The South Jeolla-Gwangju Special Integrated City Council is set to discuss how to respond to the confirmation hearing for a political vice mayor candidate.
The council will hold a morning meeting of its operations committee Monday to discuss how to run the confirmation hearing and select committee members. In the afternoon, the speaker's group and standing committee chairs will convene a joint session to map out a response.
Within the council, there are concerns that the title and duties of the political vice mayor as defined in the city ordinance do not match the job description used in the public recruitment process, potentially constituting an ordinance violation.
The council's position is that the executive branch was notified of the ordinance issue in advance but failed to address it, announcing two candidates Thursday before formally requesting the council to proceed with the confirmation process — a sequence the council views as having things backward.
The council plans to examine whether preliminary steps are needed — such as a targeted ordinance amendment — to resolve the conflict between the ordinance and the publicly advertised job duties.
The council believes the executive branch proceeded with the vice mayor selection process while excluding the legislature, and intends to scrutinize from the ground up whether to hold the confirmation hearing at all.
The fact that both candidates nominated through the citizen recommendation system came from Mayor Min Hyeong-bae's transition committee has also been raised as a matter requiring scrutiny.
Questions have emerged within the council over whether the citizen recommendation system was merely a formality to appoint transition committee insiders. Some members argue the hearings should focus on administrative expertise and organizational management ability rather than political leanings or personal ties to the mayor.
Council Speaker Song Hyeong-gon met with Mayor Min on Thursday to protest the vice mayor selection process and what he described as insufficient consultation with the council.
Mayor Min apologized, saying he had believed the council had been adequately briefed, and indicated he would explain the background and process behind the appointments. Speaker Song, however, made clear that a personal apology alone was not enough to close the matter.
"Informing the council after the executive branch has already reached a conclusion is closer to a notification than communication," said Shin Min-ho, chair of the council's operations committee. "We will gather opinions on how to bring the issue of the council being sidelined during the appointment and reorganization process into public debate and correct it."
sij@heraldcorp.com
