A solution is emerging at the fire station in Attenkirchen. The local council has launched a scaled-down version for a new building.
Attenkirchen
– A new fire station is needed – that has been clear for over 20 years. The old domicile on Schulstrasse is bursting at the seams and no longer meets the requirements of today. To date, however, all efforts to create a reasonable replacement have failed. A planned building on Bachfeld was doomed to failure - despite a fundamental decision and the award of the contract - for cost reasons and because the architect had in the meantime parted ways. There was great anger among the troops about this, as Mayor Mathias Kern noted in retrospect on Monday at the meeting, which took place in the Citizens' Hall due to the great interest.
Specialists brought on board
In the meantime, there has been an in-depth exchange with the fire department and the Deggendorf architect Georg Lorenz, a specialist in the construction of fire stations, has been brought on board. In the presence of the assembled fire department, he presented the committee with a whole range of savings options. This included reducing the size of the planned social wing, which would significantly reduce costs. In total, the elimination list ensures that the originally calculated costs are reduced from 4.6 million euros to 3.1 million euros.
However, the sticking point in the debate turned out to be the planned elimination of the wash bay, with a possible saving of around 260,000 euros. However, Commander Florian Schmitz spoke out clearly against it. After all, not only the vehicles, but also the equipment in particular have to be cleaned after each use because they may be contaminated by smoke. “Everything has to dry so that we can be operational again as quickly as possible,” explained the commander.
Tense budgetary situation - debate about the laundry hall
Lorenz explained that at the beginning he thought the wash bay would be a “nice to have”. But he changed that opinion. And for the reasons mentioned. Kern could also understand the arguments for the wash hall, and he also promoted it. Even if the costs would increase again to 3.3 million euros - “aas is a mandatory task for the municipality, it has to be implemented now,” he made it clear.
This was opposed by an application from the Green Open List (GOL), in which the wash hall was expressly put up for disposal. A position that both GOL local councilors expressly defended. Both Walter Schlott and Thilo Mittag showed understanding for the needs of the fire department, but at the same time they pointed out resentment within the population and the fact that the strained budget situation simply could not accommodate this. Schlott said he had also been approached by independent sources saying that under no circumstances should it become a “fire brigade palace”. Mittag pointed out, “What if I don’t have the money?”
This is what the committee decided
He therefore suggested putting the wash hall on hold and waiting to see whether we could actually afford it. The budget situation also caused Kern concern. However, he referred to reserves amounting to 3.9 million euros and to the fact that a whole series of fees had recently been increased. With “this pound” it is important to approach the matter and see what comes of it.
In the end, the local council agreed to the savings proposals in all points except for the laundry hall. Schlott and Mittag maintained their negative attitude. Your own contribution plays a not insignificant role in the project. According to Kern, it was agreed to make the most of this savings opportunity - not only in terms of the technical potential within the fire department, but also what local companies could possibly contribute. However, this component cannot currently be quantified, as the community leader admitted.