Local Administration

Vulcan City Hall:

Address: Str. Romanilor, nr.6, Vulcan, HD.
Phone: 0254/570 340; 0254/570 011; 0254/572 340
Fax: 0254/571 910; 0254/572 340
E-mail: Vulcan City Hall

History summary:
The first documents that attest to the existence of a city government are from 1895. At that time the local city hall began keeping a register of births and deaths from the area. After 1896 there are more documents referring to local authority functions, as well as documents referring to population number: a census, construction agreements, etc.

The City Hall is the executive organ for the city and consists of a Local Council and a Mayor. The Mayor is the chief of the local public administration and the Local Council holds him responsible for the good management of his local administration. The Mayor represents the city in relations with all citizens and businesses (Romanian or foreign) in judicial matters

Mayor's Office

The mayor of Vulcan is Dr. ing. Mr. Petru Hodor, elected in 2000 for a four - year term of office.

The mayor supervises all local public administration and local public authorities.

Mayor's Functions:
· The Mayor is responsible for the efficient and effective functioning of the public administration. He also represents the City in relations with other public authorities, and both official and non-official individuals.
· Ensures the upholding of the fundamental rights and the liberties of the citizen, the Constitution, the laws of the state, the decrees of the President of Romania, the Government decisions, the papers issued by ministers and other authorities of the central public administration and the decisions of the County Council;
· Ensures the implementation of decisions adopted by the County Council;
· Must notify the Prefect within three days of discovery of any suspected illegal Local Council decision;
· Can propose referendums for important issues to the Local Council, and has to organize the referendums if the Local Council approves them;
· Drafts the local budget proposal and the balance of closure of the budget and submits them to the Local Council for approval;
· Exercises the rights and fulfills the responsibilities of the city or village in its quality of legal and civil rights for the citizens;
· Ensures the public order through public guards and with the help of the gendarmerie, police, firemen and public defense. The latter have the duty to respond to his requests, provided that they are within legal frame;
· Exercises control over commercial activities, public alimentation and services, within the law's boundaries;
· Takes measures towards the suspension or interdiction of public shows or other public manifestations that contradict the legal order or are contravene to the public morals or public order;
· Supervises measures for public health and hygiene and of commercialized health/medical products with the support of the specialized institutions for the public;
· Distributes social homes on the criteria approved by the Local Council;
· Ensures the maintenance of the public roads of the village or city, provides proper signage (road signs), and ensures the efficient functioning of traffic;
· Oversees the fairs, market-places, and amusement parks and takes operational measures for their proper functioning;
· Leads the local public services including the civilian status services and child care;
· Oversees the observance of the social assistance, social care and child care laws;
· Appoints and dismisses from function all City-Hall personnel except for the Local Council Secretary;
· Proposes the functional dismissal of the heads of the commercial and public institutions that are under the authority of the Local Council; He supervises the activity of the City-Hall personnel.

The mayor has other roles and responsibilities as listed in the Public Administration Law No. 215/2001 or as entrusted in him by the Local Council.

Local Council

The Local Council is the authority of the Local Public administration. The City Council is the local government legislative body that is elected in a general election to represent the city citizens in the governing of the city. The Local Councils of the villages and towns as well as those of the administrative-territorial divisions of Bucharest are composed of local councilors elected through universal, equal, direct, secret and freely expressed vote, within the conditions imposed by the Law concerning local elections.

The City Council has legislative power in all issues of local interest. The Council cannot make decisions matters where the decision power is granted by law to other local or national public institutions.

A councilor's mandate expires before the usual duration, in case of:
· Death;
· Resignation;
· Incompatibility;
· Change of permanent domicile in another administrative-territorial division;
· Unmotivated absence from more than 3 council meetings;
· The impossibility to exercise one's duties for more than 6 months;
· After the validation of mandates a definitive judicial decision rules that during the election process a fraud or any other event contrary to the Law regarding local elections has occurred;
· Definitive judicial decision sentencing the councilor to loss of liberty;
· Commitment to an institution due to mental debility or alienation or in case of loss of electoral rights.

Mode of Operation of the Local Council
· The Local Councilors are elected for a 4 years term of office.
· The Local Council is operational from the date of its creation until the next Local Council is declared legally created.
· The Local Council meets on a monthly basis, at the Mayor's request. It can also meet at any other date at the Mayor's request or if at lest two thirds of the Local Councilors request the meeting. In case of emergency the convocation of the Local Council can be done at once.
· The agenda of the Local Council Meetings must be made public through any media services available.
· The Local Council meetings are public except for the cases when it decides, with majority of votes, that the meetings should be done behind closed doors.
· The problems regarding the local budget, the public and private domain administration, the participation to local, regional or international development programs, the urban development issues, will always be discussed in public meetings. Moreover, those issues regarding the association and cooperation with other public authorities, NGO, public or private institutions and individuals are also always public. On these specific issues the mayor can ask for a referendum.
· The Local Council can make decisions based on the vote of the majority of the present members, unless the law or regulations request another type of majority.
· The decisions regarding the local budget, the public and private domain administration, the participation to local, regional or international development programs, the urban development issues, will always be adopted with a majority of two thirds from the total number of Councilors. As well as those regarding the association and cooperation with other public authorities, NGO, public or private institutions and individuals.
· The decisions regarding the local budget as well as those concerning local taxes are also adopted with a majority of two thirds from the total number of Councilors.
· The resolution drafts can be submitted either by the mayor or by one of the councilors. The one that submits the proposal must submit a text personally, aided by the secretary and the specialized services within the City Hall.
· The compliance with the resolutions with local law character is mandatory; they become so as soon as they are brought to public knowledge. The individual resolutions become mandatory from the date they are communicated to their object. The publication of the resolution is made five days after it is sent to the Prefect's Office.
· During their term of office, the Local Councilors are to serve the local community; therefore, the Councilors are required to organize regular meetings with the citizens and have specific days in which they have to be accessible to the public. Each Councilor, as well as the Vice-Mayor, is required to make an annual report of activity, which is then made public by the Council Secretary.
· All the Councilors are responsible for the Local Council's activity. Each Councilor is responsible for his/her activity, as well as the resolutions for which they voted.
· Beginning with every new term of office, the Local Council organizes its own committees, each dealing with a specific field of the Council's responsibilities. The Vice-Mayor is the only exception to the aforementioned rule.
· The Committees analyze and approve the resolution drafts concerning their responsibilities.

