At this week's session of the bar assembly, where the Decision on working hours was also discussed, councilors from different parties expressed their dissatisfaction with the loud music from the bar, while the Democratic councilor proposed a reduction in working hours.
The secretary of the Secretariat for the Economy, Marina Trceta, said that the working group made a proposal for the decision because in the previous period there were many complaints from citizens and businessmen concerning the members of the previous provision.
"The conditions for acquiring the right to extended working hours have been tightened, we have increased the penal provisions, in the section of the newspaper there is a compensation that will be determined by the decision of the mayor of the municipality, which will be calculated for extended working hours", said Trceta.
Member of Democratic Montenegro Valentina Minic said that the noise from catering facilities is the biggest problem for citizens, because most of them live in residential buildings where cafes operate.
Minic added that this decision is necessary for Bar, and that they received the most important suggestions at the public hearing, from citizens, building tenants and representatives of the Association of Bar Paraplegics.
"In this decision, I understood that bars within the building can work until one in the evening in the summer time, and until 24 hours in the winter time. I think that is really unacceptable. Just consider how it would be for you to live in a building and if there was a cafe under your apartment that could work until one o'clock in the evening," she said.
For this reason, she thinks, the time should be limited to 23 hours in the winter and 24 hours in the summer, to find a compromise solution with the tenants of the buildings.
Minic said that for two years the tenants of the buildings in a street in Bar have been contacting her because they could not solve the problem in communication with the municipal police, and that they explained to her that they were suffering agony because of the noise. Most buildings, as she stated, do not have sound insulation or noise limiters.
Milena Božović from the Biram Bar party agrees with her, saying that most of the suggestions from the public hearing were about noise and shouting from bars, especially those in residential buildings. She pointed out that Bar is a tourist town and that it is necessary to provide citizens with content, but also to find a solution that will not disturb the citizens' peace during the vacation time.
She asked whether this Decision will help the Municipal Police in performing noise control and how many complaints of this kind they had in the past year. She pointed out that the compensation related to the extension of working hours should be higher.
Trceta replied that there were eight such complaints, mostly during the holidays, and that the previous decision was more in favor of investors than citizens, and that she received many citizens in front of certain settlements who had complaints of this type.
"We were all young. In our city, we don't have anywhere to offer our youth that free time. We had a large number of accidents on the main road Bar - Podgorica because our young people go to other cities to go out," she said.
She emphasized that most catering facilities do not meet the minimum technical requirements, and that all establishments that did not address them and performed music were fined by the Communal Police.
There are, she said, those bars that are outside the city zone and do not threaten public order and peace. She emphasized that the conditions for extended working hours are so strict that she doubts that anyone will be able to fulfill them.
Ivan Pekić from the Municipal Inspection said that they are doing their best with the personnel they have. He pointed out that they face numerous problems that councilors and citizens do not see, and one of them is communication with the house that is in charge of installing limiters in bars.
"The majority of citizens who ask to have a limiter installed are restricted because one licensed company has the privilege of installing them in the whole of Montenegro, so they wait a long time for those limiters to be installed," Pekić said, adding that there are those who have not. installed for justified reasons.
He thinks that the limiters should not be changed, and that they are in place, but what citizens don't know is that the noise level in a building is measured five meters from the facade even when the doors are closed. That is why, at the time of noise measurement, it is always within the prescribed level.
According to him, the problem of noise is particularly prominent in Sutomore.
Minic reminded that 65 decibels is the permissible noise level in local areas, and that chronic exposure to anything higher than that can lead to the development of depression and nervousness, affects the cardiovascular system, the heart... decibels causes permanent hearing damage, and death occurs at 150 decibels. He emphasized that the Decision on working hours stipulates that casinos and places with games of chance can work 180 hours a day, so that they are constantly available to all citizens, tourists and travelers.
He was worried by the information that in 2023, Montenegro had a profit from games of chance of 151 million euros. As he said, he is not against making profits from certain industries, but he is not satisfied with the fact that casinos and betting shops are located next to every road that citizens and their children pass through. He asked if this method of continuous work was established by some law or if it was allowed by the local administration.
The Decision was adopted by the votes of 18 deputies, with a verbal agreement and a statement that after the vote, amendments proposed by the councilors will be introduced, and the Secretary of the Economy adopted it.
Fines from 200 to 10.000 euros
Branislav Nenezić (SD), head of the Bar Municipal Assembly, said that his brother changed his place of residence because of the bar in the building, and that he is aware of the problem. This decision, in his opinion, is one of the most ungrateful because he knows how difficult it is to come late at night and ask for the decision to be respected.
"We all have to listen and understand, especially since the tourist season is coming up. You need to be understanding for caterers who pay taxes and are part of the tourist offer of our city. We have had situations where, due to the uncoordinated work of municipal and state services, a cruiser arrived and found the terraces closed. I don't think that's good either," said Nenezić.
In the part of the Decision, which was discussed, which refers to the penal provisions, there were significant changes compared to the previous Decision, which concern the penal policy in such a way that fines related to legal entities were increased in the amount of 500 euros to EUR 10.000, while fines for entrepreneurs are prescribed in the amount of EUR 200 to EUR 3.000, for a responsible person in a legal entity from EUR 150 to EUR 10.000, and for a natural person in the amount of EUR 200 to EUR 1.000.
It does not say how much a permit for extended working hours will cost, but that "for extending working hours, the fee is determined by a special decision".
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