Weekly Update 39

May 30, 2025

Hello, everyone.

This newsletter will address two topics: First, how public funds are managed. Second, the apparent continued failure to adhere to proper governance within the council and its affiliated organizations regarding personnel recruitment.

Topic 1: Public Funds and How They Are Managed

Public resources must be managed transparently while adhering to the rules of proper governance. It is our duty as council members to ensure the proper management of public resources, and I view this as part of my public mission on your behalf. Therefore, I am reporting here on an incident that I consider serious.

At the plenary session on 05/06/2025, during the agenda item discussing the closure of budget items, the Council Treasurer noted that several budget items had not been approved by the Ministry of the Interior and therefore required approval for their closure by the Council plenary. These are:

Reserve Fund – 2418 – Purchase of a small electric vehicle for kindergartens – 75,000 NIS

Reserve Fund – 2503 – Sewer line installation in the section between HaChasida Street and Shikun Daromi – 61,000 NIS

Special Fund – 2513 – Noise measurement device for environmental inspection – 25,000 NIS

 

Total: 161,000 NIS. This is a significant amount that, following the Ministry of the Interior’s refusal to approve the special budget, is now being taken out of the current budget. So far, so good. On the contrary, I am pleased to see that the Ministry of the Interior is fulfilling its role and supervising the municipality. But the question is where the money will come from now, since the current budget has already been finalized. That is why I asked at the meeting what the budgetary source is for carrying out these important activities.

The treasurer’s response was, “It’s in the budget.” Strangely enough, he did not specify which budget items would fund these activities.

As a council member and as someone entrusted, as part of my public role, with overseeing the use of public funds in general—and particularly in light of past negative experiences with the current council head regarding budget management—I submitted the following inquiry to the Treasury Department 10 days ago:

1. What exactly are the budget items for purchasing this equipment/carrying out these actions that formed the basis of the statements I mentioned?
2. What is the status of the budget items from which these actions will be carried out or have been carried out, with regard to: the amount in the approved budget item, budget execution to date including reserves, and the budget balance in each of these items through the end of the year.

As of the time of writing, no response has been received, meaning that you, the public, cannot receive an update on how public funds are managed, even if there is a budgetary source for this expenditure, however important it may be. The truth is that the treasurer systematically fails to provide information even when requested to do so. It is good that I am putting these matters in writing now as a warning of problems that I believe will only intensify.

 

 

Issue 2: Are the rules of proper administration being followed at the Zamarin Association and the Council regarding employee recruitment—and is history repeating itself?  

Many of you surely remember my efforts regarding the flawed and illegal tender for hiring the director of the Zamarin Community Center’s Culture Department. I reported to you at the time that, following my appeals to the community center’s legal advisor and members of its board of directors, the tender—which had been published and conducted illegally and in violation of procedures—was canceled and republished in accordance with the law.

Unfortunately, I must report to you that there is apparently concern that this is happening again at the community center, this time under the management of Zila Reshef:

On May 28, 2025, the Council published a tender for the position of Director of the Municipal Youth Unit, a full-time position reporting organizationally and administratively to the Director of the Zamarin Community Center.

I saw the posting and couldn’t believe my eyes—all the red flags went up. And why?

Many of you surely remember that a few months ago I reported that the director of the Youth Department, who had promoted and organized numerous activities for the town’s youth, was effectively fired from his position at the community center despite performing his duties to the best of his ability.

The reason given to him was that his full-time position had been reduced to a 50% position.

This is a clear violation of the terms of employment, and therefore Mr. Omer Gendler had no choice but to resign, effectively being dismissed, due to such a gross deterioration in conditions.

In this situation, the dismissing entity must have valid reasons for posting a job opening for the same position five months later with improved terms and under the same organizational hierarchy.

Councilwoman Roni Kengistein, a member of the mayor’s party and the mayor’s representative for youth affairs, wrote the following in clear terms:

In plain language, she is essentially admitting in other words that “Omer isn’t good for us” or “he was hired during the previous term,” so let’s worsen his employment conditions—he’ll resign—and then, after a few months, we’ll issue a new 100% position with the same organizational reporting structure.

Such an action may border on illegality and violate the principles of equality and the employer’s duty of good faith, particularly in the public sector. If it turns out that the sole purpose of this action was to get rid of a good employee who performed his duties by worsening his conditions, the community center and the council are potentially liable to a lawsuit. Publicly and morally, this is reprehensible.

I intend to send an urgent inquiry to the Community Center’s legal advisor and management to seek clarification.