Yangju City Council's overseas business trip to Europe: "Citizens' tax money must be used sparingly."

 

On the city council's overseas business trip, 8 council members, 8 civil servants, and 4 city executives from each field also accompanied them.

 

[Reporter Kim Wan-young = Yangju, Gyeonggi-do] Gyeonggi-do Yangju City Council (Chairman Yoon Chang-cheol) prepared an overseas training plan last March, but temporarily put it on hold due to social atmosphere, etc., and on July 20th submitted the 'Yangju City Council member's official business trip plan deliberation plan'. After passing the year, I visited three countries, including Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic, for about 9 days from August 26th to September 3rd.

 

According to the official business trip plan, “visit to city hall and city council, tourism office, urban regeneration, and elderly care center.”

 

In particular, in the plan last March, “It was planned to focus on dementia villages in the Netherlands, but the focus was reduced by expanding to four areas,” said a social welfare professor.

 

Mr. A, who works in social welfare-related business in Yangju, said, “Yangju City and the city council visit the Caritas Senior Nursing Home and compare and analyze senior welfare facilities and policies in developed countries without even establishing the name of the welfare division in the Yangju City Government Innovation Advisory Committee ordinance.” “This is behavior that makes no sense,” he said.

 

K, co-representative of the Yangju Innovation Citizens’ Alliance, said, “This overseas training for a total of 20 people, including all 8 members of the Yangju City Council, 8 council office staff accompanying the members, and 4 people at the level of executive team leaders or higher, is an example of budget waste. I don't understand whether training for city council members should be conducted one-on-one (1:1) by staff. “Having a belly button bigger than your stomach” is an old-fashioned behavior that cannot be laughed at, he said.

 

Mr. A, a citizen of Yangju, said, "Usually, when members of the National Assembly go on an overseas business trip, civil servants accompany them due to protocol issues. However, Yangju is probably the only place where there are equal numbers of lawmakers. It is difficult to understand that there are 8 lawmakers and 12 public officials. “Citizens’ tax money must be used sparingly,” he said, adding, “The will of the mayor, the head of the city, is important for the city to be reborn as an innovative Yangju city.”

 

In response, a related official from the city council explained, "I have hardly been able to go on an overseas business trip since 2017, so I made a plan this time. However, this time, I went with fewer council officials and more executives than last time."

 

Meanwhile, Yangju City's budget for overseas expenses in Europe is approximately 100 million won.

 

kwy160901@hanmail.net