Wiler parliament wants to check locations of the administration

At the meeting on Thursday evening, the Wiler city parliament endorsed the development of an urban real estate and location strategy. Among other things, it should be checked whether the entire administration could be merged at one location.

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The administration is divided into five departments and as many locations. Two are located on Marktgasse in the old town, one each in Bronschhofen, on Poststrasse and on Speerstrasse.

Adjustments have to be made to the buildings again and again. The city parliament decides on the corresponding loans. The Business Audit Commission (GPK) complains that there is no basis for such decisions. The reason for this is that there is no urban real estate and location strategy.

Make the city council responsible

The GPK has therefore submitted a proposal calling on the city council to do just that. GPK President Luc Kauf (Green Prowil) justified the postulate at the session of the city parliament: “We want the city council to be responsible for developing a strategy.” I am pleased to note that the city council does not consider today’s solution with five locations to be ideal either.

The rental solutions in particular – because not all locations are owned by the city – are relatively expensive. Therefore, the GPK asks the city council to examine whether it would make sense to merge several or even all departments. The move received a lot of approval in parliament.

EPP city parliamentarian Roman Rutz said: “A strategy is urgently needed.” Otherwise, the city council would – as before – apply for loans to make changes to properties at relatively short notice and without looking at the whole.

The FDP and SVP also recognized the need for an overall strategy, but the FDP was critical of the fact that external experts had to be commissioned to develop it. The parliamentary group therefore rejected a majority of the loan of 40,000 francs.

The city council also considers the development of a location strategy to be useful, as the responsible city councilor Daniel Stutz explained. The locations have grown historically.

“An overall view offers considerable potential.”

One must be clear about the requirements of the future administration premises. Digitization and home office would have to be taken into account. The most important thing is to meet the citizens’ expectations of a modern administration.

The postulate was finally declared significantly in the final vote with 36 yes to a no. The credit for 40,000 francs was also clearly approved.

Use of wood as a step in the right direction

The postulate of Sebastian Koller (Green Prowil) regarding the increased use of wood as construction and fuel was also dealt with. The forest alone cannot meet the need for a sustainable supply of raw materials, but it can make an important contribution to it.

“If we as parliament take the declared climate emergency seriously, we must use all means to achieve these goals.”

Specifically, Koller wants the city to examine whether wood-fired power stations could be used to supply heat. This is a possible alternative to district heating by the Bazenheid waste disposal association.

Daniel Stutz said that the city council had already focused on the use of wood as construction and fuel. He therefore takes note of the postulate with pleasure and recommends the declaration of relevance. Koller’s move was also heard by the other parliamentary groups.

Silvia Ammann, parliamentary group leader of the SP, said: “Even if this is only a small step, the climate emergency only needs to be followed by concrete measures.”

Christoph Hürsch (CVP) and Daniel Gerber (FDP) also saw the move as a good approach. Only the SVP opposed the postulate, since the topic had to be dealt with regionally or cantonally and not only in Wil, as city parliamentarian Ursula Egli explained.

The postulate was finally declared to be significant with 25 yes to 11 no votes.

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