Welfare and Vitality Committee

The board was informed about area development activities and events. The Sääksjärvi residents' evening in November gathered 60 interested participants to brainstorm ideas for the new market square, library, and service operations. On the cultural side, there is an ongoing elf trail on Kuokkalantie until early January, and the municipality is collecting Lempäälä-themed image and video material for the upcoming anniversary year 2026. Spring groups for sports services will be published in early December and registration begins on December 11th.

The board approved the service plan for 2026, which implements the budget decided by the municipal council for welfare and vitality services. The plan allocates appropriations to different areas of responsibility such as library, culture, sports and youth services, as well as employment services. Key priorities include developing the main library facilities, improving youth facilities in the city center area, expanding sports counseling, and reducing long-term unemployment in cooperation with other municipalities. The service plan also emphasizes climate work, where each service area identifies its own measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The committee approved revisions to employment service appropriations resulting from the supplementary budget approved by the municipal council in November. Kela municipal contribution expenses will increase by 600,000 euros, but payments to the Tampere region employment area will decrease by 350,000 euros. The net effect of the changes is an additional expense of 250,000 euros for employment and integration support services.

The committee approved the agreement for Osake development services, which provides training and development services for staff in daycare centers, schools and high schools in the Tampere city region. The service focuses on three areas: growth and learning, well-being, and leadership. The agreement is valid starting from 1.1.2026 and the service's annual budget is a maximum of 400,000 euros, which is divided among municipalities according to the number of children and young people. The service complements municipalities' own training programs and aims to utilize state development funding as well.

Lempäälä received a 7,000 euro subsidy from the A.R. Winter Memorial Foundation to implement landscape flower fields for summer 2026 in honor of the municipality's 160th anniversary year. The committee decided to distribute the money to farmers as subsidies for cultivating sunflowers and ornamental flowers, which increase biodiversity and improve the landscape. The fields will be implemented so that residents can pick flowers for their own use at separately agreed times.

The committee approved the meeting agenda and decided to handle the matters in the planned order. This is an established procedure at the beginning of each meeting, which ensures that all matters to be addressed are known and sufficient time has been allocated for them.

The Development Director presented current affairs to the committee, which included youth services, youth council matters, employment situation, and the financial and feedback situation of services in November. Youth services were discussed in a joint meeting with the education committee, with several experts present from the youth director to the library director. The committee noted all presented matters without making any specific decisions.

The committee took note of the official decisions from the period 13.11.-3.12.2025 and did not take them up for separate consideration. Official decisions are decisions made by municipal officials that are regularly reported to the committee. This is a standard procedure where the committee monitors the decision-making of officials.