Cheonan City Council Floods Municipal Questions, Handles Answers in Writing... Officials Say "Overwhelmed with Work"

Excessive Number of Questions Compared to Other Local Governments: 315 Cases
Written Responses Account for 274 Cases

Number of municipal questions.

The Cheonan City Council in South Chungcheong Province is facing criticism for focusing on formality rather than substantive administrative oversight, after handling a significant portion of municipal questions with written responses during the recently held 279th extraordinary session.

A total of 315 municipal questions were raised over five days, excluding weekends, starting from April 24. Each council member was allotted 40 minutes.

This figure is excessively high compared to other city councils with similar population sizes.

For example, the neighboring Asan City Council had 66 municipal questions in its most recent session, while the Bucheon City Council, with a similar population, had 19. The Pyeongtaek City Council had only two municipal questions throughout the first half of the year.

It was physically impossible for the 26 council members, excluding Chairperson Kim Haenggeum, who applied for municipal questions, to handle 315 questions in five days.

The proportion of written responses was also high. Of the total questions, 274 (86.9%) were handled in writing. In particular, Councilor A submitted 33 questions and received written responses to all of them, while 12 out of the 26 council members replaced all their questions with written answers.

Some council members cited the vacancy in the mayor's office, following Cheonan Mayor Park Sangdon's sentencing to imprisonment for violating the Public Official Election Act, as a reason for the increase in written responses.

However, past cases show that the rate of written responses has consistently been high. At the 273rd extraordinary session held in October last year, 204 out of 292 questions (69.8%) were answered in writing. At the 268th session in April of the same year, 155 out of 249 questions (62.2%) received written responses.

One executive branch official said, "Civil servants are overwhelmed with work, such as wildfire monitoring, and are further burdened by having to prepare responses to municipal questions," adding, "We requested an extension for submitting written responses, but were only told that, according to meeting rules, responses must be submitted within 10 days."

Another official stated, "Basic-level councils of similar size, such as Suwon, operate municipal questions on a rolling basis and communicate efficiently with the executive branch," emphasizing, "The Cheonan City Council should also improve its operating methods to meet citizens' expectations."

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Cheonan City Hall Public Servants' Union in 2023 found that '22 out of 27 council members engaged in power abuse,' with excessive data requests and insulting language during municipal questions and administrative audits cited as problems.

In response, the city council argued, "The survey exaggerated negative perceptions through bias," and added, "Council members' data requests are legitimate legislative activities aimed at representing citizens and providing checks on the executive branch."