Böckten
Encyclopedia
Böckten is a municipality
in the district of Sissach
in the canton
of Basel-Country
in Switzerland
.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.3%. Out of the forested land, 39.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 20.6% is used for growing crops and 18.9% is pastures, while 3.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Böckten is situated in the Ergolz valley. This valley is named after Basel-Country's main river, the Ergolz
, which flows into the Rhine before Basel and was already a drinking water source for the Romans. In this valley, Böckten lies between its two main neighbouring municipalities Sissach
(located westward, towards Liestal
and Basel
) and Gelterkinden
(located eastward, towards Olten
).
Böckten's remaining two neighbouring municipalities - apart from the before mentioned Sissach and Gelterkinden - are the smaller Thürnen
and Rickenbach
, which lead into separate smaller valleys. The latter is the first municipality of the Homburg valley, which leads towards the Hauenstein hills.
Böckten's center lies 385 meters above sea level. However, its hills (in the forests) reach up to 740 meters.
Not unlike many Swiss agglomerations, Böckten has witnessed a building boom from the 1980s onwards, which quickly doubled its population from below 400 in 1980 to over 700 in 1991.
Most of the population speaks German
(605 or 90.4%), with Albanian
being second most common (13 or 1.9%) and Italian language
being third (12 or 1.8%). There are 8 people who speak French
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 715 Swiss citizens (91.7% of the population), and 65 non-Swiss residents (8.3%) Of the population in the municipality 199 or about 29.7% were born in Böckten and lived there in 2000. There were 226 or 33.8% who were born in the same canton, while 159 or 23.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 72 or 10.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 10 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 14 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 2 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.6%.
The age distribution, , in Böckten is; 64 children or 8.2% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 92 teenagers or 11.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 88 people or 11.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 129 people or 16.5% are between 30 and 39, 118 people or 15.1% are between 40 and 49, and 171 people or 21.9% are between 50 and 64. The senior population distribution is 82 people or 10.5% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 36 people or 4.6% who are over 80.
, there were 253 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 353 married individuals, 35 widows or widowers and 28 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 62.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 270 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 68 households that consist of only one person and 16 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 277 households that answered this question, 24.5% were households made up of just one person and 1 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 95 married couples without children, 94 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up unrelated people and 7 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 133 single family homes (or 68.2% of the total) out of a total of 195 inhabited buildings. There were 33 multi-family buildings (16.9%), along with 20 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (10.3%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.6%). Of the single family homes 20 were built before 1919, while 23 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (36) were built between 1971 and 1980.
there were 292 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 96. There were 11 single room apartments and 97 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 267 apartments (91.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (4.5%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (4.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.6 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent a two room apartment was about 761.00 CHF (US$610, £340, €490), a three room apartment was about 1001.00 CHF (US$800, £450, €640) and a four room apartment cost an average of 1409.00 CHF (US$1130, £630, €900). The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
, Böckten had an unemployment rate of 2.17%. , there were 17 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 334 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 13 businesses in this sector. 62 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector. There were 352 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.9% of the workforce.
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 383. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 9, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 333, of which 308 or (92.5%) were in manufacturing and 25 (7.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 41. In the tertiary sector; 12 or 29.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 12.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 7.3% were in the information industry, 2 or 4.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 7.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 9.8% were in education and 1 or 2.4% were in health care.
, there were 321 workers who commuted into the municipality and 279 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 5.0% of the workforce coming into Böckten are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 20.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 46.9% used a private car.
From 1891 on, Böckten harbored a station of the electronic tramway that commuted between Sissach and Gelterkinden. This railway line became obsolete and inactive with the installment of the federal railway line Basel-Olten on January 8, 1916.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.30% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.90% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
, and there were 21 individuals (or about 3.14% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 33 (or about 4.93% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There FALSE and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 89 (or about 13.30% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 15 individuals (or about 2.24% of the population) did not answer the question.
In Böckten about 279 or (41.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 80 or (12.0%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
). Of the 80 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.0% were Swiss men, 17.5% were Swiss women.
, there were 55 students from Böckten who attended schools outside the municipality.
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 36.61% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(18.61%), the Green Party
(17.7%) and the FDP
(17.24%). In the federal election, a total of 284 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 50.4%.
The municipal council consists of five members. They get elected by the local residents on a periodical basis. Each of them is responsible for a different department. Its current members (as of January 2007) as well as their respective departments are as follows:
Architecture, police, economics (agriculture and forestry), hunting, fishery
Sewage, water supply, municipally owned real estate
Education, culture (kindergarten, schools, youth music school, churches, cultural promotion, recreational time, sports), social security, health care, social welfare
Land use planning and regulation, road administration, public transportation, environmental protection, cemetery, public security (military, fire department, civil defense)
Finances, accounting, taxing, insurances, general administration
of the municipal coat of arms
is Barry of Six Argent and Azure.
