Commune merger: Reorganize the head, reserve position allowances for redundant leaders

On the afternoon of June 27, continuing the regular June meeting, chaired by comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee continued to listen and give opinions on many important issues. In which, the delegates listened and gave opinions on the content of the 9th session of the 17th Provincial People's Council; on the overall plan to arrange administrative units at district and commune levels in the period of 2019 - 2021. Photo: Archive

Through the contents of the 9th session, the Provincial People's Council

Presenting the expected content of the 9th session of the 17th Provincial People's Council, Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council said: The Standing Committee, the Provincial People's Council Committees, the Provincial People's Committee and related sectors will submit 28 reports to the meeting for consideration, of which 8 reports are expected to be presented in the Hall, the remaining reports will be sent to delegates for study.

At this session, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee plan to submit to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and approval of 24 Resolutions on socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security and personnel work, of which: The Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council prepares and submits 4 draft Resolutions, the Provincial People's Committee prepares and submits 20 draft Resolutions (with a list of Resolutions submitted to the session attached).

Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council reported the expected content of the 9th session. Photo: Dao Tuan

The meeting is scheduled to take place from July 10-12. The question and answer session will take place on the afternoon of July 11.

The Provincial Party Committee agreed with the contents presented by the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee.

36 communes will merge into 16 communes

Next, the delegates listened to the representative of the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee present the draft master plan for the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels in the period of 2019-2021.

Image honoring the merger of Thanh Tuong, Thanh Van, Thanh Hung communes of Thanh Chuong district.

The province currently has 21 district-level administrative units (DAUs), including 17 districts, 1 city and 3 towns, and no DAU has less than 50% of both criteria (population and area). Therefore, it is not necessary to implement the arrangement and merger plan in phase 1 from 2019-2021.

At the commune level, the whole province has 480 administrative units, including: 431 communes, 32 wards and 17 towns. Of which: 50 administrative units meet 100% of both criteria of natural area and planning.population size as prescribed. There are 413 administrative units that meet 50% or more of the criteria for natural area and population size as prescribed, and there are 17 administrative units (including 14 communes and 3 towns) that meet less than 50% of both criteria for natural area and population size that must be arranged and merged in the period 2019-2021.

Based on the report on the plan to arrange commune-level administrative units of 10 districts, the whole province has 17 commune-level administrative units that must be merged (3 towns and 14 communes) in the period of 2019 - 2021. However, the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee proposed to keep Muong Xen town (Ky Son) intact, because this is a border area, the most difficult district of the province. The district has 11 border communes, the remaining communes are all difficult communes...

In phase 1, 16 commune-level administrative units of 10 districts will be reorganized and merged. There are 2 commune-level administrative units that are encouraged to merge; 18 adjacent administrative units are related to the merger of commune-level administrative units. Thus, there are a total of 36 commune-level administrative units (must merge, encouraged, adjacent) to be reorganized and merged into 16 units.

Maintain the current number of staff and reserve the position allowance coefficient

Regarding the arrangement of the organizational apparatus and the arrangement of redundant civil servants and public employees, the Central Government has not yet issued any specific guidance documents. The Provincial People's Committee proposes to maintain the current number of civil servants and arrange work according to the positions in the new communes after the merger and implement a gradual reduction policy without recruiting additional staff until the required number is met.

For the number of redundant commune-level leaders after the merger (including: Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Chairman, Vice Chairman and Head of socio-political organizations), localities shall organize the reorganization and rearrangement of leaders in the new commune according to regulations; the number of redundant leaders shall be retained for the position allowance coefficient according to regulations until other jobs are arranged. Transfer cadres and civil servants to units with vacant positions or lacking civil servants with appropriate professional qualifications; Resolve retirement regimes (if meeting the conditions according to the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and the Law on Social Insurance); Implement retirement regimes according to Decree 108/2014/ND-CP, Decree 113/2018/ND-CP amending Decree 108 on streamlining payroll (if eligible); implement retirement according to personal wishes; implement retirement to pay voluntary social insurance, etc.

Administrative map of communes in Tuong Duong district will be merged.

According to the roadmap, from June to July 2019, develop a detailed project, collect voters' opinions in hamlets of the communes implementing the merger; From August 1 to 30, 2019, approve the project of merging commune-level administrative units by the People's Councils at the commune, district and provincial levels. From September 10, 2019, submit to the Government for appraisal the project of merging commune-level administrative units to submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Agencies Party Committee spoke at the working session. Photo: Dao Tuan

At the working session, delegates enthusiastically discussed the plan to merge commune-level administrative units and the settlement of policies for grassroots cadres and civil servants.

According to comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Agencies Party Committee, the merger process needs to pay attention to the naming of newly formed communes. The Provincial People's Committee needs to carefully study to decide to retain or change the names of some administrative units at the commune and village levels.

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department suggested that the merger process must take into account the specific characteristics of the area, especially the distance between mountainous villages; and conflicts between clans in ethnic minority communities.

Speaking at the working session, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy said that the work of merging commune-level administrative units is being vigorously implemented by the Provincial People's Committee. Photo: Dao Tuan

Speaking at the working session, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Thai Thanh Quy affirmed that the work of merging commune-level administrative units is being vigorously implemented by the Provincial People's Committee. Accordingly, 3 commune-level administrative units will basically be merged into 1 new commune, except for Hung Nguyen district, which will merge 2 communes. Because if 3 communes are merged, Hung Nguyen district will not reach the minimum level of 16 communes according to the Central regulations. During the merger process, the province also carefully calculated the preservation of the specific characteristics and identities of the localities, including retaining the names of communes, villages, and hamlets.

Do not recruit grassroots staff, keep deputy staff intact

With the participation of representatives of the Central Organizing Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Xuan Son hopes that the Central Committee will consider and share with Nghe An the difficulties in the merger, especially the specific factors when implementing this important policy.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council proposed to immediately stop recruiting grassroots cadres and to do a good job of ideological work for cadres, to ensure a smooth merger process. Photo: Dao Tuan

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Son also suggested immediately stopping the recruitment of grassroots cadres and doing a good job of ideological work for cadres to ensure a smooth merger process.

Affirming his complete agreement with the merger policy proposed by the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee, concluding the meeting, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh requested the Provincial People's Committee and related units to consult with People's Councils at all levels and sectors as well as the people to make adjustments to suit the reality.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh concluded the working session. Photo: Dao Tuan

The Provincial Party Secretary also requested that in the process of restructuring the administrative apparatus at the commune level, the Provincial People's Committee and related units also determine plans for each specific case: Those who are preparing to retire, those in communes where cadres can negotiate with each other, those units where conflicts are predicted to arise due to restructuring the apparatus... all must be considered to be flexible in handling and arranging cadres.

For villages and hamlets with large numbers and many characteristics, district-level units are required to take the lead in implementing the merger and arrangement work and report to the province on any arising complications for support. In addition, the Provincial People's Committee shall base on criteria and principles to resolve related issues.

Also in the afternoon, the Provincial Party Committee listened to and gave opinions on a number of other issues.