors will soon start their work in Balvi.

Thanks to funding for recovery of degraded territories, the coastline of Balvi Lake has been put into order where Balvi meatpacker worked until 1995. The territory and the production buildings have been commissioned. What companies has the municipality managed to attract to this new industrial park?

Most of the territory is rented by Baltic Wood who will develop a timber processing company, paying the municipality a rent worth EUR 2,900 a month and investing money in the company. Another part of the territory has been rented to a company for placement of solar panels. We are looking for a tenant for another hangar. Several companies have demonstrated interest to participate in the auction, but so far there have been several unsuccessful auctions.

What will the future of Balvi manor be after the building has been left by school?

There are repairs going on in the manor, attracting loans and funding from a trans-border program. By the beginning of the summer, the basement will be completed. We have decided that we will renovate the first and second floors for the needs of public administration.

Why is there a need for more offices for municipal functions after the administrative territorial reform?

The municipal administration, of course, is centralized now and located in Balvi. The Balvi manor housed a part of the administration also earlier. Now, considering the epidemiological requirements, we may not place five to ten employees in one room. On the one hand, we want to reduce the number of public administration staff, but, on the other hand, we are increasing bureaucracy. If we participate in a European project, we should be aware that another employee is needed who will work with all the reports.

We have to use the manor. Looking at the state and municipal customer service center in Balvi where a number of employees work in small premises, can we call it a modern center? No. People are queueing on the street, waiting for service, and those are not young people, it is not a normal situation. The manor might also house Northern Latgale Business and Tourism Center.

As the number of residents is declining, the local government has to reduce the number of schools, and residents are dissatisfied with it. You already made the decision on merging Ziguri Elementary School with Viduci Elementary School. Is this the only decision in this area?

Covid-19 pandemic has been a huge challenge, pupils have got used to learn on Zoom platform, there are many schools offering distance learning. Decisions have been made on changing the education level of Berzpils Secondary School to elementary school. A decision has been made on the last 12th grade graduation party at Tilza Secondary School. There are discussions about the status of Vilaka State Gymnasium, and among of the most important criteria are education quality and number of pupils. The criterion on the number of pupils has never been met there, and so far we have been able to convince the Education and Science Ministry that the number of pupils is not related with the education quality. Unfortunately, the education quality criteria are not as good as necessary for a state gymnasium. Baltinava Secondary School has different criteria as a school in the border area. I think that the current school network will remain intact.

The municipal council in several meetings discussed the possibility to take over state roads. Why is it important?

We had a long discussion. We have developed regulations on road repairs. The local government has developed an algorithm for repairs and maintenance of roads, and Latvijas Valsts Celi state road manager and the Transport Ministry have sent a list of roads that the municipality could take over. The state offered that the municipality took over roads that go to forests or are dead-end roads. There are some roads, for example, Baltinava-Briezuciems, that the state does not plan to repair in the coming 10 years, but these roads are very important for our local residents, therefore we believe we should take them over. As the local government we could repair these roads, using business support project or some other funding.

The times are not peaceful right now, what is the security situation in the municipality?

Nobody will take care of our security other than ourselves. Speaking about Covid-19 safety, I want to thank the union of Balvi and Gulbene hospitals, especially Sarmite Puzule who is responsible for Covid-9 treatment.

Speaking about police, of course, it would have been better if we had more police officers. The State Police has just one patrol car at night on duty, and if there is a call to Baltinavca, Egluciems, Tilza, Rugaji or Kubuli, then the city is only monitored on surveillance cameras. Response to it them is responsibility of the municipal police. Of course, we are also speaking with the Border Guard, but, considering the situation with refugees on the border, they are focusing on the border security now.