Services and Departments of the Town Hall

· Department of Civil Status
- Making, registering and releasing papers for marriage and births

· Department for Social Protection and Child's Rights (wardship authority)
- Set up guardianship, finding the persons over 18 years old which are social dependent, protecting the child, finding and hospitalize the underage children and people with handicaps, social protection of the persons without incomes or with small incomes, evidences and protection of the persons with handicaps, social protection of the old people, other social attributions form the legislation.

· Department for Public Relations
- Assuring the convocation of the local councilors and the guests at the meetings, assuring the publication of the decisions and dispositions of general interest of the mayor, registering and distributing the correspondence, organizing the list with the citizens that are coming for the mayor, vice mayor and secretary audience, recording and supervise the solution of the notifications, assuring the typing of the papers, public relations.

· Department for Agriculture
- Daily filling in the agricultural register the data of the solicitants declarations, administrate the agricultural register, controlling and supervising the declarations made in the agricultural register when other notifications are received.

· Juridical Department
- To notify the legal methods for keeping the public order, to respect the rights and the fundamental liberties of the citizens, represent the local public administration in the Courts of Justice and other jurisdictions, to notify the successor procedures for people that had the last residence in Vulcan, to watch the apparitions of the normative dispositions and announcing the duties that the Town Hall has to do according to them.

The Public and Private Local Administration Service:

· Department for the Administration of the Public and Private Segment
- Is administrating the public and private sector of the town, deposits, conservation and distribution of the materials, equipments and office supplies, maintain and keep the street lightening service, watch and and maintain the goods from the public and private property from Vulcan, maintain the good functioning of the public streets, schools and kindergartens from the town.

· Administrative Office
- Provide the necessary materials for different repairing projects of public interest, secretary services for the Buildings Commission.

· Private Enterprise, Commerce Control Service
- It is subordinated to the vice mayor. Authorize and check the trade companies and persons from Vulcan, establish the conditions and apply the penalties regarding the citizens protection towards the illicit commercial activities, control the hygiene of the public places and the aliments that are for sell, organize a safety trade for the citizens.

· Budget and Accounting Service
- Elaborates the local budget project, controlling the incomes and outcomes from the budget amounts, make inventories of the goods that belongs to the town, organizing and assuring the preventive financial control, administrate in legal conditions the financial resources of the local budget, organize the accountings.

· Department for taxes

City Development, Investment, Projects-Programs, Environment Protection Service:

· Department for City Development, Constructions, Landscape architecture and Investment
- Controlling the existent documents and the applying the authorized documents and the penalties towards the constructions system, making the town papers and landscape architecture for community interest, check the approved papers and make sure that the companies and physical persona respect them, approve the location of a new building in the town according with the approved projects, authorizations, elaborating the local city development plan and documentations, landscape architecture, checking the investments activities: gaze, water system, waste system and electricity system, making the renting contracts for the lands according to the auction for the buildings, garages.

· Department for Projects and Programs
- Making the papers for the activities that will be done in the town with funds from the local budget and other funds, makes projects, maintain the library and the programs archives, implement the informatics applications, administrate the projects.

· Department for Environmental Issues
- Control the activities that can have negative environmental impact, giving or withdrawing the environment permission and authorities for the sanitary and hygienically places, aliments markets, street markets, transportation vehicles, waste system, thermal system. Initiate projects and control the quality of the landscape architecture of the town.

Programs of ths department:
In august 2002, were finalized 6 projects financed by European Union - with a budget of 780,000 Euro on PHARE MARR RO 9809.02-02. The Local Council of Vulcan participating with 25% from the total amount:

The projects are the following:
· Modernizing the transport system of the thermal energy - 331,220 Euro
· Repairing the roofs of the schools - 293,359 Euro
· Repairing the isolation of the blocks from the neighborhood "Micro 3" - 65,866 Euro
· Making the yard for the Kindergarten no 1 - 26,714 Euro
· Enlarge the space for the Social Cantina - 20,851Euro
· Modernizing the Sport Room of the Mihai Vitezu School - 25,689 Euro
The Technical, Investments, Projects and Program Department is working on several projects proposals of small infrastructure PHARE RO-0108.03.05.

Personnel and Wages Service
Making the payments for the employed personal of the town hall of Vulcan, elaborating the project of organization and functioning of the Local Council, executing the personal activities, keeping and updating the personal documentations and papers and working contracts, making the organizational charts in the town hall, establish the annual amount for the salaries of the employed personal of the town hall, establish the training program for improving the personal activities.

Civil Protection Service
Establish the annual plan for civil defending of the town, establish the protection plan and interventions in disasters situations, establish the resources plan for civil protection.

Internal Audit Service
Making the semester and annual audit reports which are accompanied by accounting reports, checking the legality of the operations, identify the errors, bad administration, giving solutions for remedying the situation and recovering the loss and penalized the guilty people, evaluations of efficiency use of resources in programs and projects by the town hall personal to achieve the objectives and the results, supervising the decision process.

Source: DEEP