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Only City Councilor Martin Merki (FDP) remains on the VBL Board of Directors. All the others resign, or offer to resign.
“The behavior of the city council disappoints us”: President of the Board of Directors of VBL, Yvonne Hunkeler.
There is an explosion in the subsidy debacle. Three members of the Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern (VBL) board of directors present their resignation: the president and Yvonne Hunkeler (CVP), Silvana Beeler Gehrer and Jon Bisaz. VR Vice President Markus Lötscher will be stepping down for professional reasons. Only Martin Merki (FDP), who sits on the VBL administrative council as a representative of the city council, does not offer to resign. VBL director and CVP cantonal councilor Norbert Schmassmann also offers to resign.
The reason for the wave of resignations is that the relationship with the city and especially with the city council is perceived as broken. Board President Yvonne Hunkeler says:
“The behavior of the city council disappoints us, the trust between the board of directors and the sole shareholder is tense. Therefore, it seems correct to submit our resignations. In this way, it can be discussed together if and under what conditions trust can be restored in the interest of the VBL. “
The city council refused to speak to the board of directors to approve the payment of 16.7 million Swiss francs to the Lucerne transport association (VVL). He also returned an unopened Board of Directors letter on September 15, 2020.
The barrel overflowed with the draft of the external investigation, which the Lucerne City Council commissioned from a Berne law firm. “The city council has refused to this day to inform the VBL about the exact allocation of the investigation,” says the VBL announcement. An extract of the draft report is now available to the Board of Directors.
The envelope remained unopened
“The draft of the report is damaging and one-sided,” said VR President Hunkeler. After the first inspection, those responsible for the VBL had the impression that it was also a matter of legally confirming an alleged lack of VBL. It could not be an independent processing of the facts from a commercial point of view and suggestions for improvement. Furthermore, governance issues are only marginally addressed in the draft report.
Due to “obvious deficiencies” in the investigation report, the Board of Directors delivered to the City Council on September 11, 2020, the partial draft before it and its opinion to the attention of the authors of the report. This with the request for a timely exchange with the city council and in the context that the city council has always communicated that it wants “total transparency and total clarification as well as a viable solution for a good future, the trustful cooperation of all parties involved” . After the VBL informed the municipal finance department in advance by email about this letter, the city council immediately decided to return the unopened envelopes and reject a discussion with the administrative board at the present time.
No end to the subsidy dispute in sight
The wave of resignations at the VBL is the latest chapter in the subsidies debacle: the Federal Office for Transport (FOT) accused the VBL in early March of violating the subsidies law. With the so-called imputed interest, the transport companies unjustifiably received 16.7 million francs in taxpayer money, according to the allegation.
However, the VBL refused to pay the necessary 16.7 million francs to the Lucerne Transport Association (VVL). They took the position that they had acted in good faith; Nor were legal actions ruled out against the donors’ claim for subsidies. The VBL wanted confirmation and “endorsement” from the city council before activating the payment. Apparently, the city council owed him, which is now one of the reasons for the resignations.
The update continues …
