Civil protection: City management facilities in the event of disasters

The administrative staff using the example of the pandemic

The public health department played a key role in the pandemic because the Infection Protection Act gave it far-reaching powers and decision-making authority. The public health department drew up its own action plan for the city for highly contagious diseases. It summarises the measures to be taken. This plan is updated annually. It is important that recommendations can be made regarding the behaviour of citizens. For example, the public health department can issue quarantine notices and give recommendations on how to deal with public offices, school facilities and daycare centres. But also on how to deal with people who have died as a result of the virus. The health department also reported the number of cases in Chemnitz to the Saxon Ministry of Social Affairs.

Fire brigade: The fire brigade is the "manager" behind the staff. In the so-called staff coordination group (KGS - sometimes also referred to as the "small staff"), it prepares the staff meetings almost around the clock, takes care of technology, infrastructure and catering and solves minor and major problems relating to the "situation". It also documents the decisions and determinations of the committee.

Other municipal offices in the "pandemic team":

• Youth Welfare Office: to clarify all issues relating to childcare. Daycare centres, after-school care, but also the care of children from difficult backgrounds were important here.
• Social welfare office: Help of all kinds had to function even when a large part of the city administration was temporarily closed. The office also maintained contact with nursing and care facilities for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
• Public order office: The public order service monitored and controlled (in coordination with the police) compliance with the general order of the Free State of Saxony, for example whether restaurants and shops were actually closed - and whether large gatherings of people were to be found in public. And very importantly: in cases of doubt, offences were punished and fines imposed.
• Main Office and IT Office: The two offices ensured that sufficient city administration staff were on duty - and that colleagues were able to work from home to minimise the risk of infection among themselves.
• Press office: The press office ensured that citizens and media representatives were kept informed. This was done via the municipal website www.chemnitz.de, the weekly official gazette, social media and press releases.
• Citizens' service: The citizens' hotline of the Citizens' Office dealt with all concerns of citizens who contacted the city via the standardised public authority telephone number 115 or the information hotline of the Health Department.

Other partners and facilities:

• Chemnitz Hospital: Here,bed capacities had to be planned in advance in order to be able to care for increasing numbers of patients. The two other hospitals in Chemnitz, the DRK hospital in Rabenstein and the Bethanien-Kliniken am Zeißigwald, were also involved in this planning. The rescue association was also represented on the team to plan the deployment of ambulances.
• CWE: This is where the threads for counselling companies and the self-employed who were affected by the closure of public life and needed help came together. The CWE worked together with the employment agency, the job centre, the Chemnitz Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Chemnitz Chamber of Crafts, among others.
• eins energie: Electricity, drinking water and district heating must be available at all times. The city's energy supplier made sure of this and took precautions to ensure that operations ran smoothly.
• Police: Officers from the police department worked closely with the public order office and co-ordinated the controls associated with the general decree issued by the Free State.

Topics for the staff

The Administrative Staff and the Coordination Group (KGS) have dealt with these topics, among others, in recent years:

Floods (administrative staff):

Many people in Chemnitz still remember the three flood events. At that time, the professional fire brigade, the volunteer fire brigades, the technical relief organisation, the German Armed Forces, the municipal utilities and many more were deployed. After the water had drained away, the staff coordinated the clean-up work and relief measures.

Bomb evacuations (KGS):

It happens again and again - bombs from the Second World War are found during excavation work. They can usually be defused on site.