Although almost two and a half months have passed since the local parliament entrusted him with a four-year mandate, the Mayor of Budva Municipality Nikola Jovanović is still not considering nominating two vice-presidents, as this is the discretionary right of the city's first man.
As confirmed to "Vijesti" by Jovanović's administration, the proposals for vice presidents will still have to wait for the Municipal Assembly, which gives the green light to the councilors' votes for the appointment of the deputy president.
What Jovanović did in the previous period was fill the vacant positions of senior people in municipal secretariats, but almost the entire administration is still in an acting state.
Jovanović previously appointed Miško Konić as acting secretary for the economy, and recently entrusted the management of the Secretariat for Communal and Housing Affairs to Desi Vlačić, who was appointed acting secretary. Jovanović appointed Slavko Đukanović as acting secretary for finance, while Milica Mazarak is the acting secretary for urban planning and sustainable development.
Jovanović should soon appoint an acting secretary for investments, since, as "Vijesti" was told, the long-time head of one of the key municipal departments, Joko Popović, will no longer hold that position.
However, the acting state of affairs in the municipal administration, which has lasted for two full years, should soon be ended, as a series of announcements for vacancies to fill management positions will begin.
The situation is similar in the Manager's Service, but also in other municipal secretariats - for social activities, local self-government, but also in the secretariat for property protection.
The selection of management personnel is also pending for one of the most important municipal services - the Communal Inspection and the Police. This service will be divided into two, namely the Communal Police and the Communal Inspection. The Communal Inspection, as things stand now, will be headed by Vladan Braunović, the current acting head of the unified service, while the personnel decision for the acting head of the Communal Police is still awaited. It is also true that for these two services, competitions for permanent appointments of management personnel will soon be announced.
Although there is speculation that permanent appointments in municipal secretariats will be part of a political agreement between the ruling majority from Jovanović's "Budva Our City" group, the European Union and the Civic Movement URA, and the Democratic Party of Socialists, whose so-called "project support" secured the parliamentary majority, the first man of Budva, as "Vijesti" was told, insists that competitions be announced and that managers in the municipal administration sectors be elected in this way.
During the election, Jovanović promised, in his Platform for Overcoming the Political Crisis and Responsible City Governance, the depoliticization and professionalization of public administration.
"We will make jobs available to professionals and skilled personnel instead of the previous bad practices of hiring based on party affiliation. Our goal is to have the most responsible positions filled by the most capable personnel, which is why we will make jobs available to everyone, with full respect for legal criteria. To that end, perhaps for the first time in the field of public affairs, there will be no distribution based on "depth and breadth", but rather staff in local government will be selected through a competition, taking into account professional criteria for certain areas, which will neutralize the influence of politics and political interests," Jovanović promised at the time.
He insisted that the local government agenda in the coming period will be based "on the principles of transparency, professionalization and rationalization of public administration, democracy, full respect for the public interest, dialogue and overcoming artificial divisions imposed on us by bad policies in society."
New directors through competition
After the last parliamentary session dismissed the old and appointed new boards of directors in municipal enterprises, as well as councils in cultural institutions, and after the decisions on appointments were officially published in the Official Gazette, it is expected that acting managers will soon be appointed until the competition is announced. As was done in the Municipal Company, where the new board of directors appointed an acting director and announced the announcement of the advertisement, it is expected that the same model will be followed in other companies founded by the Municipality.
Jovanović promised to professionalize public enterprises upon assuming the position of president.
"In the future, local public enterprises will be managed in a strictly professional and responsible manner because they will be headed by professional staff, and the principle of responsibility will be affirmed by every employee in the enterprises. Those who have abused their employment for years by not coming to work or rarely coming to work will be sanctioned in a legal manner, and there will be a rationalization of jobs and responsibilities with clear procedures. Future managers of public enterprises will have to ensure day and night that our city and our citizens have the quality service they pay for," Jovanović said at the time.
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