Pyeongtaek City Holds First Meeting of Citizens' Pledge Evaluation Panel

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Pyeongtaek City held the first meeting of its Citizens' Pledge Evaluation Panel to evaluate the fulfillment of pledges made under the 7th popularly elected administration, in the city hall's grand conference room on the 15th.

With 30 members of the Citizens' Pledge Evaluation Panel in attendance, the meeting featured an appointment ceremony, education on the manifesto movement and the panel's role, the formation of subcommittees, and the selection of agenda items for deliberation.

The Citizens' Pledge Evaluation Panel meeting is organized by the Korea Manifesto Center, a private organization, in order to ensure the transparency of pledges. It was introduced to have citizens participate in the process of implementing pledge projects, to evaluate the achievements and limitations of pledge fulfillment, and to seek alternatives.

To ensure democratic and fair deliberation, including representation of residents and equality of participation opportunities, the panel of 30 members was selected through random drawing from among citizens aged 19 or older residing in the city, taking gender, age, and region into account. The panel plans to evaluate the city's pledge projects through three meetings this year.

The second meeting, scheduled for the 29th, will feature explanations of pledge projects by the responsible departments, along with questions and answers and free discussion by the panel. At the third meeting on the 12th of next month, the panel will draw up recommendations covering the achievements, problems, and improvement measures for the city's pledge projects. The panel's recommendations and whether the city accepts them will be announced on the city website in March.

Lee Jong-ho, Vice Mayor of Pyeongtaek City, said, "We will faithfully implement the 153 pledge projects by reflecting the valuable recommendations of Pyeongtaek City's Citizens' Pledge Evaluation Panel in the project implementation process as much as possible," and added, "We ask for the interest and participation of citizens directly connected to local issues so that objective and in-depth evaluation can take place."