Munnerstadt: city council decides again on the indoor swimming pool

And it goes on: the city council has – as reported – approved the citizens’ petition "preservation of our indoor pool – swimming instead of demolition" rejected as inadmissible. However, now that the representatives of the citizens’ petition have submitted a different justification, the issue will be back on the agenda for the next city council meeting on 11. March 2019 land. There will be decided on the admissibility of the amended text of the citizens’ petition. A motion on the multipurpose hall by axel knauff (SPD) and a question on the city anniversary by rosina eckert will also be dealt with.

At the last meeting, the city council had declared the referendum inadmissible by a narrow majority, because 4.5 million euros in demand funds had been specified in the explanatory memorandum. However, on the part of the government, only 80 percent of this was made available. Shortly afterwards, the friends of the indoor swimming pool presented a different text in which "several million" was mentioned euro demand is the talk. "We will submit the new application to the city council again to get the question of admissibility answered", says the city’s chief executive officer, stefan bierdimpfl, during a press interview.

The city administration has previously inquired at the bayerischer gemeindetag, therefore the city council will also have a resolution recommendation: "from the result we are of the opinion that this time the reasoning fits", according to the head of the company "but there are no signatures for it." so the administration will again recommend that the inadmissibility of the referendum be established. The three representatives of the citizens’ initiative were informed of this on friday.

"If fundamental elements of the grounds for a citizens’ initiative are incorrect, this leads to the inadmissibility of the citizens’ initiative, it is called in a statement of the bavarian municipal day. There is no possibility of a remedy, because the reasoning was the basis for the decision of the citizens on the signing of the citizens’ petition.

The authorization of the representatives of the citizens’ petition could, at the discretion of the municipal council, refer only to a modification of the question, which is considered permissible only within narrow limits. However, it was not the question that was changed, but the reasoning. The administration is recommended to bring the issue to the city council. "From a formal point of view, the application is probably something like a renewed application for the implementation of a citizens’ petition, for which, however, the required signatures are missing", the statement reads.

Mayor helmut blank (CSU) refers once again to the expert opinion of professor ludwig rongen. "A general renovation cost 5.6 million euros", he says. However, the report also mentions price increases of 30 percent due to the construction boom. With a demand of 80 percent and a cost benchmark of 4.5 million euros (corresponding to a demand of 3.6 million euros), the city’s share would ideally be two million euros; with a price increase of 30 percent (total cost: almost 7.3 million euros), the city’s share would be almost 3.7 million euros, because the demand remains at 3.6 million euros. However, the advocates of indoor swimming pools repeatedly referred to the coalition agreement between the CSU and the free voters, in which the demand for swimming pools is anchored. The hope of the bath lovers rests on the fact that there could be much higher demand funds.

At the city council meeting on 11. March, the motion by axel knauff will also be discussed. He asks that before the work on the multipurpose hall is put out to tender, the topic be discussed again in the city council. "Only in this way is it possible to make adjustments if necessary", according to axel knauff. If the city is forced to reduce the scope of the work only after the tender, it would be confronted with avoidable claims from the winners. Axel knauff cites the city’s high level of debt, which the draft budget envisions, as the reason for the renewed discussion.

In the most recent city council meeting, rosina eckert (forum aktiv) had asked the mayor, under the agenda item "inquiries," to give a progress report on the preparations for next year’s celebrations of the 1250th anniversary of the city of munich. With reference to the responsibility of the city manager kilian during, helmut blank rejected this even after rosina eckert had asked about it. Now the topic will be discussed at the meeting on march 11. March.