Hanam City Council Establishes 'Special Birthday Leave' for Public Officials...Amends Related Service Ordinance

Closing of the 338th Extraordinary Session on the 21st
Deliberation and Approval of 19 Agenda Items, Including Motions and Ordinance Amendments
Adoption of a Resolution Urging Prompt Advancement
of the Stalled 'Hanam Park Golf Course Development Project'

The Hanam City Council in Gyeonggi Province (Chairman Geum Gwang-yeon) is introducing a ‘Birthday Special Leave’ to boost public officials' morale and encourage long-term service.

Hanam City Council adopted the "Resolution Urging the Swift Promotion of the Park Golf Course Project" at the 2nd plenary session of the 338th extraordinary meeting on the 21st and is taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Hanam City Council

On the 21st, the Hanam City Council held the 2nd plenary session of the 338th extraordinary meeting and finalized the approval of a total of 19 agenda items, including the 'Partial Amendment to the Hanam City Local Public Officials Service Ordinance' which grants public officials ‘Birthday Special Leave’.

According to the amended ordinance, public officials at Hanam City Hall and the City Council can take one day of special leave during the month of their birthday.

Councilor Oh Seung-cheol, who proposed the ordinance, stated, “By establishing ‘Birthday Special Leave,’ we aim to help city hall and city council officials balance work and life to take rest, and to create a better working public service environment by revising the service ordinance.” He added, “‘Birthday Special Leave’ is already implemented in other local governments and councils to improve public officials’ welfare, increase job satisfaction, and prevent turnover.”

On the same day, the council adopted a resolution urging the prompt advancement of the Han River riverside park golf course project in Hanam City, which is facing a crisis of cancellation amid the nationwide park golf boom with nearly 400 park golf courses.

Councilor Park Seon-mi, who spearheaded the ‘Resolution to Urge the Prompt Advancement of the Park Golf Course Project,’ pointed out, “The Hanam Park Golf Course, planned to be developed on a 36-hole scale within the Han River riverside waterway area at 615-1 Misa-dong, is a project directly linked to the health of approximately 74,000 elderly residents of Hanam. However, unreasonable regulations and excessive supplementary demands from the Ministry of Environment and the Han River Basin Environmental Office have delayed inter-agency consultations, leaving the project stalled for a long time.”

Accordingly, the council strongly urged △ the withdrawal of unreasonable inter-agency consultation document demands by the Han River Basin Environmental Office △ relaxation of resident usage requirements within protected areas under the Han River Basin Act and approval of river occupation permits △ improvement of river occupation permit standards for park golf course development by central government agencies (Ministry of Environment) and easing of related regulations.

The resolution will be delivered to related agencies including the Presidential Secretariat, Office for Government Policy Coordination, Minister of Environment, Han River Basin Environmental Office, National Assembly, Mayor of Seoul, and Mayor of Guri.

Chairman Geum Gwang-yeon expressed in his closing remarks, “I would like to thank my fellow council members who did their best in each standing committee during the past four days of the session, as well as the related public officials who actively cooperated in agenda review and session management.” He added, “I hope that the various points and opinions raised by council members during the agenda review will be actively considered and reflected.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, Councilor Jeong Hye-young delivered a 5-minute free speech titled ‘Urging the Increase of the Distribution System for Leisure Tax from Horse Racing Business and the Rate of Collection Grants,’ emphasizing the need to raise the collection grant ratio related to leisure tax at Misa Horse Racing Park to resolve fiscal imbalance and increase local tax revenue.

Additionally, Councilor Choi Hoon-jong, in his 5-minute free speech, strongly urged the immediate implementation of effective measures against the perpetrators of power harassment related to the case of the late Team Leader Lee Sang-hoon’s recognized line-of-duty death.