Steffisburg | 1. August 2024
The municipality has allocated 125,000 francs for the renovation of the popular playground. Much of the play equipment is now broken and needs to be replaced. Steffisburg also wants to build a new secondary school center.
Steffisburg has approved money for the playground renovation.Foto: Keystone
The municipality of Steffisburg has approved several loans for various projects, as it wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
150,000 francs are available for the construction of a new upper secondary school center. In January 2024, the municipal council approved an additional credit of 34,000 francs for the preparation of a feasibility study for the realization of a new upper secondary school center on the Schönau school site. The municipal council took note of the results of this feasibility study in February 2024. The next step is to set the agenda for further action and the next planning steps and to set up a steering group to manage the entire project.
The project funding of CHF 150,000 approved by the Steffisburg government is aimed precisely at this and will be used for the tenders and the appointment of an external process manager and client support for the strategic planning phase (definition of needs, solution strategies and project definition). The members of the steering group will be elected by the municipal council after the summer holidays. The composition of the steering group will then be announced publicly.
Playground needs renovation
The Bahnhofstrasse playground is one of the most visited playgrounds in Steffisburg. Since only the carousel has been renewed in the last 15 years, many of the playground equipment is now broken and needs to be replaced. The municipal council has approved a commitment credit of 125,000 francs for their replacement and the redesign of the municipal playground on Bahnhofstrasse.
Loans for ZSO, slow traffic connection and security service
A personnel carrier belonging to the civil protection organisation (ZSO) Steffisburg Zulg needs to be replaced because repairs are no longer cost-effective. The municipal council has approved a commitment credit of CHF 59,400 for this replacement purchase. If the proposed withdrawal from the canton’s replacement contribution fund is approved, the net costs to be borne by the municipality will still amount to around CHF 30,000.
The slow traffic connection in the middle is intended to be an attractive connection for cyclists and pedestrians from Oberdorf to Thun. The planned route will mostly run along local streets or existing paths. The municipal council has approved a commitment credit of 40,000 francs for the preparation of the preliminary project.
In recent weeks and months, despite the presence and inspections of the cantonal police and the security service already in operation, costly acts of vandalism have been discovered on various school premises. Although the municipality consistently files criminal charges in all cases, as the property owner it almost always has to cover the costs because the perpetrators cannot be convicted. Based on this fact, the municipal council has decided to deploy an additional security service at the neuralgic points from July to the end of 2024 as a trial operation. It has approved the corresponding additional credit of 20,000 francs.
Cyber security is also an important part of the IT strategy of the municipality of Steffisburg. The municipal council has therefore approved an annual recurring loan of CHF 17,600 for the purchase of a cyber incident response service (CIRS) and cyber insurance.
