Hampyeong-gun Uncovers Numerous Improper Administrative Practices Including 'Personnel Management and Project Implementation'

Abolition of Additional Points for Certifications... Unfair Granting, etc.

Jeonnam Province Issues 56 Administrative Dispositions in Comprehensive Audit

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Hampyeong-gun, Jeollanam-do, was found to have committed numerous acts such as failing to comply with civil servant personnel regulations and improper management while promoting various projects.

According to Jeollanam-do on the 15th, the provincial audit office recently conducted a comprehensive audit of Hampyeong-gun and issued 56 administrative dispositions (26 personnel-related dispositions and 30 administrative dispositions).

The provincial audit office conducted an audit on all tasks handled from February 2017 to February this year targeting Hampyeong-gun’s main office, towns and townships, affiliated institutions, and business offices to ensure the legality and appropriateness of administrative affairs and the soundness and transparency of financial execution.

As a result, numerous cases of improper personnel management, such as failure to follow personnel regulation amendment procedures, and inappropriate project operations were revealed in Hampyeong-gun.

In February 2019, the county revised the personnel regulations and abolished the provision for additional points for certificates related to the promotion candidate list. It was confirmed that the personnel committee’s prior review and opinion collection procedures were not conducted during this process.

According to Article 8 of the Local Public Officials Act, etc., to amend personnel regulations, prior review by the personnel committee must be obtained, and if additional points are abolished, the content must be disclosed in advance to collect opinions from affiliated public officials.

Also, from July 2017 to February this year, the county conducted work performance evaluations every six months for public officials below grade 5 and promoted the evaluation of additional points for certificates.

Article 23 of the Local Public Officials Evaluation Regulations stipulates that additional points are determined by the local government’s regulations, and certificates held by those appointed to special ranks that require mandatory certification cannot be granted additional points.

However, from July 2017 to July 2019, Hampyeong-gun improperly granted additional points for certificates to 81 people appointed to special ranks requiring mandatory certificates, such as social workers.

Additionally, although the “Hampyeong-gun Local Public Officials Personnel Regulations” were amended in November 2019 to abolish additional points for certificates for general ranks other than special ranks, making it impossible to grant additional points from December 2019, the county continued to improperly grant additional points to 66 people. The improper granting of additional points for certificates resulted in other employees being disadvantaged when preparing the promotion candidate list.

Improper management was also confirmed in the promotion of the Forest Recreation Green Space Creation Project.

Since 2019, the county has received subsidies (810 million KRW) to promote three projects aimed at creating forest recreation green spaces, including the Green Ssamsi Forest.

Article 2 of the Forest Resources Act stipulates that the Green Ssamsi Forest creation project should exclude rural areas (only towns and neighborhoods are allowed). However, in 2019, only one project (20 million KRW) was promoted in a town area, while the remaining three projects (230 million KRW) were improperly promoted.

Improper purchase contracts for goods and government-supplied materials were also revealed.

Article 13 of the Enforcement Decree of the Public Procurement Service Act prohibits splitting purchases under 100 million KRW when purchasing goods under multiple supplier contracts. However, from September 2017 to June 2020, the county split purchases (63 times) of three types of goods, including impact-resistant water pipes, under 100 million KRW and made split contracts without proper review.

This caused a budget waste of up to 122.412 million KRW compared to the second-stage competitive bidding.

Other issues detected include improper handling of passenger vehicle operator management tasks, improper processing of local tax imposition and collection, failure to claim VAT refunds for the construction of revenue-generating buildings, and improper payment of the 2020 Basic Public Direct Payment.

Model cases include budget savings by utilizing street trees discarded at the Gwangju Urban Railway construction site and the creation of a traditional market parking lot through the preservation and utilization of local cultural resources.

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