This is the emblem of the last nobility that possessed Böckten, the Truchsessen of Rheinfelden
.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Sissach
Sissach (district)
Sissach District is one of the five districts of the largely German-speaking canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It has a population of . The district occupies the western portion of Basel-Country, bordering the neighbouring cantons of canton of Aargau and Solothurn. Its capital is the town of...
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Basel-Country
Basel-Country
Basel-Landschaft , is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. The capital is Liestal...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Geography
Böckten has an area, , of 2.28 square kilometre (0.88031292159098 sq mi). Of this area, 0.98 km² (0.378380115420684 sq mi) or 43.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.95 km² (0.366797050662908 sq mi) or 41.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.33 km² (0.127413712335537 sq mi) or 14.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes.Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 6.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.3%. Out of the forested land, 39.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 20.6% is used for growing crops and 18.9% is pastures, while 3.5% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
Böckten is situated in the Ergolz valley. This valley is named after Basel-Country's main river, the Ergolz
Ergolz
left|thumb|Source of the Ergolz in [[Oltingen]]The Ergolz is the main river in the canton of Basel-Landschaft. It rises on Mount Geisflue in the Faltenjura mountains in the upper region of Basel-Landschaft, on the border with Aargau and Solothurn, and joins the Rhine at Augst...
, which flows into the Rhine before Basel and was already a drinking water source for the Romans. In this valley, Böckten lies between its two main neighbouring municipalities Sissach
Sissach
Sissach is a municipality and the capital of the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Sissach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 28.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 46.6% is forested...
(located westward, towards Liestal
Liestal
Liestal is the capital of the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland, south of Basel.It is an industrial town with a cobbled-street Old Town.-History:...
and Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
) and Gelterkinden
Gelterkinden
Gelterkinden is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Gelterkinden has an area, , of . Of this area, or 34.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 47.4% is forested...
(located eastward, towards Olten
Olten
Olten is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name.Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zurich, Bern, Basel, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.-History:...
).
Böckten's remaining two neighbouring municipalities - apart from the before mentioned Sissach and Gelterkinden - are the smaller Thürnen
Thürnen
Thürnen is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Thürnen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.3% is forested...
and Rickenbach
Rickenbach, Basel-Country
Rickenbach is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.-Geography:Rickenbach has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 32.9% is forested...
, which lead into separate smaller valleys. The latter is the first municipality of the Homburg valley, which leads towards the Hauenstein hills.
Böckten's center lies 385 meters above sea level. However, its hills (in the forests) reach up to 740 meters.
General information
While Böckten has grown together with Gelterkinden during the 1980s and 1990s, it remains separate from Sissach to this day. Nevertheless it is mainly attached to Sissach in administrative matters (e.g. school system, church). Its location between these bigger municipalities, that both possess an express train railway station, makes Böckten much more connected to the nearby centers (most notably Basel and Liestal) than most other localities of comparable size.History
Böckten was first mentioned as Bettinghofen, which became simplified to Bettinchon (first mentioned in 1246), which in turn changed to Betkon (first mentioned in 1339). In the Middle Ages Böckten belonged to the earl of Homburg. Its governance changed several times until it came to Basel in 1467. After the establishing of the Gotthard pass, the Bischofstein castle was built and completed in 1311 in order to secure the region. It got destroyed due to the 1356 Basel earthquake, which affected the whole region. It has since then been restored.Not unlike many Swiss agglomerations, Böckten has witnessed a building boom from the 1980s onwards, which quickly doubled its population from below 400 in 1980 to over 700 in 1991.
Demographics
Böckten has a population of . , 7.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 12.1%.Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(605 or 90.4%), with Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
being second most common (13 or 1.9%) and Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
being third (12 or 1.8%). There are 8 people who speak French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.3% male and 49.7% female. The population was made up of 715 Swiss citizens (91.7% of the population), and 65 non-Swiss residents (8.3%) Of the population in the municipality 199 or about 29.7% were born in Böckten and lived there in 2000. There were 226 or 33.8% who were born in the same canton, while 159 or 23.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 72 or 10.8% were born outside of Switzerland.
In there were 10 live births to Swiss citizens and were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 5 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland. At the same time, there was 1 non-Swiss man who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 14 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 2 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.6%.
The age distribution, , in Böckten is; 64 children or 8.2% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 92 teenagers or 11.8% are between 7 and 19. Of the adult population, 88 people or 11.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 129 people or 16.5% are between 30 and 39, 118 people or 15.1% are between 40 and 49, and 171 people or 21.9% are between 50 and 64. The senior population distribution is 82 people or 10.5% of the population are between 65 and 79 years old and there are 36 people or 4.6% who are over 80.
