For several weeks, the residents of the city have been watching as street lamps gradually go out. The City Hall wants to explain why this is happening.
Street lighting fixtures in Myszków are mostly installed on electrical poles owned by “ENION” Sp. z o.o. in Myszków and are powered by installations owned by the Company. Therefore, the Municipality of Myszków cannot independently carry out the operation of street lighting on the Company’s assets. The Municipality of Myszków directly operates its own lighting (own installations and poles) with its own employees.
The following street and public lighting are maintained:
– at PCK street,
– at Kwiatkowskiego street,
– at Papieska street,
– at Kościuszki street – section from Kopernika street to the transformer station at Kościuszki street,
– at 11 Listopada street – section from Wyszyńskiego street to Sikorskiego street,
– lighting of the sidewalk in front of the City Hall building in Myszków,
– intersection of Kościuszki, Sikorskiego, Jana Pawła II streets,
– pedestrian crossings along Kościuszki, Sikorskiego, Wolności streets,
– lighting around the monument in the market square in Mrzygłód,
– lighting of the “Victims of Katyn” monument,
– lighting of the parking lot in front of the church in Mrzygłód,
– lighting of the parking lot at the forest park in Mijaczów.
In 2008, the Municipalities applied to the Regional Chamber of Control in Katowice for a response as to whether the financing of the operation of street lighting, which constitutes the property of “ENION”, does not violate the applicable regulations, and in particular the principles of thrift specified in the Act of June 30, 2005 on public finance. The response from the Regional Chamber of Control in Katowice to the Municipality of Kalety stated that “Ordinary maintenance, referred to in Article 3 point 22 of the Energy Law Act, does not constitute a modernization of street lighting installations. However, this provision should be interpreted in connection with the legal status of street lighting installations. In the case of the Municipality of Kalety, this is the property of the company “ENION” Electricity Plant Częstochowa. Therefore, the issue of incurring costs by the municipality related to repairs, bulb replacements, etc. raises serious legal doubts about incurring expenses by the municipality without equivalent consideration from “ENION” S.A., when repairs, bulb replacements, etc. are carried out on the property of the energy plant. Such expenses can be incurred from the municipality’s funds in a situation of equivalent consideration, for example, to pay for the street lighting service provided by the energy plant to the municipality…”
From the above response, the following conclusions can be drawn:
– municipalities cannot finance the modernization of lighting installations that are the property of “ENION” S.A. (including lighting fixtures),
– the conclusion of a contract for the provision of lighting services on the property of “ENION” S.A. is allowed in the event of equivalent consideration. The contract should clearly define the subject of the contract (scope of services) in such a way that it does not include work of a modernizing nature, and the amount of equivalent remuneration should cover specified services.
On October 1, 2008, the City Hall in Myszków received a draft contract from the Distribution District of Myszków for the provision of public lighting services on the public places and roads in the Municipality of Myszków. The previous contract proposal received by the municipality was not based on equivalent remuneration for the activities performed. Aside from the proposed remuneration, which still needed to be negotiated, the contract proposal raised doubts regarding the justification of incurring expenses by the municipality in the following positions:
– exchange of contactors in control systems,
– exchange of astronomical timer for lighting control,
– exchange of damaged lighting fixture components,
– exchange of damaged irons,
– exchange of damaged base fuses and blown fuse inserts on the lighting pole,
– exchange of damaged and blown fuse inserts in the distribution board,
– exchange of power supply wires for lighting fixtures.
These expenses during the inspection by the Regional Chamber of Control in Katowice may be considered inappropriate due to their modernizing nature.
Therefore, on October 14, 2008, the Mayor of Myszków sent a letter to the Regional Chamber of Control in Katowice (annex).
On November 17, a reply was received from the Regional Chamber of Control in Katowice to the City Hall in Myszków regarding the above issue (annex).