Suncheon City Council, Conflict Over Residents' Autonomy Committee Ordinance... Who Does the City Council Serve?

The City Council's Revision of Resident Autonomy Committee Member Quotas and Ban on Re-election of Autonomy Chair Sparks Strong Backlash

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] There are citizens raising strong voices of opposition against the Suncheon City Council.

They are protesting against the Residents' Autonomy Association ordinance that the Suncheon City Council approved with modifications at the recent extraordinary session.

Their strong objections can be categorized into three main points.

The Suncheon City Council ignored the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's standard proposal of at least 30 members and the city of Suncheon's submitted amendment of 20 to 50 members, instead limiting the number of Residents' Autonomy Association committee members to 20 to 30, approving this modification.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's standard for the number of Residents' Autonomy Association committee members is at least 30, and Suncheon proposed a flexible operation with 20 to 50 members depending on the circumstances of each eup, myeon, and dong, but the City Council restricted it to 30 members.

Regarding the City Council's intention to reduce the number of Residents' Autonomy Association committee members, citizen A said, “Isn't the Suncheon City Council trying to check the Residents' Autonomy Association?” and added, “This is a move that goes against the activation of residents' autonomy promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration and the Democratic Party.”

As if to prove this, the Suncheon City Council also restricted the term of the Residents' Autonomy Association chairperson to ‘no reappointment’.

Additionally, the City Council deleted the proposal to establish subcommittees of the Residents' Autonomy Association submitted by the city as an amendment.

Although the intention was to effectively operate subcommittees in populous eup, myeon, and dong such as Deokyeon-dong, Ocheon-dong, and Haeryong-myeon, the City Council did not permit this.

Given this situation, representatives who have been leading the Residents' Autonomy Committee and Residents' Autonomy Association, as well as citizens interested in the autonomy association, are strongly opposing.

Regarding the term of the chairperson, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's standard allows local governments autonomy, and Suncheon's submitted amendment set the term at two years with one possible reappointment, but the City Council cut it to ‘no reappointment’.

Resident autonomy association official B said, “What reason would the City Council have to limit the reappointment of the chairperson?” and added, “They are cutting off the possibility in advance because the chairperson might run for city council later.”

The Residents' Autonomy Association, which is developing as a form of local autonomy promoted by the Moon Jae-in administration, is a residents' representative organization at the eup, myeon, and dong level with enhanced authority and responsibility compared to the previously operated Residents' Autonomy Committee, and is scheduled to be fully implemented starting next year.

Suncheon City is also planning to fully implement the Residents' Autonomy Association from next year, in line with Mayor Heo Seok's pledge to realize direct democracy by significantly expanding and strengthening the functions of the Residents' Autonomy Association. Currently, the city operates Residents' Autonomy Associations in eight eup, myeon, and dong.

The main activities and roles of the Residents' Autonomy Association include ▲ resident-led village planning ▲ budget consultation at eup, myeon, and dong levels ▲ hosting residents' general meetings.

Suncheon City proved itself as a leading city in residents' autonomy by winning the grand prize in the Residents' Autonomy Institutional Policy category at last year's Residents' Autonomy Expo.

Leading cases recognized include village planning linked to participatory budgeting and the establishment of a public service organizational infrastructure based on residents' autonomy, and the Deokyeon-dong Residents' Autonomy Association won an excellence award in the ‘Residents' Autonomy’ category.

It is not the only case where the City Council, which should be activating the Residents' Autonomy Association in the leading city of residents' autonomy, Suncheon, is instead moving in the opposite direction.

City Council member C said, “This happened due to a lack of communication with the city executive branch,” and added, “We will proceed with efforts to amend the ordinance through future meetings and public hearings to increase council members' understanding and ensure residents' autonomy can work well.”

A Suncheon city official said, “Usually, when there is a problematic ordinance amendment, the City Council calls in the relevant department heads for questioning, but this time that did not happen.”

If city council members, who entered the council as watchdogs of the executive branch reflecting citizens' opinions, are misunderstood as obstructing the activation of the Residents' Autonomy Association, it is difficult to escape criticism that they are protecting their vested interests.

Furthermore, the suggestion that the chairperson is seen as a potential competitor and is being checked through reappointment restrictions is pointed out as an even more unacceptable issue.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.