After decades of commitment to Steyr, two influential faces of the city left local politics last autumn: former mayor Gerald Hackl had steered the fortunes of Steyr as city manager for more than twelve years, Gunter Mayrhofer was a member of the city senate for 24 years, six of them as a Vice Mayor. The two former city politicians were honored for their work on Thursday evening in the ballroom of Steyr’s town hall.
With his appointment as an honorary citizen, Hackl received the highest honor in the city, and he was also awarded the Golden Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria. He was one of the longest-serving mayors of Steyr since 1945. “Gerald Hackl managed the city with a great sense of responsibility and a feeling for the people. Among other things, the great tradition of Steyr as a school town was maintained and further developed in his era,” said Governor Thomas Stelzer in his laudatory speech. Hackl’s tenure included the construction of the new Reithoffer office building, the completion of the third major phase of flood protection measures, the construction of the Resthof elementary school, the construction of the Tabor/Posthof junction, and the construction of new old people’s and nursing homes on the Ennsleite and on the Tabor, assisted living on the Ennsleite, the Tabor canal project, the construction of the Dukartstraße garage and the footbridge over the Enns, the construction of the new technical college building, the not uncontroversial redesign of the town square with a promenade, the overall revitalization of the Innerberger Stadel and the construction of the panorama lift to the Tabor.
Mayrhofer, who has been a member of the municipal council since October 30, 1997, received the Steyr Ring of Honor, the city’s second-highest award. “Mayrhofer has made a significant contribution to the success of many large-scale projects that will have a lasting positive impact on the city over a long period of time,” said Markus Vogl, head of the city. These large-scale projects include the construction of the northern clasp and the new construction of the Rederbrücke, the construction of the discharge channel in the Unterhimmler Au, the general renovation of the central sewage treatment plant in Steyr and the renovation of the Innerberger barn. Gunter Mayrhofer also made a decisive contribution to the 2021 state exhibition coming to Steyr. However, he was recently criticized for the controversial purchase of the Schimanko collection and the so-called Guardians of Time.
Source: Nachrichten
