The Gwangju City Council has finally approved its first organizational restructuring plan.
This decision stabilizes the city’s organization and allows for personnel changes.
The administration plans to expedite subsequent appointments.
It aims to conduct some executive promotions before Chuseok and finalize all personnel changes by October 7.
On September 18, the Gwangju City Council held its third plenary session of the first regular meeting, where it passed the "Comprehensive Amendment to the Ordinance on the Establishment of Administrative Organizations for the Integrated Gwangju City of Jeollanam-do" with 46 votes in favor, 35 against, and 8 abstentions out of 89 present council members.
The plan barely passed with one more vote than the majority of 45.
Additionally, the "Partial Amendment to the Ordinance on Public Employee Staffing" was approved with 62 votes in favor, 15 against, and 7 abstentions out of 84 present members.
Before the vote on the restructuring plan, 11 council members requested a debate against it, but only two, Jin Ho-geon and Lee Haeng-do, spoke before the discussion was concluded, and no members spoke in favor.
The first restructuring plan since the integration faced challenges due to the distribution of functions among the city offices and the placement of the nationally appointed deputy mayor.
The council had previously postponed the Planning and Finance Committee's review on September 9 due to disagreements over the distribution of functions among the three city offices: Gwangju, Muan, and Dongbu. The administration submitted a revised plan, which passed the committee on September 15.
Before the plenary vote, there was also controversy within the Democratic Party regarding a "party-line vote."
With the restructuring plan now passed, the administration is set to accelerate the subsequent personnel procedures.
It plans to prioritize some executive promotions before Chuseok and conduct the remaining promotions and transfers after the holiday, aiming to complete all personnel changes by the implementation date of October 7.
During the plenary session, a total of 16 items were voted on, including two ordinances related to the restructuring.
The supplementary budget was ultimately passed after the council rejected an additional issuance of 27.1 billion won in local bonds that exceeded the legal limit of 119.8 billion won originally included in the budget, resulting in a total reduction of 41.5 billion won, including 40 billion won for the education office's legal transfer.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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