, there were 253 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 353 married individuals, 35 widows or widowers and 28 individuals who are divorced.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 62.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 270 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. There were 68 households that consist of only one person and 16 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 277 households that answered this question, 24.5% were households made up of just one person and 1 were adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 95 married couples without children, 94 married couples with children There were 8 single parents with a child or children. There were 4 households that were made up unrelated people and 7 households that were made some sort of institution or another collective housing.
there were 133 single family homes (or 68.2% of the total) out of a total of 195 inhabited buildings. There were 33 multi-family buildings (16.9%), along with 20 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (10.3%) and 9 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (4.6%). Of the single family homes 20 were built before 1919, while 23 were built between 1990 and 2000. The greatest number of single family homes (36) were built between 1971 and 1980.
there were 292 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 96. There were 11 single room apartments and 97 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 267 apartments (91.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 13 apartments (4.5%) were seasonally occupied and 12 apartments (4.1%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.6 new units per 1000 residents. the average price to rent a two room apartment was about 761.00 CHF (US$610, £340, €490), a three room apartment was about 1001.00 CHF (US$800, £450, €640) and a four room apartment cost an average of 1409.00 CHF (US$1130, £630, €900). The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Economy
Besides several typical small-scale enterprises, Böckten is the site of a factory of the Swiss comestible goods chain Le Patron., Böckten had an unemployment rate of 2.17%. , there were 17 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 7 businesses involved in this sector. 334 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 13 businesses in this sector. 62 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 16 businesses in this sector. There were 352 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 40.9% of the workforce.
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 383. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 9, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 333, of which 308 or (92.5%) were in manufacturing and 25 (7.5%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 41. In the tertiary sector; 12 or 29.3% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 5 or 12.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 7.3% were in the information industry, 2 or 4.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 7.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 4 or 9.8% were in education and 1 or 2.4% were in health care.
, there were 321 workers who commuted into the municipality and 279 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.2 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 5.0% of the workforce coming into Böckten are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 20.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 46.9% used a private car.
Transportation
Böckten does not have its own railway station. However Gelterkinden has an express railway station that can easily be reached since the two localities have grown together, and Gelterkinden's station lies at its border towards Böckten. Sissach's express railway station is not equally close, however it can be reached by public transportation (bus). The Swiss automobile highway system can be joined in Sissach in an approximate distance of four kilometers.From 1891 on, Böckten harbored a station of the electronic tramway that commuted between Sissach and Gelterkinden. This railway line became obsolete and inactive with the installment of the federal railway line Basel-Olten on January 8, 1916.
Religion
From the , 113 or 16.9% were Roman Catholic, while 389 or 58.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 0.30% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.90% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
, and there were 21 individuals (or about 3.14% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 33 (or about 4.93% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There FALSE and 1 individual who belonged to another church. 89 (or about 13.30% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 15 individuals (or about 2.24% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
Böckten has its own primary school (5 school years, from age 7 on) and kindergarten (2 school years, from age 5 on). From secondary school level on (4 school years, from age 12 on), students have to commute to Sissach (by bicycle or bus). For facultative higher school education (as grammar school), students have to commute to Liestal (by train). The closest university is the one in Basel.In Böckten about 279 or (41.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 80 or (12.0%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 80 who completed tertiary schooling, 75.0% were Swiss men, 17.5% were Swiss women.
, there were 55 students from Böckten who attended schools outside the municipality.
Social Life
Typical for Swiss localities, Böckten has several clubs. The most notable of them are the different sport clubs for men, women, boys and girls. Besides that there are clubs for carneval, culture (in general), fishing, shooting, tennis, and viniculture, as well as a women's club.Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
which received 36.61% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(18.61%), the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(17.7%) and the FDP
FDP.The Liberals
FDP.The Liberals is a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It is the joint-largest party in the Federal Council, third-largest party in the National Council, and second-largest in the Council of States....
(17.24%). In the federal election, a total of 284 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 50.4%.
The municipal council consists of five members. They get elected by the local residents on a periodical basis. Each of them is responsible for a different department. Its current members (as of January 2007) as well as their respective departments are as follows:
- Mr Ulrich Altaus (municipal president):
Architecture, police, economics (agriculture and forestry), hunting, fishery
- Mr Peter Fiechter (vice president):
Sewage, water supply, municipally owned real estate
- Mrs Trudy Bruttel:
Education, culture (kindergarten, schools, youth music school, churches, cultural promotion, recreational time, sports), social security, health care, social welfare
- Mr Ralph Thurnherr:
Land use planning and regulation, road administration, public transportation, environmental protection, cemetery, public security (military, fire department, civil defense)
- Mr Elmar Gürtler:
Finances, accounting, taxing, insurances, general administration
Places of interest
- BischofsteinBishofstein CastleBishofstein Castle is a castle in the municipality of Sissach of the Canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.-References:...
ruin, located at approximately 740 metres (2,427.8 ft) above sea level, with view towards Sissach - Lookout point with fire place in the forest with view towards Böckten
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Barry of Six Argent and Azure.
This is the emblem of the last nobility that possessed Böckten, the Truchsessen of Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden is a municipality in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, seat of the district of Rheinfelden. It is located 15 kilometres east of Basel. The name means the fields of the Rhine, as the town is located on the Hochrhein. It is home to Feldschlösschen, the most popular beer in...
.