Weekly Update 48

August 8, 2025

Hello, everyone.

At this week’s council meeting on Tuesday, several issues important to every resident were raised, so I’d like to update you on them. I don’t want to overwhelm you, so next week I’ll continue with updates on other important topics that were also discussed at that meeting. This includes two questions and two motions I submitted that were discussed during the session.

Municipal Policing

The Ministry of Public Security has approved and allocated funding for the establishment of a municipal police unit that will operate within Zichron Yaakov. The unit will begin operations in early 2026, so we received a briefing on it from the council’s security officer.

The unit will consist of six police officers and a police captain. They will be stationed in the MDA building at 5 HaMa’apilim Street.

Each patrol will include police officers and council inspectors. There is a fixed list of offenses in which they can intervene. Anything not on the list will be handled by Zichron Yaakov police officers, as is done today. For example, the municipal police handle violence in public spaces, while station officers handle violence in homes. Municipal inspectors issue citations for parking in prohibited areas, while the municipal police unit handles vehicles blocking traffic. The unit differs from regular police officers because it will operate according to pre-determined metrics and plans, and everything will be measurable. For example, if police reports show that there are break-ins in a certain neighborhood in the early morning hours—and the defined goal is to reduce break-ins in that neighborhood—then the municipal police officers will focus on that neighborhood in the morning hours. To my understanding, the municipal police will not issue citations.

At the meeting, I asked whether the implementation of municipal policing would lead to the abolition of the council’s security patrol. Because that is what happened in other cities, and this is an opportunity to ease the burden on residents and eliminate the security fee that every household pays (a total of 1.4 NIS per square meter per year; a 200-square-meter home pays approximately 280 NIS annually).

The answer was no—the patrol will continue to operate and will be assigned to other tasks. For example, in the mornings, the patrol will secure kindergartens and schools. It might be a good idea to keep both, as this would broaden our security umbrella as residents. We were promised there would be a discussion about this in the council. Although it seems to me that the decision has already been made and the patrol will continue. In any case, the council head has an automatic majority and can pass anything (read on below).

Construction of a bike path on Ma’aleh Begin Street:

This is a plan that has been in place since Ziv Deshe’s time to expand the bike paths in the community and add one on Begin Street as well. Currently, work is underway there to lay a new water line, including the installation of fire hydrants along the route (very important for fire prevention). This water line was also laid according to the plan to provide a future option for connecting water to the shared employment zone.

Due to the construction, it was decided to take advantage of the current road closure to expose the entire western side of the road—the sidewalk side—and subsequently build a bike path there. I hope they won’t uproot all the trees, as there are a large number of trees along the route.

In the first phase, we approved a sum of 300,000 NIS at the meeting, half of which is allocated to the path designer and half to the engineering firm that will soon begin exposing the western side. The council head said the estimated cost of building the path is 1.5 million NIS. It’s an estimate because no planning has been done yet. So it’s unclear whether it will be a dirt path or a paved one. I’ll follow up and keep you updated.

Another thing that strikes me as odd and problematic is that the council head mentioned a local resident volunteer will oversee the work. It’s unclear to me how this was approved, and I’ll try to look into the matter (assuming, of course, the council head allows council staff to respond to me).

It should be noted here that during the previous term, a full plan was drawn up for a “commuter” bike path and paving from the Maccabi Square area to the HaHoresh School area, including lighting, bridges, culverts, railings, supports, and a line for installing fire hydrants, which is currently being implemented. All the materials are ready for a tender, including detailed plans and bills of quantities. The purpose of this plan was to enable future bicycle travel from the northern part of the town to the employment area and the train station; I hope the full project will not be shelved.

The fountain in Moshava Park:

In January 2025, we approved a sum of 40,000 NIS for the planning of the fountain renovation in Moshava Park.

In July 2025, we approved 550,000 NIS for the fountain renovation. This was in accordance with the plan that required replacing the entire fountain system.

This week we were required to approve an additional 100,000 NIS because, after work began, it became clear that the entire electrical cabinet needed to be replaced.

Thus, a total of 690,000 NIS has been invested in the fountain. According to the council head, this will keep it running for years to come. There is no doubt that the fountain will bring joy to many children if and when it opens. Is this justified? Wouldn’t it have been better to forgo the fountain, which operates only during the summer months, and invest the money in organic waste collection? This is apparently the amount that was missing, which is why they stopped using the brown bins. Unfortunately, there are no such discussions in the council. We were never offered the choice of where the money in the authority’s funds should go. Instead, they simply bring a specific capital budget item to a vote. So the council head decides in advance where the funds will go—the overwhelming and automatic majority allows him to pass everything. (Of course, I know that organic waste collection was included in the annual budget and the fountain is a capital budget item—but this is a matter of priorities.)

Another point not mentioned in the discussion is the annual maintenance cost of the fountain, including preventive maintenance, and how to prevent damage, some of which is caused by the way the facility is used.

Increase in the extraordinary budget (special budget) for contractor work on paving and resurfacing roads throughout the town

Currently, there is a budget of nearly 6 million NIS allocated for road maintenance (grinding, paving, drainage ditch repairs, etc.). We have increased this amount by 124,000 NIS due to the work being carried out on Hendiv Street, which required a budget supplement to perform road reinforcement work for stabilization and the repair of a drainage channel. This special budget fund was established during the previous term in 2021 and has enabled resurfacing and repaving on many roads in the community, such as Herzl Street, HaNidiv Street, Aharon Road, Bialik Street, HaEla Alley, Trumpeldor Street, HaHita Street, Tzahal, Yafeh Nof, Kadesh, Aharon Road, HaShoeva Alley, and many other roads.

Increase in the extraordinary budget (special fund) for drainage works on Rav Ezraeli Street for the purpose of establishing an open public space

This street may be less familiar to most of us because at the street’s entrance (on the opposite side of the entrance to HaHita School and the Country Club, etc.) are educational institutions of the ultra-Orthodox community, and further down the street are two residential buildings. However, the street and the adjacent public open space are used by many pedestrians seeking a shortcut to get from the western side of the town to the Moshava High School and the Halomot neighborhood. Currently, there is no proper crossing there, and worse still, there are severe drainage issues that have caused flooding in lower-floor apartments in recent years. The Engineering Department has initiated a comprehensive plan to resolve the problem.

The solution includes: laying a drainage line along the street, geometrically modifying the existing road to divert water away from the residential buildings, and creating an open public space that will include walls and a ramp for accessible passage. This passage will connect to Tzofit Square—the new square in the Halomot neighborhood on the main road, which is being built with funding from the Ministry of Transportation.

At the meeting, the planners of the public space presented the beautiful plans they had prepared.

The total cost of the project (excluding the square, of course) is 4,278,000 NIS. We all voted in favor because drainage and safety are paramount, as are improving quality of life and the public space.