Hervé Novelli
The former Minister and current Mayor of Richelieu is bringing an end to his local political career. A long chapter of thirty years of his life, which closes not without emotion.
Last Saturday the speech of the ceremony 'Wishes of the Mayor' ended with a long ovation from the room standing in front of Mayor Hervé Novelli, who at that point could no longer hide his tears. Many friends of the former Minister took out the handkerchiefs too, sharing this momentary highlight: the end of a chapter of more than thirty years.
Memories evidently jostled in the mind of one who had arrived in Richelieu at the end of 1982, following the sudden death of his father, to take over the small family business of manufacturing artificial limbs, which he then came to manage and develop for a quarter of century.
Even if he simultaneously managed to lead a Departmental, then National political career, including three and a half years in Government, the creator of the 'Statute of the Individual Entrepreneur' always kept in his heart his adopted Commune of Richelieu, there for four terms; as an Advisor, then an Assistant, then finally as Mayor for eleven years from 2008.
The unfinished dream of the famous eponymous cardinal, Richelieu is a city on a Human Scale which seduces with its 'magic side', but nonetheless requires a lot of energy to sustain its charm and its tourist appeal. And, at the time of the evaluation of his achievements, Hervé Novelli now has many happy memories. He had waited for the completion of the renovation of the Village Hall to organise his 'Wishes of the Mayor' ceremony, on the day after the construction site completed, as if to tick one more box in the list of his team's achievements.
Even at a time when the countryside is de-populating, it is not easy to act in a Municipality of only 1800 inhabitants; one with 118 registered or classified monuments, so the balance sheet of achievements turns out to be positive, the more so without any increase in taxation. Richelieu, which had already succeeded in creating an innovative multi-disciplinary Health Centre, has now just recently seen its half-completed by-pass finally completed, itself the climax of a battle that lasted almost fifteen years.
The Voie Verte, or Green Way, connecting Richelieu to Chinon will also remain an important achievement, such as the construction of the new EHPAD (Etablissement d'Hébergement Pour Personnes Agées Dépendantes), to cite only a few significant files of this mayoral mandate.
On the strength of this assessment, Hervé Novelli therefore decided to bow out in 2020. He still has some other responsibilities, in particular for the development of local wine tourism. But, having passed the milestone of the 'three score years and ten', he feels the time has come to pass the Torch, well aware that there is still much to do for his town.
It is certainly not a farewell. "I will always be ready and available to serve Richelieu,"
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thanks to Nouvelle Republique
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