Assembly members and attendees pose for a photo at the opening ceremony of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly, held at the South Jeolla provincial office. July 13 [Provided by the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly. Redistribution and DB prohibited]
Assembly members and attendees pose for a photo at the opening ceremony of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly, held at the South Jeolla provincial office. July 13 [Provided by the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly. Redistribution and DB prohibited]

The South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly will operate policy support officers for up to half the total number of assembly seats.

According to the assembly Sunday, a proposed partial amendment to the ordinance governing the staffing quota of South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City civil servants has been put out for legislative notice. The amendment would increase the assembly secretariat's headcount from 237 to 246 — nine positions, or 3.8 percent.

Of the nine new positions, four will be filled by Grade 6 general-track policy support officers.

Before the merger, the combined quota for policy support officers stood at 41 — 30 at the South Jeolla Provincial Assembly and 11 at the Gwangju City Assembly. With the integration raising the total number of assembly seats to 91, the assembly can now employ up to 45 such officers.

Policy support officers are legislative specialists who assist assembly members with drafting and amending ordinances, reviewing budgets and final accounts, conducting administrative audits and investigations, handling policy inquiries and developing policy proposals.

The special act governing the South Jeolla-Gwangju administrative merger also includes a provision calling on the assembly to work toward expanding its pool of policy support specialists to at least half the total number of seats.

Separately, the integrated city assembly has set a long-term internal goal of assigning one policy support officer to each assembly member and is pursuing system reforms to that end, while also raising the issue as a shared agenda item among city and provincial assemblies nationwide.

The expansion will in effect bring the assembly up to the minimum policy support officer quota permitted under the current Local Autonomy Act, establishing a basic framework of specialist staff to underpin members' legislative and policy work.


sij@heraldcorp.com