“Our new regulation, which is strange according to the proposals of the Government representative, in my opinion, still needs to be amended in many places and does not comply with the current legislation, there are things related to the management of companies, where I, as an executive authority, cannot even comply with it, because I would violate the law” , – the mayor of the Vilnius district municipality told BNS on Thursday.
According to him, positions of political trust should be enshrined in the Law on Local Self-Government or this provision should be deleted from the council’s regulation.
“In my opinion, either we legitimize positions of political trust in the law (…) and then all municipalities can use that right, or we should abandon that description, but not establish some proportions in the regulation.” Because the head of the institution approves the structure and number of employees, and he is the director of administration appointed by me,” said R. Duchnevičius.
“I don’t know why STT’s proposals were not fully accepted right now. Because if that preventive analysis is carried out, there is no need to accept now and then argue with the services. But this is the competence of the council, and the initiators or the head of the working group should answer why exactly such proposals were not listened to,” he added.
As the mayor’s advisor Kęstutis Butvydas clarified to BNS, on January 18 of this year, R. Duchnevičius applied to STT with a draft regulation of the council’s activities “because it was seen that it does not comply with legal acts”.
A week following the conclusions and recommendations received by the STT, the council approved the updated operational regulations.
“Then, on March 4, the mayor informed the STT regarding what was taken into account and what was not. On March 14, STT wrote a letter to the mayor and the representative of the Government. That information is made public”, said K. Butvydas.
STT announced on Thursday that in the regulation of the Vilnius District Council, which was changed at the end of February, the positions not provided for in the Law on Local Self-Government – faction referents working under employment contracts: from half to five positions depending on the size of the faction. There is also an additional payment of up to 20 euros for phone conversations with committee chairpersons.
“Such a situation can be assessed as flawed both from the point of view of anti-corruption and the rationality and legality of the use of municipal funds, it shows the lax attitude of the Vilnius District Municipal Council towards transparency and the formation of an anti-corruption environment in the municipality,” said STT.
According to STT, the changes to the regulation of the council’s activities, which are not compatible with the law, were adopted and entered into force on February 24 of this year, except for the payment of representational expenses.
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2024-04-03 13:54:56
