A Civil Association Sued the Municipality of Radomir

The public administration has hidden how much does it owe to the waste
management company “Mesko – Ko MM5”

Ilyana Ivanova

Civil Association “Development of the Municipality of Radomir”

The association was founded in 2011 by local business representatives and active citizens in order citizens to receive information about the mayor's team, the municipal council and the development of the municipality.
After its establishment, the association has used the APIA to obtain information that has not been public until then. The association challenged the partial refusal in the Administrative Court – Pernik. The favorable court decision was disseminated in the local media, contributing to more informed public decisions which resulted in the discontinuation of a number of bad practices.
The association entered a dialogue with the next mayor’s team and the municipal council trying to find solutions to pending issues related to the determination and amount of solid waste fees, to the joint funding of sporting activities and the activities in the community centers and the schools in the Municipality of Radomir.
Although modest, our experience has shown that such forms of civic association, especially using the APIA, can be extremely useful for the transparent local government.

A civil association won an access to information court case against the Municipality of Radomir. In the summer of 2011, the local authority refused to provide access to documents related to the financial relations between the municipality and the waste management company “Mesko – Ko MM5” Ltd.

In July, the members of the Civil Association “Development of the Municipality of Radomir,” established a year and half ago, filed a request to the then Mayor Krasimir Borisov. They raised five questions. Within the legally prescribed period they received information about the remunerations of the members of the local parliament; how much per month the municipality pays for the maintenance of infrastructure, schools and community centers; what is the amount spent to support the emergency department in the closed hospital. It has turned out that the figures go up only in the remunerations of the local government members, who have voted for sums between 715 and 1,400 BGN. On the other items, the amounts have been decreasing rapidly.

The rest of the questions were left unanswered on the grounds that they relate to a third party – the company “Mesko – Ko MM5.” The association has requested information about the due amounts to the waste management company before the signing of a procurement contract and for the period March 2009 – June 2001, as well as the liability of the municipality towards the company as of June 2011. That information was refused.

“We decided to seek redress for our rights in the court – Georgi Shtalyanov, member of the Steering Committee of the association says. It is our right to know how much does “Mesko – Ko MM5” receive per month and how much debt has the municipality accumulated towards the company up to now. Since Radomir is among the cities with the highest waste fee in the country.

For instance, the local enterprise “Besttehnika,” where Georgi Shtalyanov is an administrative director, owes 26,000 BGN per month as tax fee without even having a registered waste container in the territory of the enterprise. The other companies in the city, which are providing 3,000 employment positions, are suffering as well, according to Dimitar Dimitrov, member of the SC of the association. Citizens are also forced to pick deeper into their pockets. Furthermore, the contract signed by the municipality covers a period of 10 years, which according to the complainants is in violation of the Public Procurements Act.

After hearing the case, the justices repealed that part of Order No. 430 of the former Mayor of Radomir Krasimir Borisov which refused access to information.

“Public relations on the right of access to information are regulated by the APIA, public information being any information related to the public life in the Republic of Bulgaria and giving an opportunity to citizens to form their own opinion on the activities of the bodies obliged under the law,” the court judgment says. The court’s reasoning also includes the fact that the refusal has been signed by another person and not the responsible Krasimir Borisov. No evidence for the authorization of another official have been presented which is a considerable violation, according to the court. The Municipality of Radomir should pay the lawyers' costs and a stamp duty paid by the complainant, amounting to 2,210 BGN.

December 2011

This case is part of the book "Civil Participation and Access to Information (15 Years of the APIA, 37 stories of NGOs)" published by AIP within the implementation of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Nongovernmental Organizations to Seek Public Information” supported with a grant under the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 (www.ngogrants.bg).

The whole responsibility for the content shall be taken by the Access to Information Programme Foundaiton and it cannot be assumed under any circumstances that the document reflects the official stance of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Programme for NGO support in Bulgaria.

A Civil Association Sued the Municipality of Radomir

The public administration has hidden how much does it owe to the waste management company “Mesko – Ko MM5”

The public administration has hidden how much does it owe to the waste
management company “Mesko – Ko MM5”