Weekly Update 54

August 19, 2025

Hello everyone.

The first two items in this newsletter pertain to the last council meeting, which I reported on in detail in the previous two newsletters. If this is the first newsletter you’ve received and you’d like to get all the information I’ve already sent regarding this meeting, please write to me and I’ll send it to you directly.

Summary:

• First topic: Coming soon—completion of the development of the Tazmoret neighborhood, located west of Supertan along HaShita Street in Neve HaBaron.
• Second topic: Upgrading the drainage system in the Ma’ayan neighborhood. This will pass through a private lot, in accordance with an agreement signed with the lot’s owners.
• Third topic: In recent weeks, the Collection Department has sent letters to some residents informing them that they must schedule a re-measurement inside their homes for those who have already had an external measurement or an estimate based on best judgment and have been assigned an updated property tax assessment. Is this a legal move permitted under the contract? It is impossible to answer this question because there is no transparency. Read why.
• Fourth Issue: What is the “partnership” between the Zichron Yaakov community and the South Palm Beach community (Boca Raton, Florida)? And an opportunity for youth in grades 10–11. Read on.

Topic 1: Completion of the Orchestra Neighborhood Development

The Orchestra Neighborhood—Sh/580—is located west of Sportan along HaShita Street. Residents already live in this neighborhood alongside homes in various stages of construction. According to the approved plans, the neighborhood includes approximately 120 housing units and public spaces.

In any neighborhood undergoing development and private construction, there is heavy truck traffic that damages the infrastructure; therefore, we wait until at least 50% to 60% of the homes are built before completing sections of sidewalks, additional infrastructure, road paving, and more.

We have finally reached this stage! And now we can complete the neighborhood’s development, which is the responsibility of and carried out by the Council. To this end, at the last council meeting on September 2, 2025, we approved an increase of 3 million NIS in the amount required for the neighborhood’s development, bringing the total investment since the start of development in approximately 2017 to nearly 17 million NIS for the following:

• Completion of sidewalks and mixed-use streets,
• Completion of asphalt paving
• Lighting
• Landscaping
• underground trash bins

Funds for neighborhood development come from development fees paid by landowners, which are earmarked for this purpose. Sometimes, when the pace of neighborhood development—in terms of home construction—slows down and does not reach the 50%-60% threshold in the early years, development is delayed. As has been the case primarily over the past two years, during which costs have risen by over 20%, the council is therefore required to cover the shortfall from its own resources and not to collect additional payments from residents, except for fees that were not collected at all.

Second Issue: Upgrading the Drainage System in the Ma’ayan Neighborhood

The Ma’ayan neighborhood (Sh/343) is located along Ma’ale Pinels Street. This is a neighborhood where private home construction is still underway, and only partial development has been completed to date. One of the urgent issues is the drainage system, which does not adequately handle surface runoff, especially during heavy rainfall. Such events are expected to become more frequent as Israel and the world experience climate change.

Accordingly, we allocated 1.4 million NIS from the extraordinary budget (Tabar).

During the meeting, the council chairman informed us that, in order to save hundreds of thousands of shekels on the cost of upgrading the drainage system, an agreement was reached with a private landowner through whose property the drainage system will pass. Under the agreement, the landowner will receive, in exchange, an exemption from paving and drainage fees totaling approximately 73,000 NIS.

I assume that the Council’s Legal Advisor, Attorney Barzilai, drafted the agreement, which was not presented to us and was not brought before the plenary for approval.

Third issue: Letters sent by the Collection Department to some residents notifying them of a re-measurement inside their homes for those who have already had an external measurement or an assessment based on best judgment and were assigned a current property tax assessment.

This week, several residents contacted me after receiving a letter from the Council’s Collection Department stating that they are required to coordinate with the surveying company for an interior measurement of their property and pay 250 NIS for this measurement. These are residents who previously underwent an exterior measurement, were assigned a new property tax assessment (apparently based on the best judgment principle), did not appeal, and are already paying the new tax. So why are they being contacted now with a demand for an interior measurement? And why are they being charged 250 NIS for the measurement? In the past, no fee was charged for interior measurements, nor was it announced in advance that those who did not schedule an interior measurement and settled for an exterior one would face a future interior measurement—but at a cost.

