General secretary to Department of Inner-Cantonal Affairs elected to city council

Last Sunday, Franziska Bitzi, the general secretary to the Department of Inner-Cantonal Affairs (DI), was elected to the city council in Lucerne, meaning that Zug is on the look-out for a successor.
 
The 43-year-old, a member of the CVP party, has to serve six months’ notice in Zug, so she will not actually be leaving until the end of May at the earliest, though she is planning to take up her new role in Lucerne in the spring.
 
Speaking of Bitzi’s election, Manuela Weichelt-Picard, the director of the department, said she would be sorry to be losing this “exceptionally competent and involved member of her team”, but, as she knew she had been politically active for some years, she was not totally surprised. What did surprise Weichelt-Picard somewhat, was that Bitzi would be opting to assume political office quite so soon, especially bearing in mind how both had looked forward to working together for some years. Nevertheless, the member of the Zug cantonal government, herself a well-known advocate of women’s power, recognised that Bitzi had to strike while the iron was hot and grasp such opportunities when they came along.
 
Not that the canton is wasting any time in looking for a replacement for Bitzi. The vacancy has already been published online and it is to be advertised in the print media next week. It is hoped the new incumbent will be able to start at the DI in the summer.
 
In order to ensure continuity at the department, it has been announced that Bitzi’s predecessor in the job between 2007 and 2014, Paul Schmuki, will be standing in between the middle of February and June.