The Nowogrodziec Municipal Office website published a text entitled Dispute at the session of the Bolesławiec County Council. It reads:

At the session of the Bolesławiec County Council on 26 June 2014, councillors from the “Forum” Club submitted a motion (attached) that was beneficial and, above all, lawful, concerning the allocation of councillors’ seats. This is a very important motion for our Nowogrodziec Municipality, as it increases the representation of future representatives of our Municipality in the county government.

Also on that day, the Nowogrodziec Municipal Council, meeting in session, reassessed the draft Resolution No. XLIV/248/14 of the Bolesławiec County Council and voted to issue a negative opinion on the draft resolution. It also decided that, if the opinion was not taken into account, a complaint would be submitted to the Electoral Commissioner.

What is causing controversy among residents is the attitude of the Bolesławiec County councillors who, by voting, oppose increasing the role and importance of our Nowogrodziec Municipality in the Bolesławiec County government. Naturally, obtaining 4 seats instead of 3 and creating a separate electoral district in our Municipality is an obvious benefit.

In the vote on amendments to Resolution No. XLIV/248/14 of the Bolesławiec County Council, Józef Kata (Civic Platform) voted against the possibility of increasing the number of seats for our Municipality. Zbigniew Mitera (Polish People’s Party), in turn, abstained. Only Leopold Wołoszyn (Bolesławiec Land) voted in favour of increasing the number of seats in our Municipality [podkreślenie – red.] and submitted an interpellation to Dariusz Kwaśniewski – Starost of Bolesławiec County. Dariusz Kwaśniewski (Civic Platform), Starost of Bolesławiec County, also rejected the proposed change supported by Nowogrodziec Mayor Robert Relich and the Nowogrodziec Municipal Council.

Nowogrodziec officials also quote the text of the motion submitted by Józef Król, head of the Forum councillors’ club in the Bolesławiec County Council. The document stated that “the presented draft Resolution [chodzi o Uchwałę Rady Powiatu Bolesławieckiego z 26 czerwca 2014 r. w sprawie podziału Powiatu Bolesławieckiego na okręgi wyborcze, ustalenia ich granic i numerów oraz liczby radnych wybieranych w każdym okręgu wyborczym – przyp. red.] fundamentally violates the legal rule contained in Article 454 § 3 of the Electoral Code by combining municipalities in which the number of councillors allocated to a municipality, resulting from the representation norm, is more than 3. This applies to the Municipality of Bolesławiec and Nowogrodziec. We submit a proposal for the division into electoral districts in accordance with the law […]. The current division of Bolesławiec County into electoral districts was established 16 years ago on the basis of the previously applicable electoral ordinance. The representation norm allows the number of electoral districts to be increased from 3 to 4. The rural Municipality of Bolesławiec should constitute a separate electoral district (3 seats), as should the Town and Municipality of Nowogrodziec (4 seats). The remaining 5 seats would go to the other municipalities: Osiecznica, Warta Bolesławiecka and Gromadka. As a result, elected members of the Bolesławiec County Council will identify more closely with the territory from which they obtained their mandate and with the groups that nominated them as candidates for councillors. This solution is closer to the idea of local self-government and, most importantly, meets the requirements of Article 454 § 3 of the Electoral Code”.

Councillor Józef Kata rejects the allegations in a statement:

A wise Pole after the event?

An article entitled “Dispute at the Session of the Bolesławiec County Council” was published on the website of the Nowogrodziec Municipal Office (www.nowogrodziec.pl). Since, in my opinion, the information presented on the city’s website concerning the division of Bolesławiec County into electoral districts for elections to the County Council, the determination of their boundaries and numbers, and the number of councillors elected in each electoral district is unreliable and needs to be supplemented with the following important facts:

  1. During a joint meeting of the Nowogrodziec Municipal Council committees on 4 June 2014, before the Municipal Council session, the draft resolution of the County Council sent to the municipality for consultation was unanimously given a positive opinion by that body.
  2. On 6 June 2014, with the knowledge of the Mayor of Nowogrodziec, the Nowogrodziec Municipal Council unanimously adopted Resolution No. XLIX/365/14, giving a positive opinion on draft Resolution No. XLIV/248/14 of the Bolesławiec County Council concerning the division of Bolesławiec County into electoral districts for the County Council, the determination of their boundaries and numbers, and the number of councillors elected in each electoral district. The draft provided for the election of five councillors in District No. II, Nowogrodziec with Osiecznica Municipality.
  3. The positive opinion, in the form of a resolution, was sent with a letter signed by the Chairman of the Nowogrodziec Municipal Council to the County Council Office, and information on the consultation process for the County’s draft resolution with the Electoral Commissioner was presented during the County Council session and was positive.
  4. On the basis of these considerations, in the vote I supported the position expressed at the joint committee meeting and in the resolution of the Nowogrodziec Municipal Council, establishing District No. II with 5 seats. (It should be noted that in elections to the county council, the allocation of seats is determined by the number of votes cast for individual lists. Candidates and lists may come from outside the Nowogrodziec Municipality.)
  5. In my opinion, the motion submitted by Councillor Józef Król sought to establish that the draft Resolution was unlawful because the city of Bolesławiec had lost one seat.
  6. The Nowogrodziec Municipal Council dealt with the matter of dividing Bolesławiec County into electoral districts, determining their boundaries and numbers, and the number of councillors elected in each electoral district again only after the Resolution had been adopted at the County Council session.

In my view, the information on the Nowogrodziec Municipal Office website does not reflect the true course of the consultations on the matter referred to above. The authors of this information are diverting attention from the essence of the matter, guided by political considerations.

I did not vote to reduce the number of seats in the Nowogrodziec Municipality because no such draft resolution was on the agenda during the proceedings. Besides, no other formal motion was submitted to the County Council by the Mayor of Nowogrodziec or the Municipal Council.

And no one from Nowogrodziec informed me about any other motions.

I would additionally like to inform you that the resolution adopted by the County Council is currently subject to legal assessment by the Electoral Commissioner.

Yours faithfully
Councillor of Bolesławiec County
Józef Kata

We will return to this subject.

(information: ii)