The current Draft Law on Local Self-Government makes certain improvements, especially related to the professionalization of the heads of local administration bodies and chief administrators. Also, it is commendable that some of our earlier suggestions, such as the consideration of the reports of the State Audit Institution by the Municipal Assembly, have been adopted. However, there is still room for further improvement of the control function of the municipal assembly, relations between local self-government and public institutions and companies founded by local self-government units. Especially, improvements are needed in the civil service system taking into consideration major problems that local self-governments have in this field, and insufficient regulation of key areas in this law, such as ability appraisals, assessments and keeping of personnel records. The general remark of the Institute is that in order to regulate these aspects of the civil service system so as to address the needs of local self-governments, the transitional and final provisions of this law should provide for deadlines for the adoption of bylaws that would elaborate the specifics of human resources management at the local level.
Also, having in mind that public hearings on Draft Law on Local Self-Government and the Draft Law on Civil Servants and State Employees are being conducted in parallel, and that some of the provisions of this Law depend on the final solutions in the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, we consider that the system at the local level should be regulated to the fullest extent without referring to regulations concerning civil servants and employees. In support of such a solution, there are also findings on the previous impossibility to apply the regulations from the state to the local level properly, also confirmed by the latest survey of the Institute Alternative.
Institute Alternative Team
Institute Alternative comments on the Draft Law on Local Self-Government can be read here (only in Montenegrin)
