Mayor´s Welcome
The number of positive things about Lapua is auspiciously large. The city is able to attract new citizens, something that all Finnish municipalities dream of doing. Over the decades Lapua has been well known, and known in a positive way. Many Finns can place Lapua on the map, and they can even mention many things related to Lapua. The entrepreneurship here is manifold and competitive. According to research people are satisfied with the services the city offers. The figures of the city economy also reveal that Lapua is in no sense even remotely close to a city in crisis.
The dark clouds of the future will probably pass over Lapua. The most pressing issues, however, are cuts in the state finance and the structural reform of the health care system.
Things that the internet world cannot reveal are daily life issues connected to such qualities as management culture, organisation culture and municipal culture. These are factors that need to be understood and developed correctly, factors which include a functioning, representative democracy, an open atmosphere, and trust and cooperation between the politicians and civil servants.
The city will remain vital and competitive only through good leadership – both political and professional.
Satu Kankare
Mayor