Aged people in El-Midane still remember the unsuccessful
efforts that were exerted in the 1960s to form a municipality.
There was another attempt in the 1980s which also did not
succeed. At the beginning of the 21st century, and more
precisely in 2003 and 2004, there was another attempt to form a
municipality. This time it was successful due to the new
mentality among the people of El-Midane and to the efforts of
many of El-Midane residents, among them the former and the
current Moukhtar of El-Midane Mr. Maroun Nassib Hobaika.
The Municipality was formed according to the Minister of
Interior decree No. 139 dated February 16, 2004. Following the
inception of the municipality, there were many discussions and
meetings among different representatives of the families that
constituted the population of El-Midane to try to form the first
Municipal Council without going into elections due to the fact
that the situation at that time was not suitable for such
matter. And after agreeing on the names that could form the
first Municipal Council and after submitting the necessary
documentations in due time, the election of a president and a
vice president of the Municipal Council took place in the Caza
of Jezzine Headquarters on June 12, 2004. Starting from that
date, the Municipality of El-Midane took over the civil
responsibilities of El-Midane.
The members of the first Municipal Council are the following:
President: Antoine Joseph Toubia Aouad
Vice President: Maroun Habib Abou Samra El-Khoury
Members: Chaker Youssef Sanan, Maroun Ayyach Hobeika
Norma Feghaly Aouad, Charbel AbouSamra Aouad
Charbel Youssef Aoun, Charbel Gerges Harfouche
Charles Georges Abou Sleiman
The first effort of the new Municipal Council was to find a
permanent location for the Municipality. Due to many
efforts and within two months, the Municipal Council was able to
buy a building in the middle of the village to become its
headquarters (it is worth mentioning here that many older
municipalities in the region were surprised by this action since
the number of older municipalities who own headquarters are very
few).
Then the efforts concentrated on electing the members of
different municipal committees who will be responsible to pursue
the work to be done. The budgets of 2004 and 2005 were
prepared by the President and were agreed upon by the
Governmental offices. The list of all houses and shops
that will be subjected to municipal fees was also prepared.
The renovation and furnishing of the Municipality Headquarters
was also achieved and the building was officially inaugurated in
the presence of the Kaemakam Jezzine and many presidents of
neighboring municipalities on November 22, 2004.
On the ground, the following was achieved from June to December
2004:
· installing of new
signs for the village and the roads
· cleaning all main
and secondary roads in the village
· creating new canals
to handle the raining water
· cleaning existing
canals
· maintaining existing
electrical bulbs in the street
· signing a contract
with a private company to remove the wastes
· installing of
Advertisement Boards
The Year 2005 started with the renewing of the responsibilities
of the Municipality treasurer and the election of the municipal
committees members. A decision was taken by the Municipal
Council not to allow any one to create any “Marmala” or
“Kassara” regardless of its financial benefits for the
Municipality, because of its harm to the environment. The
budget of the year 2006 was also prepared and agreed upon within
due time. The hierarchy of the Municipality was also
agreed upon.
On the ground, the following was achieved from January to
December 2005:
· cleaning existing
water canals
· maintaining the
electrical network and start changing old bulbs
· spraying grass
solutions
· building new walls
and canals
· maintaining and
creating some pedestrian roads
· buying new plastic
barrels and baskets for wastes
The year 2006 started with the renewing of the responsibilities
of the Municipality treasurer and the election of the municipal
committees members. The Municipal Council took a decision
to join the Union of Municipalities of the Jezzine area.
The Municipal Council also objected to the classification of the
village done by the Civil Organizer which was unfair to the
population of El-Midane. And due to many discussions and
to the visit that was done by the former Director of the Civil
Organizer to El-Midane, the majority of the objections that were
raised by the Municipal Council were rectified as needed.
The budget of the year 2007 was also prepared and agreed upon.
In collaboration with El-Midane Club, a huge Xmas crib was built
in the Square facing Saint Jude (Mar Laba) church, and the
building of the current website was underway.
On the ground, the following was achieved from January to
December 2006:
· Maintaining
pedestrian roads in the village
· Building new walls
and water canals
· Cleaning existing
roads and water canals
· Changing the bulbs
of the electricity network
· Receiving and
distributing all aids that were destined to the people of
El-Midane due to the war that took place in the summer of 2006
The commitment of the Municipality of El-Midane is to keep on
improving the quality of life of its people so as to become the
model in the Jezzine area.