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 on July 13. [Provided by the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly. Redistribution and DB prohibited] <Yonhap>
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 on July 13. [Provided by the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly. Redistribution and DB prohibited]

The first organizational restructuring plan for the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City has cleared a standing committee of the city assembly.

The Planning and Finance Committee of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City Assembly reviewed two bills Tuesday — a revised organizational restructuring plan and a staffing ordinance. The restructuring plan is set to be put to a full assembly vote Sunday.

Of the 30 items the assembly had called for, the city incorporated 15, focusing on strengthening the functions of the Gwangju, Muan and eastern campuses, while deferring the remaining 15 for future review.

During Tuesday's review, the committee attached three conditions to its approval: that the city petition the Ministry of Interior and Safety for a Grade 1 director-general post after the reorganization takes effect; that a director-general position be established under the industry and economy vice mayor at the eastern campus; and that a director-general post for agriculture, fisheries and livestock be created under the balanced development vice mayor, along with efforts to secure one policy support officer per person.

Earlier, the city executive had submitted a reorganization plan to the assembly on Sept. 7 that restructured the vice mayor system into four areas — administrative culture, balanced development, civic sovereignty and industry and economy — and adjusted functions across campuses, but the committee deferred its review.

At that time, the committee held off on its review and called for revisions, citing concerns over the placement of nationally appointed vice mayors, the distribution of functions across campuses, and the fragmentation of core administrative support functions such as planning, budgeting, personnel and organization.

The revised plan moves the river management division — previously under the civic safety office at the Gwangju campus — to the balanced development office at the Muan campus. The change reflects the assembly's observation that managing rivers is far more efficient from Muan, given that South Jeolla Province has 556 rivers compared with just 31 in Gwangju.

A religious affairs office was also newly established directly under the industry and economy vice mayor at the eastern campus, in response to calls for dedicated management of cultural heritage sites and Buddhist temples in the South Jeolla region. The Gwangju campus, meanwhile, bolstered its support for new industries by creating team-level units for small business support, semiconductor city settlement and semiconductor materials, parts and equipment.

"Since the vice mayor, acting on behalf of the integrated special city mayor, pledged to fulfill the three conditions the committee set, we will approve the plan conditionally," Planning and Finance Committee Chairman Im Hyeong-seok said. "A preliminary vote showed five in favor, two opposed and one abstention."


sij@heraldcorp.com