The Municipality Council

In 1861, a protocol was published in order to organize the administration of the Moutasarrifiyah according to the basis that observed social political and economic changes in Mount Lebanon. The "Protocol" stipulated that a public election of representatives for a Municipal council in each region should be done and the Moutasarrifiyah designated the administrators.

The 1st Municipal Council in Zouk Mikael was elected in December 1912 pursuant to Zouk Citizens' demand. To them, having a Civil Administration (Municipal council) was an urgent need in order to organize the villagers' works and properties. Elected to oversee the welfare of the society, the Municipal Council started to clean all the roads and public places as well as the Souk. Furthermore, it formed a committee for preserving and controlling cleanness in the village. The Municipality became a self-dependent administration as well as a regional authority. Thus, an internal administration status was adopted.

The Municipal Council started tending to the village's problems and conditions separately from the Moutasarrifiyah administration and it decided to organize public auctions on bovines, ovine and caprines slaughtering. It was also concerned in ensuring public services such as public roads, electricity and water to the citizens. In 1926, roads were enlarged because of the increasing number of cars and the Municipal council adopted a new circulation regime especially in the Souk area where parking was forbidden. Electricity was also a necessity and all roadsides were illuminated. As for the drinking water, the Municipal Council constructed 4 water fountains in the neighborhoods far from Zouk's main water fountain where water pipes were not installed yet.

During WWI, the Municipal Council played a major role in providing wheat and flour to the citizens. In 1927, in order to regulate the prices of consumer goods a law was issued giving all Municipal Councils the right to set out prices of bread, flour, meat, vegetables, oil, milk, coal, ice etc… and the Municipal Council taxed every person who defied the fixed prices.

The Municipal Council of Zouk Mikael has always been watching over the needs of the citizens and has always worked for the welfare of the village and its citizens. 12 Municipal Councils were elected between 1912 and 1963. Then, the 13th Municipal Council adopted strategy planning before action, in opposition to the previous Municipal Councils. Mr. Nouhad Nawfal was elected president of the Municipal Council in 1963, and with his cultural background and his foreview for a modern city, he decided to work on improving the city's infrastructure, constructions, roads, telephones, illumination, cleanness, etc …
Mr. Nawfal believes that it is important to provide assure public services by establishing gardens and planting trees, thus creating what is called a beautiful and healthy environment. Human development was very important for him, as he said, as well as far promoting the public administration and providing public services for all citizens.
Theory and practice were the 2 major poles of Nawfal's work and they constituted the main purpose in embalming the city. He insisted on making Zouk Mikael a sample of a European city with its gardens, cleanness, and development without loosing the spirit of a typical Lebanese village.

In 1998, Mr Nawfal was reelected President of the Municipal Council for a six-year mandate during which, he continues enhancing the city infrastructures. He is always working on promoting Zouk's name and image, in Lebanon and throughout the world.


Mr Nawfal was also elected in 1978 the first President of the Union of Kesserwan and Ftouh Municipalities. He was the first president of the first municipal union in Lebanon, and was reelected in 1998. Moreover, he tried to solve common problems inherent to municipalities in the region. He saw that the region needed huge developmental projects that could be of great importance and benefit to several neighboring villages and cities. Thus, the establishment of municipalities union became an urgent matter to coordinate among them.

Nawfal performed his duties as President of the Union in the same way that he worked as President of Zouk's municipality, with exactly the same determination, planning and defining of the priorities of the Kesserwan and Ftouh region. The Union objectives are to serve common interests in the region in order to ensure the welfare of the citizens

 

The Public Library

The public library was founded in 1975 and gathers a great number of books offered by cities with which Zouk signed a township and following contacts undertaken by the municipality which was eager to place at the disposal of the citizens all kinds of works coming from various cultures and covering various subjects.
The library gathers books in Arabic, French and English and is thus opened to the public of all the area. Anxious to culturally animate the life of the town of Zouk Mikael, the municipality council decided to found the cultural municipal Center which would have as a function to organize cultural events of all kinds. The Cultural council founded in 1995, gathers a group of literates from different majors: journalists, poets, writers….

It regularly organizes poetic conferences, meetings and seminars on various topics such as ecology, misdeeds of drug, AIDS, etc. Other meetings are organized around important books where the book is presented and discussed in the presence of the writer...

Outside View
The Municipality Building
Municipal Dispensary