The continuation of the 20th session of the Municipal Assembly (SO) of Kolašin showed numerous disagreements in the ruling coalition, which consists of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Group of Voters (GB) and the Social Democrats (SD). The session was postponed on May 10 due to the lack of a quorum, and the conditions for its continuation were not met until Monday.
The report on the work of the President of the Municipality, local government bodies and services for the year 2020, apart from being the target of sharp criticism from the opposition councilors of the Democrats and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was not to the liking of the President of the Municipal Council Milan Đukić (GB).
He particularly criticized the work of the Secretariat for Spatial Planning, Communal Affairs and Traffic.
The secretary of that secretariat, Ljiljana Rakoćević and Đukić, continued the "war" that they have been waging with announcements in the media for the past few days. The president of the SO, however, praised the work of the chief administrator and "most of the employees of the Secretariat for Finance".
"We have a classic non-compliance with regulations from communal activities and a complete lack of control over communal order, as well as non-control and non-implementation of what was agreed upon in the coalition. The consumption of funds from the capital budget in certain parts has no legal basis. There is no documentation on professional supervision for the execution of works on individual roads, it was done "from the hill to the valley". I regret that last year, trusting the President of the Municipality, I agreed to vote for the Spatial Planning Program, which was "drawn". "We verified what the executive authorities did on the ground by raising our hands, and I will never do that again," Đukić announced.
Đukić said that the Deputy President of the Municipality Danilo Medenica (SD) no longer has the legitimacy to perform that function because two councilors of that party left the ruling Kolašin coalition.
The member of the Democrats Vladmir Martinović said that he is convinced that the President of the Municipality Milosav Bulatović "neither wrote nor read the report on his work". Martinović said of the two vice-presidents of the Municipality that they are "political ficuses", because, as he explained, "since the local government was constituted, they have no competence".
He asked Bulatović to explain how he solved the housing issues of the citizens who, as the report says, approached him with those problems. Martinović reminded that there was no competition for the division of housing units. The Democrat councilor claims that some citizens use apartments "on the basis of the president's oral approval".
He also asked when the Day Care Center for the elderly would be opened, the start of which had been announced a long time ago. SDP councilor Željka Vuksanović also had numerous remarks on the president's work report.
Representatives of the executive branch rejected the report's criticisms and said that many of the claims were unfounded.
Rakočević said that Đukić "exerted undue pressure that the executive power violates the regulations adopted by the SO". She claims that she worked according to the law and regulations. The secretary also explained why the construction of sports infrastructure for MOSI is delayed.
As she said, during her mandate, the DUP Sports Zone was adopted, which created assumptions that something would be done at that location.
"The accumulated problems from before cannot be solved in a year, two or three... We are doing everything we can. As for traffic, we have chaos, and we will have it only when the highway and the regional road to Berane are opened. Our roads were not built according to DUP. The DUPs were not brought to their intended purpose...It is an inherited situation," she explained.
Đukić conditioned the vote for the Report on the work of the President of the Municipality by adding the conclusion "that satisfactory results have not been achieved in the area of urban planning, communal affairs and traffic". That conclusion, which was accepted by the ruling majority, also predicted that Bulatović would establish responsibility for the unsatisfactory situation in those areas.
The Democrats, the SDP, and Đukić also had objections to the Final Account of the budget for last year.
However, Finance Secretary Dragan Bulatović claims that, "despite all the challenges and the crisis caused by the pandemic, the local administration managed to maintain and improve the stability of local public finances".
"On the revenue side, the budget was achieved in the amount of 4 million euros or 5 percent of the planned amount. On the expenditure side, the execution of the budget is 99 million euros or 41 percent of the plan. The municipality settles all its obligations towards employees, suppliers, political entities, the state, business companies... We regularly pay off the inherited debt with interest as well as the reprogrammed tax debt. "We did not deny funds to budget users, but supported them with higher amounts than in the previous year," claims Bulatović.
SDP member Bojan Zeković said that Bulatović "as president of the Municipality is a bad host". He criticized, as he claims, the high public spending, which is "ill-intentioned towards Kolašin".
"Everything that Kolašin has developed is not thanks to your actions. Some investor didn't come because you created a perfect environment, you didn't solve the city urbanistically. The infrastructure is not provided...", he said, among other things.
The President of the Municipality claims that the previous local government did not contribute to the development of Kolašin.
"Whatever you say, you spent part of your time trying to extract documentation that should have been dealt with by other authorities. We didn't deal with that. Our conscience does not bite us for everything we did and did. We essentially moved things and made them better than we found them," said the President of the Municipality.
Maritnović asked the representatives of the executive authorities why almost 58.000 euros were spent on the work contracts, instead of the planned 33.000 euros. He was also interested in who was involved in those contracts, as well as how 10.000 euros were spent for a local radio station that had not yet started working.
He questioned the fact that "in the year of the crisis, the increase in expenses for representation and fuel in the president's cabinet is 100 percent".
According to Đukić, the Final Budget Account for last year "says a lot about local government".
"There are people in the local government who do nothing. Some work a lot, some don't do their jobs... Money from the capital budget was spent on impermissible activities, which are strictly partisan. I mean, for example, the asphalting of village roads by activists. I will not share the responsibility for that. What was done around the radio is inadmissible," Djukic said.
However, he praised "increased support for sports, culture and agriculture".
Proposal for a program of measures to mitigate the economic consequences of the crisis due to the corona virus was adopted
The proposal of the program, which was adopted by the defenders today, provides for a 50 percent reduction in the rent payment for all those who lease space in municipal ownership, as well as the obligation to pay the local communal tax for the installation of catering terraces. By this amount, there will be a reduction in communal fees for the installation of temporary facilities that can be moved from one place to another, the use of billboards and billboards on facilities and public areas belonging to the municipality. As explained by the local administration, this does not apply to billboards and billboards placed next to highways and regional roads.
According to the new measures, the obligation to pay membership fees to the Tourist Organization will be reduced by 30 percent. An identical reduction was proposed for fees for the use of commercial facilities, which have access from the municipal road. Also, the Proposed program of measures contains a provision according to which funds from the budget reserve can be used to help individuals, associations and vulnerable groups.
The initiative to the executive power for the program of measures was sent a few months ago by the Democrats club in Obonice.
At the two-day session of the SO, decisions on fees for communal equipment of construction land and urban rehabilitation were also adopted. Then, decisions on the adoption of the Employment Strategy, on the determination of acoustic zones on the territory of the Municipality of Kolašin, the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan...
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