The session of the Municipal Assembly (SO) of Pljevlja was interrupted today, after four hours of work, due to the lack of quorum, and its continuation will be determined later.
The session was interrupted after a break given by the president of the local parliament, Jovana Tošić, after the two councilors of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Haris Alavać and Saša Ječmenica, used their time allotted for discussion to remain silent behind the speaker of the parliament as a sign of protest.
The two decided to take that step after they were not given a longer break at 14 p.m., which, according to the Rules of Procedure, is provided for after four hours of continuous work.
After a 15-minute break given by the President of the Assembly, only 11 out of 34 councilors, as many as there are in the local parliament, appeared in the hall, including Ječmenica, who was caught silent at the lectern by the break.
"Out of 34 councilors, 11 councilors attend the session, so the Assembly cannot continue with its work and make valid decisions. I would ask the heads of councilor clubs to meet and agree on the continuation of the session," said Tošić.
Ječmenica said that the problem arose because the parliamentary majority voted for the proposal of the councilor of the Movement for Pljevlja Božidar Bajić, contrary to the imperative legal norm contained in the Rulebook on the work of the Municipal Council of Pljevlja.
"They tried to carry out legal violence and we decided to defend ourselves with silence. We wanted to remain silent as a sign of protest against the overall events, and it is not the first time that councilor Bajić has proposed something that is against the rules of procedure. We also have a problem keeping the councilors of the parliamentary majority. Now you see the citizens for whom you voted. This did not happen and this is a precedent in modern Montenegrin history and parliamentarism," Ječmenica said.
His party colleague Haris Alavać, before he used the first ten minutes to speak according to the Rules of Procedure, to remain silent behind the lectern of the Parliament, said that this was a form of struggle against the political violence that Bajić is carrying out in the Parliament.
"I will use the next ten minutes to remain silent because he called for a violation of the Rules of Procedure of this Parliament, which governs the way and how things are done in the Parliament. So I will use the right to remain silent here for the next ten minutes," Alavać said.
About forty seconds before the end of the ten minutes, he broke his silence and called on the councilors to call the President of the Assembly to take a break "so that they can fulfill their needs and not listen to Mr. Bajić because of politicking and other legal violence".
"That's why I invite you to vote in all the following points so that I and my colleagues do not address each other in the same way, because we are forced to fight in this Gandhian way because you are violating the rules of procedure and against violence in politics," said Alavać.
The President of the Assembly said that in this way Alavać showed disrespect towards the citizens and that he violated the Rules of Procedure because he did not speak about the item on the agenda.
After that, Ječmenica came to the rostrum and said that for the same reason he would be silent for ten minutes at the rostrum.
The president warned him that he was violating the Rules of Procedure, and after Ječmenica asked which article he was violating, she took a 15-minute break.
Before the break, the councilors adopted the report on the work of the municipal company "Grijanje", which manages the city's heating plant in the city center.
The director of the company, Vlade Tošić, said that they ended last year with a loss, in the amount of 31.019 euros. He said that almost 50 percent of all employees are made up of administration.
The company has 33 permanent employees, 16 of whom work in administration and 17 in production.
"Analyzing the business, we come to the conclusion that the company is over-indebted. In July and August, there was a change of management in the company. It was also noted that the previous management did everything to bring the company to an unenviable position," states Tošić in the report.
Employment in the administration, non-payment of coal, taxes and contributions, and refusal of jobs offered by the Municipality as the founder of the company, are just some of the reasons that brought the company to an unenviable situation.
In "Grijanja" they believe that the current prices of heating services should be increased.
The current heating price for residential premises is EUR 0,60 per square meter, and EUR 1,92 per square meter for business premises without VAT.
Last year, the company earned 446.888 euros from charging for heating services, which is almost 90 percent of all revenues generated last year.
"The current prices of the heating service, which have not changed for 12 years despite the evident inflation, the increase in the price of coal and the cost of living, should be corrected in accordance with the total price changes, in order to cover the total costs of business," Tošić states in the report.
From the boiler room in Skerlićeva, the company heats 397 apartments and 72 business premises in the city center with a total area of 33.654 square meters. About 1.800 tons of coal are burned annually in the boiler room.
The assembly also adopted the report on the work of the utility company, the local museum and the sports and recreation center with the votes of the majority of councilors.
At the moment when the session was interrupted, the report on the work of the Day Center in Pljevlje was on the agenda.
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