Citizens’ meetings are often somewhat dry events. Apparently, people were also aware of this in the Kirchseeon town hall, where boss Jan Paeplow (CSU) therefore created a quite innovative format: the citizen form of the Kirchseeon market. The focus here should not be on long speeches by the mayor, but on the interaction between the town hall employees and the population. After what Mayor Paeplow called the “dress rehearsal” last week in the ATSV hall in Kirchseeon, the “freestyle” came on Wednesday evening in the Hubertus-Schützenheim in Eglharting. The new citizens’ assembly was well received by the approximately 50 visitors, and the exchange with the experts was particularly popular.
At the various stands, it was about the small and the big things – such as the question of whether you can actually hand in batteries at the recycling center (yes, you can), but also about construction issues and the further timetable for the relocation of the senior center. “The idea for the new format is a hands-on administration,” said Mayor Paeplow. All the information was compiled by the specialist departments themselves – from the building and environmental authorities, to the financial administration and the fire brigades to the climate protection manager, all the important departments of the town hall were represented. “I didn’t go there with censorship,” assured Paeplow, who wanted to ensure maximum transparency for his authority in this way.
There is still a problem with the income from the trade tax
In fact, the individual departments provided insights that would have been difficult to gather without this event. In short presentations, the respective department heads presented their daily work and gave an outlook on what the market community will face in the near future. There was good news, for example, from treasurer Christiane Prosser. The development of tax revenue gives reason to hope “that the worst effects of Corona are already behind us”. Nevertheless, in view of the upcoming investments – such as the extensive renovation of the indoor pool and primary school in Eglharting – economical budgetary management still has top priority. However, the low trade tax revenue compared to other communities is still a problem. That, according to Prosser, will not change any time soon because there is simply not enough free space in the market town for the settlement of new businesses.
Rainer Schott from the Office for Social Affairs, Family and Senior Citizens then took over the shift from money to people, who reported, among other things, on the situation of the Ukraine refugees in Kirchseeon. The solidarity of the population is great, according to Schott, more than 200 of the refugees living in the community are housed with private individuals. The specialist authority supports the arrivals, for example with applications, medical treatment and the search for accommodation.
The municipality wants to introduce a digital suggestion box for the citizens
But not only refugees are helped in the Kirchseeon town hall, the service for the local population is also constantly being improved, said the head of the main office, Michael Barthuber. “Public administration must increasingly also be a service provider.” Although many concerns can already be processed online, the company still wants to push digitization forward. For example, a complaints system for citizens is to be set up in the near future. A “future project”, as Barthuber said, is also a central service center in the town hall, which is to be designed like a kind of reception for guests.
More and more of them could come in the next few years, because the market town is growing steadily – last year by 1.25 percent to 11,154 inhabitants. The newly created local development department is to ensure that this growth runs smoothly. Together with the experts from the Planning Association of the Outer Economic Area, a concept is being drawn up there on how the community should develop over the next few decades.
There is a lot of catching up to do when it comes to climate protection
Climate protection manager Melanie Fuchs, who gave the market a rather mixed interim report, also took a look into the future. “We still have a lot to do,” said Fuchs, given that renewable energies only accounted for 8.1 percent of total consumption. A two-hectare open-space solar system in Neukirchen, the construction of which the municipal council recently initiated, is intended to provide momentum. According to Fuchs, the entire street lighting system will be converted to LED lamps this year, which will reduce power consumption by almost 70 percent.
Mayor Jan Paeplow also ventured a brief outlook at the end, in which he expressed the hope, among other things, that the ground-breaking ceremony for the new building for the senior citizens’ center on the former Bundeswehr site could work out this year. The head of the town hall was much more cautious when answering a question from the public about how the railway sleeper site would continue. According to Paeplow, there are basic ideas as to how the area could be designed, “but there is still a lot of homework to be done”. However, it is already clear that a mixed development of residential, commercial and local recreation is sought.