Pyeongtaek City Holds Regular Cooperative Governance Meeting

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Pyeongtaek City held a regular cooperative governance meeting on the 24th to promote cooperative governance that communicates with citizens.

The city has been organizing the Pyeongtaek City Cooperative Governance Council and operating a cooperative promotion team and four working committees since October of last year in accordance with the 'Pyeongtaek City Cooperative Governance Basic Ordinance'.

The meeting was attended by 20 people including members of the cooperative governance council and heads of relevant departments, during which the city explained initiatives promoted to activate citizen cooperation. The meeting also reported on the implementation status of 11 agenda items for the 2020 cooperative governance council and discussed new agenda.

The city is preparing to establish 'Pyeongtaek Citizens' Space No. 1' in the western region as a community space for citizen participation and cooperation, and is pilot-operating 'Hyupmchi Nuri,' a policy public forum where citizens can freely propose and discuss policies online.

In particular, 'Hyupmchi Nuri' is planned to begin formal operation from early next year and is expected to serve as a venue for citizen communication fitting for the post-COVID-19 era.

After reporting on the implementation status of the 11 projects decided as agenda items for the 2020 cooperative governance council, discussions continued between cooperative council members and department heads of participating projects on the direction and detailed implementation of the projects. The city plans to actively promote these important projects next year as well to expand citizen participation.

The 11 projects are ▲ reorganization of cooperative organizations ▲ establishment of support systems for the transition to resident autonomy councils ▲ establishment of citizen participation budget support systems ▲ establishment of systems to promote public-interest activities ▲ composition of community spaces ▲ establishment of community integrated care systems ▲ construction of private networks for food plans ▲ establishment of citizen-participatory urban forest systems ▲ establishment of citizen participation systems in public facility construction ▲ formulation of policies and establishment of support systems for middle-aged and older workers ▲ promotion of education to raise awareness of cooperative governance, etc.

Regarding the new agenda item 'Eup-Myeon-Dong Head Resident Recommendation System,' opinions converged to specify details in the future.

Co-chairs of the Cooperative Governance Council, Mayor Jung Chang-seon and Assembly Speaker Lee Sang-hoon, stated, "Although there have been many difficulties in cooperative-related projects due to COVID-19, we plan to encourage citizen participation in various ways," adding, "We will make efforts to ensure that good opinions go through a public discussion process and are transformed into policies for citizens."