Municipal Council

The municipal council received three council initiatives, all of which were sent to the municipal board for preparation. The initiatives concern improving youth employment, expanding the municipality's flag-flying practices to all recommended flag days, and increasing the service bus operating days back to five days per week. The municipal board must process the initiatives within eight months and make the necessary decisions.

The council is presented with proposed changes to the general principles of environmental protection fees, so that the municipality could in the future collect fees also for processing exemption applications under the water services act. This concerns situations where a property owner applies for exemption from the obligation to connect to water utility networks such as water supply or wastewater sewerage. The legislation was changed in December 2025, and now a council decision on the general principles of fees is needed before a detailed tariff can be approved. The fees would be based on the municipality's actual own costs for processing the applications.

The municipal council is proposed to approve the Lempäälä wellbeing programme for 2026-2029, which will guide the municipality's work in promoting wellbeing, health and participation. The programme focuses particularly on meaningful everyday life, a safe environment and health-promoting lifestyles, and it has been developed to respond to the wellbeing challenges of Lempäälä residents such as inequality, loneliness and mental health problems. Residents have participated in the preparation of the programme through surveys and workshops, as well as the municipality's various bodies. The programme also serves as the municipality's statutory wellbeing plan and brings together previously separate wellbeing-related plans.

The Senior and Disability Council has submitted a council initiative proposing to move the Community House operations from Hakkari Manor to become part of Lempäälä House. The matter has gone through preparation, and now a response to the initiative is being presented to the municipal council. The current premises of the Community House at Hakkari Manor have been criticized for issues including functionality, accessibility and lack of barrier-free access, which is why the utilization rate of the premises has decreased significantly. The council will be informed of the municipal officials' view on whether the meeting place for associations should be moved to the vicinity of Lempäälä House for better accessibility and functionality.

The council is proposed to decide on a response to the council initiative by Lempäälä Greens, which proposes halving the municipality's consumption and procurement of animal products by 2030. The Education Committee has prepared a response describing actions already implemented: schools have increased vegetarian meal days and daycare centers have reduced the use of cold cuts and cheeses. The response states that the consumption of vegetarian food has been limited and changes are being made in a controlled manner while listening to customers. An official response is given to the initiative, but a broader plan to halve animal products is not proposed.

The municipality of Lempäälä presents for notable information the zoning review for 2026, which must be prepared annually according to law. The review briefly describes all ongoing and soon-to-be-initiated significant zoning matters of the municipality and regional council, as well as their processing stages. The zoning review has been made available for public inspection for 30 days on the municipality's website and at the Service Corridor of Lempäälä House, and it will remain available to residents after this period as well.

The municipal council is proposed to approve Lempäälä municipality's advocacy plan for the years 2026-2029. The plan defines how the municipality will influence decision-making at the state, regional and other levels to advance Lempäälä's interests. Advocacy focuses on four themes: southern urban region transport projects (such as the realignment of Highway 3), employment and vitality, welfare and health, and legislation and funding. The goal is to bring more welfare and vitality to Lempäälä by influencing projects that are not directly under municipal decision-making authority.

The Welfare and Vitality Committee proposes a response to the council regarding the council initiative on investigating early youth work resources. The investigation shows that Lempäälä currently has 11.5 person-years of youth work staff and youth facilities in three different areas, which primarily serve young people aged 12-20. Participant numbers from 2025 totaled over 28,000 visits to various youth facilities and schools. According to the response, 10-12 year olds are an age group that does not belong to the actual target group for youth work, but developing activities for this age group is proposed to be investigated.

The municipal executive board proposes that the council motion on reducing ultra-processed food in daycare centers and schools be referred to the education board for preparation. The motion proposes measures to reduce industrially manufactured, high-salt and high-sugar foods from children's meal services. The preparation will address how ultra-processed food products could be replaced with less processed alternatives in the food offerings of schools and daycare centers. The matter will be prepared by the food service manager together with the education department.