Renovation in Meßstetten: Is the authorities' move really coming?

Renovation in Meßstetten: Is the authorities' move really coming?

Something is happening in Meßstetten - the district office is planning to renovate and convert the former Bundeswehr site administration. The aim is to attract new private investors for the Intermunicipal Industrial and Commercial Park (IIGP) at Geißbühl. The extensive plans for Building 48 seem to be a timid beginning. Loud Black Forest messenger The district has great ambitions, but the locals are skeptical.

The former employees from Balingen are particularly dissatisfied with the new location. Many find it too remote and lost. Mayor Frank Schroft has made it clear that the Meßstetter branch of the district administration is not at issue and that Building 48 is considered to be functionally and structurally state-of-the-art.

Multiple uses

Building 48 currently houses several important authorities, including the forestry office, the “Intermunicipal Industrial and Commercial Park Zollernalb” and parts of the district archive. The district council decided to purchase the property in March 2020 in order to revitalize the former barracks area for new purposes, explains Swabian newspaper. However, the future use of the building is not considered permanent.

With the district office's centralization strategy, which aims to reduce authority locations, the topic is very topical at the moment. However, a return of the administrative offices to Balingen - which was hinted at by District Administrator Günther-Martin Pauli in the past - remains vague. The offices in Balingen are to be reduced from the original nine to a maximum of four, in Hechingen from four to two and in Albstadt from seven to three locations. Such a far-reaching centralization strategy is expected to take several years, with a horizon extending into the 2030s, as the Schwarzwälder Bote reports.

Future questions

While the relocation of the forestry office from Balingen to Meßstetten proved to be unpopular internally, there was no official information about the district office's future plans. According to spokesman Steffen Maier, there is no fixed move-out date and the centralization strategy has not yet been decided by the district council committees. It remains to be seen what the future of the location will be.

Germany plays a pioneering role in promoting decentralization processes. These make a profound change in the structure of the state necessary, with tasks and financial resources having to be redistributed, as on the side of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is to be read. It remains exciting to see how these developments will affect the administration in Meßstetten, Balingen and beyond.