Great Warsteiner Carnival Society Takes on Caretaker Role for Center for Integration and Sport (ZIS)

The Center for Integration and Sport (ZIS) was opened a few months ago, and the Great Warsteiner Carnival Society is one of the main users. Therefore, the carnivalists are now the “caretaker”.

Warstein – 1.3 million euros were invested in the Center for Integration and Sport (ZIS). Now the conversion of the dilapidated Pankratius gymnasium, which is 90 percent funded, has to be put to multifunctional use. The Great Warsteiner Carnival Society (GWK) will be responsible for this, and the Committee for Education, Sport and Social Affairs approved a corresponding “Usage Agreement for the Meeting Rooms” and “caretaker and coordination tasks”. Finally, the Council must be OK on June 19th give.

“It’s a great building,” said committee chairman Heiner Maas during the tour of the town hall before the actual meeting. When furnishing the two meeting rooms, one of which also includes a kitchen, great importance was attached to flexibility, as department manager Beate Eickhoff explained. “The same chairs and the same tables”, the latter are also handy and can easily be carried by two people. A “classic blackboard” hangs on the wall, which, according to experience, is more durable than a whiteboard. The access points, i.e. the gateways for the wireless network and the Internet access, have also already been installed, but have not yet been activated. In the back room is a simple kitchen “with basic equipment” – sink, hob, fridge – integrated. Heiner Maas was also impressed by the fact that users have two rooms at their disposal, as this makes it easy to split up into two working groups, for example.

Large Warsteiner carnival society coordinates use

The combination of gymnasium and seminar rooms makes the ZIS also ideal for further training in the field of sports, emphasized the head of the civil services department, Josef Pieper: “Here you can do everything together under one roof – theory upstairs, practice downstairs.” The building is also centrally located and has parking spaces in front of the door and is also easy to reach on foot and via public transport.

Which clubs and groups will soon be using these premises on the first floor – also suitable for wheelchair users thanks to an elevator – is to be coordinated by the GWK – formally from July 1st. Important: due to the funding and the intended purpose (“strengthening of social integration and social cohesion”) private use is excluded, according to Josef Pieper. Similar to the climate daycare center in Hirschberg, the carnivalists found an association that takes care of “care and administration”. “Things are going well in Hirschberg,” says the head of department: “What works in Hirschberg will certainly also work in Warstein.” There is a reason why GWK was chosen: “They are one of the main users with the Garden.” However, the halls are still occupied by the city sports association and the city of Warstein, as Beate Eickhoff explained during the inspection.

Use will be free for the GWK in the future, and the association will not be charged a flat rate for additional costs: “Instead, the GWK will take on certain coordination and caretaker tasks,” says the agreement. The GWK may charge users a flat rate for additional costs “to cover their own expenses”. However, the city and its institutions may use the rooms free of charge. The GWK not only takes care of appointment management with an electronic calendar, but also prepares the rooms and checks them after use, checks compliance with the house rules and informs the city about damage and defects in the building. In accordance with the earmarking period of the funding, a term of 20 years with the option of termination every six months has been agreed.

Approval for integration courses

In the future, integration courses will also take place in the Center for Integration and Sport (ZIS), as department head Josef Pieper explained on Tuesday evening in the Committee for Education, Sport and Social Affairs. The day before, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) had given its approval to move two courses – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – from the adult education center rooms in the Liobaschule building to the ZIS. After the summer holidays, the courses should start there. Recently there have been repeated complaints from the school and parents because the rooms of the adult education center and the school are not structurally separated from each other. “That doesn’t solve all the problems,” says Pieper, but it is a first step.