Odense Municipality-Cedar Herald Index

Odense Municipality () is a Danish municipality (kommune) in Southern Denmark on the island of Funen in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 207,762 (1. January 2023). It is the most populous municipality in the region of Southern Denmark.

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the city of Odense. Including the social sector, 17,000 people are employed by the municipality. The municipal budget is 6,881 million DKK as of 2006. The municipality runs 37 schools; Odense is also the home of 13 private schools.

Odense Municipality

Neighboring municipalities are Kerteminde to the east, Faaborg-Midtfyn to the south, Assens to the west, and Nordfyn to the north.

Odense Municipality

Geography

The Odense municipality is located near the Odense Fjord. The Odense Canal (Odense Kanal) flows out from the fjord and forms three ports in the city's industrial area. The Odense River (Odense Å) also flows out from the fjord and meanders through the municipality, including Odense town center where Sankt Jørgens Park and Munke Mose are located on its banks. The river springs from Lake Arreskov (Arreskov Sø) in Faaborg-Midtfyn municipality.

Odense Municipality

The highest point in the municipality is Dyred Banke which is located at above sea level.

History

The municipality, a former "Provincial municipality" was re-created 1 April 1970 as Odense municipality as the result of a ("Municipal Reform") that merged a number of existing Provincial- Parish- and Village- municipalities: Allerup-Davinde, Allese-Næsbyhoved, Broby, Brændekilde, Bellinge, Dalum, Fraugde, Korup-Ubberud, Lumby, Odense, Paarup, Sanderum, Stenløse-Fangel, the "coalition-municipality" of Fjordager (which had been created in 1966 by merging Agedrup and Seden-Åsum municipalities), and Højby parish.

Odense municipality was not merged with other municipalities by 1 January 2007 as the result of the nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007). Before this reform, the list of neighboring municipalities were Langeskov to the east, Munkebo to the northeast, Otterup to the north, Søndersø, Vissenbjerg, and Tommerup to the west, and Broby and Årslev to the south. Odense belonged to Funen County 1970-2006 and before this to Odense County.

Politics

Odense's municipal council consists of 29 members, elected every four years. The municipal council has five political committees.

Municipal council

Below are the municipal councils elected since the Municipal Reform of 2007.

Mayors

Odense's mayor is , representing the Social Democrats, since 1 January 2018.

The former mayor of Odense Municipality, Anker Boye, is a member of the Social Democratic Party. His first term was from 1993 to 2005 when he was defeated by Jan Boye, a Conservative. He was re-elected in the 2009 election, forming a coalition with the Red–Green Alliance, the Socialist People's Party and the Social Democrats.

The following is a list of mayors since 1792:

Lauritz Martin Bendz (1792–97) Andreas Rosteen Lindved (1798–1816) Lauritz Martin Bendz (1816–24) Christian Reimuth (1824–46) Christen Estrup (1847–60) Louis Mourier (1861–77) G. Koch (1877–97) J.F. Simony (1897–1900) Ludvig Dithmer (1900–11) Valdemar Bloch (1911–19) J.L. Christensen (1919) A.P. Henriksen (1919–25) H. Chr. Petersen (1925–37) I. Vilh. Werner (1937–58) Holger Larsen (1958–73) Verner Dalskov (1973–93) Anker Boye (1994–2005) Jan Boye (2006–09) Anker Boye (2010–2017) Peter Rahbæk Juel (2018-)