Gwangju Seo-gu's COVID-19 Response Faces 'Halt' Over New 'Infectious Disease Management Division' Establishment

‘Organizational Restructuring Plan’ Rejected Twice at Last Seo-gu Council Regular Meeting

Conflict Among Council Members Over Date for One-Point Special Session

"Council Members' 'Power Struggle' Prevents Appointment of Over 60 People Within

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] As COVID-19 cases continue to exceed around 1,000 nationwide daily, Seo-gu District in Gwangju Metropolitan City is delaying the establishment of the ‘Infectious Disease Management Division,’ the first of its kind among autonomous districts in Gwangju, aimed at a more professional response.

While this appears to be due to differing opinions among Seo-gu Council members regarding the organizational restructuring, some voices suggest that simple power struggles are hindering administration.

According to Seo-gu and the Seo-gu Council on the 23rd, Seo-gu has pushed for organizational restructuring to operate the organization efficiently in response to changes in the administrative environment.

Specifically, the plan is to establish an Infectious Disease Management Division within the current Seo-gu Public Health Center, which currently operates an Infectious Disease Management Team.

However, since the team’s staffing is limited to 6 to 7 members, not only temporary employees but also staff from other departments have been supporting work during holidays and nights.

This situation is the same in the other four autonomous districts in Gwangju, and Seo-gu has decided to proactively restructure to strengthen its capacity and expertise in responding to COVID-19.

If the ‘division’ is established, the staff will increase to 11 to 12 members, creating a more efficient dedicated organization in the post-COVID-19 era. It is also expected to reduce the fatigue of employees from other departments.

Along with this, Seo-gu has pursued the establishment of a total of three new divisions, including splitting the Culture and Sports Division into the ‘Culture and Arts Division’ and the ‘Sports and Tourism Division,’ abolishing one division, and creating nine new teams.

However, Seo-gu council members expressed differing opinions on the organizational restructuring, causing difficulties.

For example, regarding the split of the Culture and Sports Division, some questioned the need to separate arts and sports during the COVID-19 era, and others argued that the organization would become excessively large due to the establishment of the Convergence Services Team. As a result, the agenda was rejected at the 290th 2nd regular meeting’s Planning and General Affairs Committee on the 27th of last month.

Subsequently, on the 18th, another attempt to submit the agenda failed due to council members’ absences.

This is the first time in Seo-gu that an organizational restructuring agenda has been rejected by the council.

During this process, the executive branch and council members reached a consensus excluding the establishment of the Youth Job Team and the Convergence Services Team, but on the 21st, the Planning and General Affairs Committee vote resulted in a tie of 3 in favor and 3 against, leading to another rejection.

The council members who voted against stated that while they support the organizational restructuring agreement, they believe that the same agenda rejected during the session cannot be resubmitted and passed within the same session.

They argue that it is procedurally correct to hold a one-point special session immediately after this session ends to pass the agenda.

When an attempt was made to hold a special session that day, opposition emerged from council members who had previously supported the agenda. They argued that if the intention was to reject the agenda and then hold a special session within a day or two to pass it, it would have been better to approve it initially.

In this process, criticism has arisen that administrative work is being delayed and affected due to power and pride struggles among council members.

On the same day, the Seo-gu Public Officials’ Union also stated, “It is deplorable news that the organizational restructuring was finally rejected while not only the responsible department but also other departments are supporting work due to COVID-19,” and “The Seo-gu Council’s decision to reject the organizational restructuring, which has nullified the appointment of over 60 candidates waiting for appointment within the year, should be reconsidered.”

In response, a Seo-gu council member said, “It was postponed due to procedural issues, not power struggles among council members,” and added, “Not all council members oppose the organizational restructuring plan, so a special session should be held soon to create a direction that everyone agrees on.”

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