Councilors in the Tivat Municipal Assembly (MA) today concluded the 21st regular session of the local parliament in just over three hours of discussion, which has been postponed twice so far due to a lack of quorum, as the ruling coalition lacked its councilors, and opposition councilors did not arrive at the previously scheduled times for this session.
After a lengthy discussion, the Municipal Assembly, by majority vote, adopted the Work Program of the Tivat Tourist Organization with a financial plan for 2025 of "heavy" 1,015 million euros.
The discussion was marked by the claim of the director of the Tivat TO, Nina Lakičević (Pokret Evropa Sad - PES), that she literally has no one to work with in that local municipal company because, as she said, most of the employees there deliberately avoid work obligations in various ways and sabotage her in her efforts to lead the TO and achieve the best possible results.
"In relation to the staff you left in the Tivat Tourist Board and what happened to me there with them, what we are doing and achieving is the absolute maximum. Because of what you did in 2018 with the concerts at Pini, we are now facing another lawsuit from PAM and a compensation claim of 300.000 euros for unpaid copyrights of the music authors," Lakičević said to Liberal Party (LP) councilor Vatroslav Belan, who fiercely criticized the Tivat Tourist Board's Work Plan and Program for 2025, comparing it to "a seminar paper by a tourism student."
"Our overall profit in the pre-season is falling because we depend on weather conditions because we do not have a well-designed tourism product that would attract guests despite bad weather. You have not given a concrete answer as to what and how you intend to take to respond to the challenges that global and regional political challenges and instability pose for the tourism industry of Tivat, or the extensive infrastructure works that have a negative impact on the course of the season and the impressions that guests take away from here. The sentence in this document that 'at the time of writing this Program, we do not know which tourism fairs you will attend for sure or during 2025' shows that you are planning poorly and that you do not even know what our key source markets are. This sentence shows that it is too late for us to adequately promote the next season in 2026," Belan pointed out.
To this, the Mayor of the Municipality and President of the Assembly of the Tivat TO Željko Komnenović (The People Win) replied that he was not paying attention to important things – data from the Work Program and Financial Plan which show a permanent increase in the revenue of the Tivat TO, i.e. an increase in tourist visits.
"This season, according to all announcements and confirmations from tourism workers, airports and other participants in the tourism industry chain, will be successful and, in terms of results, even better than the previously record-breaking 2019," said Komnenović.
Igor Petković (Social Democrats - SD) expressed suspicion of possible corrupt practices during the procurement and installation of a multimedia info-totem in front of the Tivat TO premises, which was delayed compared to the agreed deadline, emphasizing that the data he collected indicated possible "shady dealings" and that "the job was being arranged for the company of a man close to the Democrats."
Lakičević and Komnenović rejected his claims.
The TO director admitted that the delivery of the totem pole was delayed compared to the agreed deadline, but as she says, this was compensated for by an adequate discount on the payment for the software that the device uses, while Komnenović told the SD councilor that "in the case of your government, Mr. Petković, nothing was clear and that is why we are in power today and you are in opposition."
Dubravka Nikčević (Democratic Party of Socialists - DPS), who was the long-time director of the Tivat TO, criticized Lakičević for the assessments that the current director made about the employees of that company, pointing out that "it is not nice to say about the people around you that they are not good staff" and that "a successful director can only be one who has a good team of associates."
Lakičević replied that this was true "in the case when a person can build their own team", and not when they succeed cadres who had previously joined the TO along political lines.
Her views were supported by councilors from the ruling coalition, criticizing the attitude of some TO employees towards the responsibilities delegated to them by the director.
Tonći Janović (PES) said that the authorities should investigate the validity of the frequent sick leave taken by some TO workers.
"TO employees take sick leave in the middle of the season when that organization has the most work, and then you can meet them in Kotor and Budva in the roles of tourist guides, leading groups of tourists there for their own personal account. This is a serious violation of work duties, and in any private company, this kind of attitude towards work and work obligations is unacceptable and punishable by immediate dismissal," said Janović, adding that this will have to start being implemented in the Tivat TO as well, "with all the risk of unfounded accusations that it is allegedly about political revenge."
The councilors also adopted by majority vote the Annual Program for Performing Utility Services of DOO "Parking Servis" Tivat with the financial plan for 2025.
This municipal company expects to generate total revenues of 2025 euros in 887.200 and continue to operate positively.
Director Snežana Vukosavović-Novosel said that preliminary data indicate that "Parking Servis" ended the business year 2024 with a profit of around 140.000 euros before taxes.
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