‘Paju-si New City Hall Construction Public Deliberation Forum’ to be Held Three Times Starting from the 7th

110 Citizens' Participation Group Members Engage in Deliberation Process
Utilized for Future New Government Building Construction Direction

Paju City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Kyung-il) will hold the "Paju City New City Hall Construction Public Deliberation Forum" three times starting from the 7th to gather citizens' opinions and build a new city hall that embodies Paju's future vision.

'Public Deliberation Forum on the Construction of Paju City New Office' Poster. Provided by Paju City

Starting with the first forum on the 7th, Paju City will conduct a total of three public forums on the 8th and 14th to actively collect public opinion. The forums will be held at Yeongsan Hall in Yeongsan Training Center located in Jori-eup, with a total of 110 citizen participants, including 10 youth from the future generation who will lead Paju's future.

The public deliberation forums will consist of expert presentations, overall and subgroup discussions based on citizen deliberation, on-site inspections, and Q&A sessions.

At the first public deliberation forum on the 7th, starting with expert presentations, participants will have time to understand the purpose and process of the deliberation, followed by citizen discussions about Paju's future in the era of one million residents that citizens desire.

At the second public deliberation forum on the 8th, deliberation discussions on evaluation indicators, which are the first step for constructing the new city hall, will take place. The evaluation indicators serve as criteria for the new city hall construction, and the city derived five evaluation indicators through the "Study on Developing a Candidate Site Evaluation Model for Paju City New City Hall Construction" and meetings of the Paju City Public Deliberation Committee.

The five evaluation indicators are site suitability, reasonable economic feasibility, integrated accessibility, communication centrality, and inclusive growth potential. Citizens will learn about these indicators and participate in the deliberation process through discussions and Q&A sessions.

At the third public deliberation forum on the 14th, on-site inspections and discussions of candidate sites will be conducted. The city has arranged on-site inspection time so that citizens can directly verify and evaluate which candidate site is most suitable.

The most significant feature of this public deliberation forum is that citizens recommend the evaluation indicators, which serve as the criteria for the new city hall construction, to the city through deliberation, and the city will use these recommendations for the future direction of the new city hall construction. This is very meaningful as citizens participate from the policy planning stage.

Citizens will vote on their preferences for the evaluation indicators before and after deliberation and after the on-site inspection during the three public deliberation forums. The voting results will be disclosed on-site so that citizens can directly confirm the outcomes of the deliberation.

The results of the forums will be submitted to the "Paju City Hall Public Deliberation Implementation Group," composed of representatives of Paju citizens and experts. The implementation group will then submit these results to the "Paju City Public Deliberation Committee." After the committee prepares a recommendation report including the results of the three-day public deliberation forums and surveys, it will be submitted to the Mayor of Paju, concluding this public deliberation process. Paju City plans to disclose citizens' opinions through media reports thereafter.