Official Inquiry: Failure to receive information despite repeated requests over several months

To the Honorable Council Chairman, Attorney Eli Abutbul

Date: 12/12/2024

Inquiry No. 2: Failure to receive information despite repeated requests over several months

Dear Sir,

Since the budget meeting in July 2024, at which we were not provided with the 2023 actual vs. 2024 planned budget appendix as required by local government regulations, and despite a request from council members prior to the budget discussion, we only received on 7/25/24 a “vague” file from Treasurer Avi Husman containing a table that appears to be for 2024 without detailed chapter numbers and without the required comparison to 2023.

Below is a series of inquiries sent to the council treasurer and to you, the council chair, which have gone entirely unanswered. The practice whereby you, as council chair, declare to the cameras at the council meeting, “If you do not receive a response, contact me,” yet after four inquiries over many months, no response is received—and even when contacted twice over the past month and a half, you do not respond. Below are the dates of the inquiries

• July 29, 2024: My inquiry (all plenary members copied) requesting the appendix in an accessible format comparing 2023 data to 2024 (no response or reply)
• August 7, 2024 – A follow-up request was sent to the treasurer for a response (no response or reply)
• August 19, 2024: A reminder was sent to the treasurer (no response or reply)
• 8/9/24 – A fourth reminder is sent to the treasurer (no response or reply)
• 10/28/24 A request is sent to you, the Council Chair
• 11/28/24: Another request is sent to you, the Council Chair, which has not received a response as of the date this inquiry was sent.

This is information that the treasurer is legally required to provide in advance of the budget discussion. The information was not provided at the request of council members prior to the budget discussion—nor was it forwarded to me as a council member, despite the six cumulative requests over the past four months.

Section 9A of the Local Authorities (Budget Preparation) Regulations, 1971, states:

“The budget shall include a staffing appendix detailing the number of permanent and temporary positions and the number of employees in each, according to each chapter, subchapter, and auxiliary chapter of each budget section (hereinafter—approved staffing); for this purpose—

          “temporary position” – a position for a period not exceeding one year;

          “Permanent position” – a position for a period exceeding one year.

The budget submitted for approval by the plenary session did not include the aforementioned appendix. I contacted the council treasurer and requested the missing appendix as well as the one for the year 2023.

The treasurer attached an unclear document to the first email, which did not specify the year in question and does not meet the requirements of Section 9A or what I requested.

I request that, in response to this inquiry, all council members receive the two aforementioned documents in an accessible format. I would appreciate it if, in the future, I did not have to wait several months to receive information that the council administration is obligated to provide. Receiving up-to-date information is a critical part of the work of council members and the duties of the council administration.

Sincerely,

Dr. Limor Zar-Guttman, Esq.

The “Lema’an HaMoshava” Party

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