The appointment in Idar-Oberstein differed in several respects from the usual course of the tour, which has been running since April. While Kowalski's aim at many stops was to get to know the places and the people involved there better, he has long been familiar with the city of jewelry. Numerous appointments, events and company visits in Idar-Oberstein have characterized his time in office so far. There has also been a close exchange in terms of local politics - most recently with regard to the future of the Idar-Oberstein Clinic with its 500 beds and the currently suspended construction work on the new extension.
Due to the size of the town with its 13 districts (Algenrodt, Enzweiler, Georg-Weierbach, Göttschied, Hammerstein, Idar, Kirchenbollenbach, Mittelbollenbach, Nahbollenbach, Oberstein, Regulshausen, Tiefenstein and Weierbach) and an area of around 92 square kilometers, this time - in contrast to the flying visits to the smaller towns - there was no tour or round trip. Instead, the meeting took place in Mayor Frühauf's office in the city administration.
Idar-Oberstein has been known worldwide for its jewelry and gemstone processing for over 500 years. The industry still shapes economic life today, and the location as a whole is broadly based: almost 2450 businesses are currently registered in Idar-Oberstein - including the traditional cookware manufacturer Fissler and the BioNTech branch in Vollmersbachstraße.
"If the economic development in the state is difficult, it will also affect us," Mayor Frühauf made clear in conversation with the district administrator. The city is expecting falling trade tax revenues in the next financial year. In addition, two company insolvencies are putting a large number of jobs at risk.
At the same time, there are positive prospects: The Polymer Group, which specializes in the processing of plastics, is planning to build a new site in the Weierbach industrial estate on a 17-hectare site from 2026.
The city leadership is also pinning its hopes on the Bundeswehr's recent decision to stop the civilian use of empty barracks. This would allow soldiers to return to the Strassburg barracks in Algenrodt, which have been abandoned for years. This would further increase Idar-Oberstein's importance as a military location - there are currently around 2,000 posts at the Rilchenberg and Klotzberg barracks.
With the municipal theater in Oberstein and the exhibition hall in Nahbollenbach, the town has important event venues that attract visitors from the entire surrounding area. Crowd pullers such as the Jazz Days in Idar and the gem-cutting and goldsmith market in Oberstein characterize cultural life. Idar-Oberstein also has several tourist attractions, including the most famous sight, the Felsenkirche church, the German Gemstone Museum, the German Mineral Museum and the Jakob Bengel industrial monument.
The modernization of the youth hostel in Oberstein is set to provide a major boost: the 6.5 million euro project by the German Youth Hostel Association (DJH), in which the city and district are each contributing 1.5 million euros, is set to enable the first bookings from May 2026.
The city supports several educational institutions, including six elementary school, the Realschule plus in Rostocker Straße as well as six daycare centers and the play and learning room. In addition, there are eight daycare centers run by independent providers. The district, in turn, is responsible for three special schools, two grammar schools, the Ida-Purper-Realschule and the vocational school based in Idar-Oberstein.
In conversation with the district administrator, Frühauf and Marx discussed the fact that the city is planning to set up another daycare center in the former C&A building in the Oberstein pedestrian zone in cooperation with the Catholic KiTa gGmbH. This is due to the increasing demand for childcare places.
The background to this is the significant population growth in recent years, particularly due to the influx of families and migrants. Mayor Frühauf showed understanding for the fact that the district uses affordable housing to accommodate those in need, but at the same time asked for consideration for the fact that Idar-Oberstein has already taken in a high proportion of asylum seekers.
District Administrator Kowalski took the point on board. "In my opinion, integration is often easier in smaller villages," he said, but at the same time pointed out that many newcomers prefer the infrastructure of larger towns.
The tripartite meeting also addressed the new possibility opened up by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Family Affairs for large towns belonging to the district, such as Idar-Oberstein, to transfer their local youth welfare office responsibilities to the district. The level of the district levy and the assessment rates for property tax B were also discussed.
Mayor Marx addressed the upcoming renovation of district road 37 between the traffic circle in Vollmersbachstraße and Göttschied. Although he welcomed the fact that the so-called airfield road is now to be brought up to scratch quickly, he also expressed his regret that the planned construction of a parallel cycle path had been postponed for the time being.
After around one and a half hours, the constructive exchange ended in a pleasant atmosphere. District Administrator Kowalski acknowledged the special importance of the city of Idar-Oberstein for the district, which is not least due to the facilities and authorities responsible for the entire surrounding area, such as the district court and the tax office.
At the same time, he remained true to his line: as with all 95 previous stops, Kowalski reserved only one page for notes in his little black notebook for Idar-Oberstein. He treated the largest town in the district with its more than 32,000 inhabitants in the same way as Schwerbach, the smallest village with 46 inhabitants.