Residents have the right to demand and receive information regarding what led to this letter. Residents have the right to challenge the legality of this letter. In a council that operates in accordance with the law and upholds proper administration—as a council member, I am expected to assist residents in investigating this matter by obtaining an answer to the question or clarification on their behalf, or by being allowed to review the relevant documents. I will thoroughly review the council’s contract with the surveying company (I am an attorney and a law professor), and I will ask the council’s legal advisor, Attorney Yossi Barzilai, or the treasurer, Avi Osman, or the head of the collection department, Vered Bela—whether the legality of the action has been verified and on what basis it is founded.

This is a council that operates in accordance with the law, with transparency toward the public, and that exists to serve the public.

In practice, the council chair announced at a council meeting in front of the cameras that I am being boycotted, and he instructed council staff not to respond to my inquiries. And they are not responding; I have raised nearly 20 issues to date!! And there is no response. I write, and they ignore me. Again, by law, they are required to provide a council member with the documents or allow them to be reviewed within three days.

Who is harmed by this ongoing violation of the law against me? It is you, the residents—not just the thousands who voted for our party, “Lema’an HaMoshava,” but the entire public—because I work for all residents, not just those who voted for us. There is no transparency; information is being withheld. Why?

A few months ago, I contacted the Ministry of the Interior—which regulates local councils—asking them to help me “lift the boycott” and order the council head to comply with the law. You won’t be surprised to hear that the Ministry of the Interior didn’t respond to me, and only after a media outlet contacted the Ministry did I receive a shameful reply last week that didn’t address my request at all. I’m not posting it here because it’s truly irrelevant.

I immediately replied to the official in charge of our authority at the Ministry of the Interior as follows:

The response you sent does not correspond at all to my inquiry. 

I suspect that the response you sent is a “copy-paste” of the council head’s reply, without realizing that it does not address my inquiry at all.

I reached out with an urgent and dire plea on behalf of an opposition member suffering from a severe boycott—the council head and all council staff, including the gatekeepers!!, are boycotting me and not responding to my emails.

In doing so, they are repeatedly and blatantly violating the law I cited in my inquiry. I quoted the law because you may not be familiar with it, and certainly not the council chair.

This is a systematic boycott—there are about 20 unanswered appeals. In my email to you, I provided just one example out of 20 of this boycott.

Your response addresses only the example, not the problem.

A genuine response to the issue I raised would have led you and the district supervisor to instruct the council head and the legal advisor to respect the law and respond to all my requests for information within the timeframe stipulated by law.

A genuine response to the issue I raised should have led you to reply to me on time, rather than waiting for the regional radio station to contact your spokesperson. This is an urgent matter.

A genuine response to the issue I raised should have led you to strengthen the work of the opposition, not weaken it.

I am resubmitting this request to you so that this time you will handle it as required.

The response I received does not address my inquiry. Therefore, the regional radio station and I are awaiting a response from the Ministry of the Interior.

I am still waiting.

Fourth Issue: The “Partnership Together” Youth Program

“Partnership Together” between the Zichron Yaakov community and the South Palm Beach community (Boca Raton, Florida) was established in 2017 with the support and assistance of the Jewish Agency.

Each community has a local steering committee that promotes the various connections and activities. The partnership brings together hundreds of youth from the Zichron Yaakov community and the partner community, among others.
The connection between the communities is important and strong and was a central pillar of community action during
the previous term. The Federation contributes tens of thousands of dollars to community activities each year and increased its contribution during Operation Iron Swords. The connection between the communities is important in normal times and especially during these times.

If you have children in grades 10–11, they might be interested in the following program. See the image below. Here is a link to the registration form:

https://forms.gle/tKkwe5QTngLznS6h7

For questions, please contact Nir Bona, the Partnership’s Youth Program Coordinator: 052-4578275