Mertesheim

Mertesheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration and belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land, whose seat is in Grünstadt, although that town is itself not in the Verbandsgemeinde.HistoryIn 771, Meldrisheim had its first documentary mention. Until 1969 it belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal. Currently it is in the district of Bad Dürkheim, and it joined the newly formed Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land in 1972.ReligionIn 2007, 43.5% of the inhabitants were Catholic and 35.3% Evangelical. The rest belonged to other faiths or adhered to none.PoliticsMunicipal councilThe council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.MayorsAs part of the 2014 local elections, no candidate approached to direct elections to the Mayors. According to the arrangements in Rhineland-Palatinate in local elections measures in existence has been selected for the new city mayor Doris Nitzsche by the local council. It replaced Tony Schuck in that office from that held this since 2007.