Weekly Update 03

8/30/24

Hello everyone.

This is the third newsletter I’m sending out. The mailing list now includes hundreds of residents! You’re welcome to add more residents by replying to this message with their name and email address.

The previous newsletter covered the vote held at the last council meeting on 8/6/2024 regarding approval of the extraordinary budget increase for the reinforcement and renovation of Nili School. I explained in the newsletter that the majority approved the mayor’s request to increase the renovation budget by 3.5 million NIS, even though the council members were not provided with the necessary information, and what was presented at the meeting was fundamentally flawed:

We received a table explaining an expenditure of 2 million NIS, but we heard no explanation from professionals justifying the amount, as no council employee from the Engineering Department was summoned to the meeting to answer our questions, nor was any background material such as expert opinions, etc., presented.

Worse still, we received no breakdown or explanation as to why the additional funds were needed or what the intended use was for the additional 1.5 million NIS they sought to approve.

Who is responsible for presenting all the information to the council members and allowing them to ask questions and understand what they are voting on?

You will surely answer immediately—the Council Chair. And that is, of course, the correct answer (but a partial one, as you will see shortly).

Regarding the Nili Special Budget (Special Budget = Extraordinary Budget) discussed at this meeting—the Council Chair did not provide us with all the information. As I understand it, he knew the vote would pass, so he saw no need to answer the questions I and other members raised or to provide information. After I pressed him on the matter, he promised during the meeting that he had all the documents and details on hand and that he had requested the said amount based on them, and that it wasn’t just a figure he had made up. He also reiterated that we would receive all the necessary information after the meeting.

Did I receive the information and documents after the meeting? No, despite repeated requests via email.

And here we come to the second answer to the question: Who is responsible for presenting all the information that council members are legally required to provide? The answer: The relevant director at the council.

My work/volunteer service as a council member on days when there are no council or committee meetings also includes sending emails to various council directors to request information. Some directors respond immediately and provide the information. Unfortunately, however, there are two who consistently fail to respond, do not provide me with information, or provide only partial and evasive answers. And who are they?

Council Treasurer Mr. Avi Hosman

The council’s legal advisor, Attorney Yossi Barzilai.

These two hold senior positions above every other council official because without them, not a single shekel leaves the council’s coffers. Without the treasurer’s signature and without the legal counsel’s approval (where required), the council head cannot make payments to suppliers, and the council cannot carry out a range of actions. This high authority was granted to them by law so that they may serve as a supervisory body, scrutinizing the actions of the council head and the council. They are the barrier that must prevent the council head from acting on every whim. They are not employees of the council head; they work for the public. They are gatekeepers—defenders at the gate against violations of the law and procedures.

Incidentally, both have been in their positions on the council for a very long time. So they are familiar with the past events that plunged the council’s coffers into a massive deficit and led to severe reports from the State Comptroller and the Ministry of the Interior.

We would expect them to learn from the events of the council head’s previous terms (in which they also participated) and to fulfill their role as gatekeepers, ensuring transparency of information toward council members. But this is not happening. I am not receiving information not only regarding the Nili project but also on other issues I have raised since taking office. Such as the waste management tender, the status of the funds, employee status, and more.

Our party leader, Dr. Avigayil Dolev, held a meeting last Thursday with the council treasurer regarding the Nili project. Unfortunately, she too did not receive any documents from him. However, she made it very clear to him that our party will not vote on or approve budgets without the required details being provided.

I am here to declare that I will continue and will not relent in my demand that the legal advisor and the treasurer provide us with the information they are legally obligated to provide to council members so that we can carry out our work for the benefit of the public. Because that is their job—to provide council members with full information and to protect public funds.

By the way, I am a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, and one of my research areas focuses on the role of legal advisors in local authorities. Click here to read an article I published a few months ago together with one of my doctoral students on this topic.

Yours,

Dr. Limor Zar-Gutman

The “Lema’an HaMoshava” Party