The matter was reported to the City Council members by Piotr Roman, president of Bolesławiec. “I sent the county head a letter concerning the condition of Dolne Młyny Street,” he said. The renovation of this road (administered by Bolesławiec County) was demanded, among others, by residents of the street, local entrepreneurs, Ewa Sokolińska, headmistress of Municipal School Complex No. 1 Ewa Sokolińska, and the general director of Bader Polska in Bolesławiec, Grzegorz Menet. Moreover, if the modernization of Dolne Młyny Street went ahead, Bader was considering financing the installation of a new bus shelter on the street.
“In a letter addressed to the County Office on 9 March, we stated that the condition of county roads [ul. Dolne Młyny i Mostowej – przyp. „ii”] was catastrophic and posed a real threat to users, including not only residents but, above all, students of municipal and county schools and employees of Bader Polska, the largest company in Bolesławiec,” the president said during the City Council session. “In a subsequent letter, we declared financial support of PLN 30,000. In reply, Bogdan Gursztyn, secretary of Bolesławiec County, wrote: ‘I kindly inform you that the County Board considered the demand for urgent renovation of Dolne Młyny and Mostowa streets. The County Board does not share the opinion that the roads in question are in a catastrophic condition, especially since their surfaces have been repaired by filling potholes and cracks. Given the current financial situation, the County Board does not plan comprehensive renovations of the aforementioned roads unless the Municipal Municipality provides financial support for their renovation by contributing 50% of the costs of their reconstruction.’”
As Piotr Roman reported during the session, a subsequent letter from the County Office stated that the renovation cost was estimated at approximately PLN 750,000 and that the subsidy proposed by the Municipal Municipality, amounting to 4% of the task’s value, “does not change the County’s financial situation.”
Menet: I am disappointed by the attitude of the local authorities
We asked director Grzegorz Menet for comment. “If 1,000 people travel to work at our plant on Mostowa Street in three shifts, in addition to trucks and vans, the load on both streets is heavy. I hear people saying: getting to you is a nightmare. At around 2 p.m., it is impossible to drive through here. Dolne Młyny is a bottleneck in Bolesławiec; there is not even a good enough road surface for traffic to flow smoothly,” Menet said. “For us, it is also a matter of prestige. Representatives of Audi, Mercedes and BMW come to our plant for audits. They see the road they have to use to reach us, even though just a moment earlier they were driving on an elegant motorway.”
“It seems that the City and the County simply do not care where companies are located or what infrastructure surrounds them,” says the director of Bader Polska. “The problem is probably that certain animosities, a political dispute or a lack of sympathy between the County Office and the City are coming to the fore. But this affects our company’s image and the city’s image. This is such a Polish little hell—an ordinary matter becomes an insurmountable problem.”
As Menet points out, layoffs will be necessary because of the situation. “If we have to relieve this road because the infrastructure in this part of Bolesławiec is inefficient, we will move some jobs to another location. In this case: to Ukraine,” he stresses. And he adds: “Between 50 and 150 people may lose their jobs.”
“I am somewhat disappointed by all this,” Grzegorz Menet adds. “The City and the County are supposed to create suitable infrastructure and a suitable climate for business.”
Chwojnicki: We are open to cooperation, but...
We contacted deputy county head Stanisław Chwojnicki, who is responsible for road-related matters at the County Office. “The County is open to cooperation on renovating Dolne Młyny and Mostowa streets,” says Cezary Przybylski’s deputy. “But only if the city finances 50% of the modernization.”
“It is very important that we have already renovated this road. There are no potholes there anymore, and it does not pose a threat. We spent several tens of thousands of złoty for this purpose,” Chwojnicki stresses. “This year, under a fifty-fifty formula, we are carrying out investments together with Warta Bolesławiecka, the Bolesławiec Rural Municipality, Nowogrodziec and Osiecznica. Previously, the same applied to the Municipal Municipality, with which we renovated Lubańska, Śluzowa, Leśna, Karola Miarki, and Żwirki i Wigury streets. Moreover, Dolne Młyny and Mostowa streets do not even meet the definition of county roads. We are ready to transfer them to the city. Besides, there is also an agreement that municipalities do not co-finance the hospital, but instead co-finance road renovations.
Roman: We have our own responsibilities, and we will carry them out
“There is no such agreement,” Piotr Roman retorts. “It is only an idea of the County Office, which wants to increase the amount of funding available for its roads in this way. I take a different view: more than 40% of the county’s residents live in Bolesławiec, so nearly half of the County’s budget comes from taxes paid by Bolesławiec residents. Residents therefore have the right to expect the County Office to fulfill its responsibilities.”
“I know of many cases of two-way cooperation between municipalities and counties, based on the principle that municipalities help the county and the county helps municipalities,” the president continues. “Meanwhile, we are expected to provide one-sided support. But we have our own responsibilities and must fulfill them. It is worth recalling that we gave PLN 100,000 to the hospital. We wanted the other municipalities in the county to raise the same amount. They raised PLN 30,000. Moreover, if the municipalities increase their support for the county hospital, we will increase ours as well.”
Roman emphasizes that if Dolne Młyny Street were a municipal road, it would have been renovated long ago. “I am not withdrawing the PLN 30,000,” he stresses. “After all, the road can be renovated in stages. I could even take over the county roads, but with the money the County has for them. I know this because I used to be the county head myself.”
We will return to this matter.
(information: ii)