"Unilateral Appointment Pushed Through Despite Personnel Hearing Ordinance"
On the 11th, members of the Cheonan City Council from the Democratic Party of Korea urged the implementation of a personnel hearing regarding the appointment of the president of Cheonan Urban Corporation.
At a press conference held at Cheonan City Hall that day, they claimed, "Although an ordinance for personnel hearings has been enacted, Cheonan City is unilaterally pushing ahead with the appointment of the candidate for president of the Urban Corporation, citing the recommendation by the executive recommendation committee as justification."
They emphasized, "If a personnel hearing is not held, we will form a special administrative investigation committee to examine whether the appointment that has resulted in a vacancy for the president of Cheonan Urban Corporation is free of legal and procedural flaws."
According to Cheonan City and the Cheonan City Council, as the term of the former president of the Cheonan Urban Corporation's executive recommendation committee is scheduled to end in October, the city began recruiting candidates for the position in September.
Through the recruitment process, Candidate A, a current executive at Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), was selected as the nominee. However, since A applied while still employed and did not undergo honorary retirement or the employment screening for retired public officials by the Public Officials Ethics Committee, the appointment could not be made as of the 1st of this month.
As the retirement and employment screening process is expected to take about two months, the president's position is likely to remain vacant for at least that period.
The Democratic Party members pointed out, "The Public Officials Ethics Act clearly states that retired public officials must pay attention to employment-related procedures when applying. Despite this, A applied for the recruitment review without going through the honorary retirement and employment screening process. Regardless of the fact that this is a local government, we regret the attitude that simply being appointed is enough."
They added, "Although it is often said that the ordinance for personnel hearings is ineffective because the authority of the head of a local government is significant in the appointment of public enterprise presidents, many local governments are already implementing it out of respect for local councils. For Cheonan to become a city of one million, such institutional improvements are essential."
They stressed, "The most important factor is the will of the mayor, so Mayor Park Sangdon should cooperate to ensure that a personnel hearing for Candidate A can be held."
In response, Cheonan City stated, "The appointment of the president of Cheonan Urban Corporation is proceeding according to the relevant laws and procedures," and added, "We recognize the need for improvement identified during this selection process, such as work gaps due to the employment screening schedule, and plan to advance the executive recommendation committee by three to four months in the future."
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