Acting Director Appointment at Suncheon City Health Center... Different from Council's Criticism

No Legal Defects in Appointment Procedure and Acting Duties Contrary to Allegations

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Lee Young-ran, a member of the Suncheon City Council, raised concerns about the appointment of the head of the public health center and criticized the Suncheon city administration.

At the 2nd plenary session of the 246th extraordinary meeting held the day before, Councilor Lee argued that Suncheon City’s practice of appointing the head of the public health center in the form of an administrative acting position violates the Enforcement Decree of the Regional Public Health Act, which stipulates that the head of the public health center must be appointed from public officials with a medical license or those with many years of experience in health-related fields.

Article 13 of the Enforcement Decree of the Regional Public Health Act specifies that the head of the public health center must be appointed from among those holding a medical license, and if it is difficult to appoint someone with a medical license, then a public official from health, food hygiene, medical technology, nursing, or health care fields may be appointed as the head of the public health center.

Meanwhile, Suncheon City explained that the appointment situation is unavoidable and stated that there is no legal issue.

Article 10 of the Enforcement Rules of the Suncheon City Administrative Organization Establishment Ordinance stipulates that the head of the public health center is to be regarded as a local technical secretary, and local technical secretaries can be promoted after a minimum of 4 years of experience at grade 5.

Suncheon City stated that there are no grade 5 public officials in the health-related fields who have passed the minimum 4-year promotion period eligible for appointment as the head of the public health center, so according to Article 3 of the Suncheon City Acting Authority and Acting Officer Rules, the position is operated under a designated acting system after approval by the personnel committee.

In other words, there is no one with a medical license eligible to be appointed as the head of the public health center, and among grade 5 public officials in health-related fields, no one has passed the 4-year minimum period, so there are no candidates for promotion.

Accordingly, Suncheon City claims that the current head of the public health center is not appointed as an administrative official but is operating as an acting officer, so it is not a violation of the Enforcement Decree of the Regional Public Health Act.

Suncheon City’s operation of the head of the public health center as an acting officer is a long-standing administrative practice that began during the 6th popular election term (Mayor Jo Chung-hoon).

Meanwhile, to strengthen the expertise of the head of the public health center, Suncheon City designated the position as an open-type post in May and prepared related grounds to allow the appointment of those holding a medical license. They conducted two rounds of public announcements and re-announcements nationwide through cities, counties, districts, and the Korean Medical Association, but there were no applicants.

In other words, although they recruited the head of the public health center as a doctor, no doctors applied because they were dissatisfied with the salary and treatment of public officials. Nearby local governments have also only conducted recruitment for years without any applicants.

Meanwhile, Councilor Lee criticized the open recruitment for the head of the public health center conducted in May as a rushed and patchwork administration, pointing out that the recruitment implementation rules were belatedly established only on June 30.

According to the "2018 Local Personnel Practice_ Ministry of the Interior and Safety," the appointing authority must select and designate the position to be designated as an open-type post through the personnel committee’s deliberation and resolution. When a new open-type post designation target institution arises due to the establishment or reorganization of an organization, the designation review should be conducted in advance before the approval of the organization and personnel rules amendment, and reflected in the rules to ensure that open-type recruitment proceeds without delay.

Suncheon City, to strengthen the expertise of the head of the public health center, designated the position as an open-type post through the personnel committee’s resolution in May and carried out related procedures such as ordinance and rule review meetings to reflect the appointment of those holding a medical license in the administrative organization rules.

A Suncheon City official stated, “The amendment of the administrative organization rules reflecting the designation of the head of the public health center as an open-type post, which was promulgated on June 30, is not a rushed administration violating related regulations but was lawfully promoted according to the open-type post designation procedures.”

In an interview with Asia Economy, Councilor Lee revealed her thoughts regarding the appointment of the head of the public health center.

Councilor Lee said, “I have been attentive to health administration, which is important for citizens’ health, since the beginning of my legislative activities,” and added, “Even if the head of the public health center operates as an acting officer, I think it would be good to extend the term of the head of the public health center to ensure continuity and stability in health administration.”

Citizen C said, “No city council member, public official, or citizen is unaware that the reason why Suncheon City has no applicants for the head of the public health center as a doctor and no candidates for promotion among grade 5 public officials in health-related fields is because this situation has existed since the 6th popular election term and the position has been operated as an acting officer.” He added, “However, what is regrettable is the suspicion that these remarks are politically isolating Mayor Heo Seok during the COVID-19 situation.”

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