What Happened at the May City Council Session, or How Self-Government Is Being Destroyed in Bolesławiec
Kornel Filipowicz, Bogusław Nowak and Piotr Roman at the City Council session on May 27, 2026 • Photo author: istotne.pl
The May 27 session was one of the most important local-government meetings of 2026. It was devoted to a summary of Piotr Roman’s activities. We wanted to take part in the debate. City Council Chair Łukasz Jaźwiec did not allow it. What issues did we, as residents, want to raise, and how were the speaking rights of Bolesławiec residents trampled on and the session turned into a farce of self-government? The following article is about this.
The May 27 session was opened by City Council Chair Łukasz Jaźwiec (on a daily basis, president of the district PKS bus company in Bolesławiec). The central element of the session was the “Report on the state of the city.” After the report was presented, there was time for debate. This was precisely what Krzysztof Gwizdała, a journalist with istotne.pl on a daily basis, had prepared for. For this purpose, he collected questions from Bolesławiec residents and their 52 signatures (50 were required). In his speech, he was to raise several important issues that councillors from all sides do not discuss.
Only 41% of the plan. The result of poor management?
The mayor presents the budget surplus as a success, but Gwizdała wanted to ask what the surplus actually resulted from. Capital expenditure was completed at only 41.3 percent. Is this evidence of poor management, or rather the result of many planned investments simply not being completed for other reasons?
PLN 46 million in debt. Why was another loan taken out?
Over the course of the year, the city repaid part of its liabilities, but at the same time took out new loans worth PLN 10 million. At the end of 2025, its debt had risen to PLN 46 million. Gwizdała wanted to ask why the city’s debt had nevertheless increased despite such a large surplus.
Investments on paper, but little implementation in reality.
The report contains statements about a pro-investment policy and the city’s dynamic development. Gwizdała wanted to compare these slogans with specific investment items. The investment section includes projects with zero or very low implementation, including zero-emission public transport, a temporary bridge over the Bóbr, the reconstruction of Widok Street and documentation for cycling routes. Is the city really pursuing an investment policy, or does it instead enter ambitious projects into the budget and then fail to complete them?
Quality of life: low wages, but expensive housing, fuel and services.
The report presents Bolesławiec as a city with a high quality of life, strong rankings and economic development. Gwizdała wanted to ask what this quality of life looks like from the perspective of an ordinary resident. There is work in Bolesławiec, but it is often poorly paid: the minimum wage or little more. In addition, housing, services and fuel are expensive. Does the city examine the quality of jobs, or does it merely celebrate the presence of investors?
No municipal housing and a shrinking city housing stock.
A separate topic concerned housing. Gwizdała wanted to ask why the city sells apartments when housing needs have not disappeared. Housing is one of the basic issues determining quality of life, while market prices are prohibitive for many residents. How many people are waiting for municipal housing, how many units are empty or need renovation, why is the housing stock being reduced, and does the city have a plan to increase the number of homes available to residents on lower incomes?
City promotion costing PLN 740,000 and money for the media. No one measures the results.
The city spent PLN 739,597.77 on promotion in 2025. This amount included media, the internet, press, radio, television, promotional items, delegations, hotels, catering, transport and city events. However, the report does not provide a simple table showing who was paid, how much, and for what and with what result. Gwizdała wanted to ask why promotion cost so much and whether residents can see a full accounting of this money. He also wanted to raise the issue of money flowing from the city, its units and municipal companies to local media, and ask where city promotion ends and the financing of favorable coverage begins.
Unclear financing of the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival and the elimination of the ceramic parade.
The report describes the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival as a success, but does not show the full bill: how much the concerts, stage, security, promotion, delegations, accommodation, catering, performers and event services cost. Gwizdała also wanted to ask about the financing of events associated with Bogusław Nowak’s Glina Da Theatre. Documents show amounts reaching PLN 138,000. This is connected with another issue: Mayor Piotr Roman abolished the ceramic parade, one of the most community-oriented elements of the festival. Why was the parade removed, and what was actually offered to residents in return?
Europeanism in declarations, no real support for minorities.
The report boasts of the city’s international cooperation, European projects and awards. Gwizdała wanted to confront these pro-European slogans with the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in Bolesławiec. Following a parade attended by people carrying rainbow flags, notifications, disputes and statements appeared that are difficult to reconcile with the image of an open city. Are LGBTQ+ people full-fledged members of the city community? Does the city have any anti-discrimination program? And does Bolesławiec’s Europeanism end with diplomas, delegations and projects?
Young people: violence, cyberbullying, alcohol, the Internet and mental-health crisis.
The speech was also to address children and young people. Troubling data emerge from local prevention documents: 44.26 percent of students at Bolesławiec schools were reportedly victims of violence, and 49.25 percent of cyberbullying. In grades 7–8, almost 30 percent of students reportedly said they had tried alcohol. Gwizdała wanted to ask whether the city knows the real scale of the crisis among young people, or limits itself to standard measures: campaigns, workshops, leaflets and promotional items. How much money goes to genuine psychological assistance, and how much to activities that look good in a report?
Animals, safety, the Municipal Police and monitoring: figures without answers about effectiveness.
The final point was to bring together several issues described in the report but requiring questions about results. In 2025, PLN 566,000 was spent on the animal-care program. By comparison, PLN 740,000 was spent on city promotion. Gwizdała wanted to ask what concrete results had been achieved in animal care: how many adoptions, sterilizations and interventions there had been, and how many animals had actually received assistance. The second part of this point concerned safety, the Municipal Police and monitoring. What were fines most frequently issued for in 2025, how many cases concerned problems reported by residents, how many monitoring cases ended with the perpetrator actually being identified, and does the city measure residents’ sense of security?
None of these issues were raised in the debate. Council Chair Łukasz Jaźwiec prevented Krzysztof Gwizdała from speaking, citing what we consider alleged formal errors. When Gwizdała nevertheless approached the lectern, Jaźwiec switched off his microphone and hurriedly announced a break.
Farce and absurdity, or the performances of a mime and a theatre enthusiast
During the mayor’s speech, two other people were given unlimited speaking rights and freedom of expression. The first was Kornel Filipowicz, organizer of the Ceramics Festival and director of BOK–MCC, a municipal institution subordinate to Mayor Piotr Roman. The second was Bogusław Nowak, who is hired by the city to organize a parade of people covered in clay. In 2024, this event, lasting several hours, cost nearly PLN 100,000, and in 2025 more than PLN 130,000. We wrote about the concealment of the event’s costs in the article: Sponsors of the Ceramics Festival paid the performer, not the municipal institution. Questions about Roman’s people and money.
The mayor mocked opposition councillors
Nearly two weeks before the session, Krzysztof Gwizdała sent the councillors an email that read:
I am sending information concerning the financing of activities related to the Bolesławiec Ceramics Festival, its sponsors and payments which—according to information we obtained—were allegedly made outside BOK–MCC directly to the performer.
(...)
The matter concerns a municipal cultural institution, the promotion of official-event sponsors, and the rules for spending and accounting for funds at the city’s most important event. Therefore, I ask you to read the material and possibly take oversight action within your mandate as a councillor.
We expected the councillors to address this at the session. They did nothing. The mayor immediately took advantage of it.
“As far as I know, opposition councillors were, among other things, supposed to refer to this (email—editor’s note) today during their speech, so I think it is worth it. No? Well, in that case, another irrelevant rumor,” said Piotr Roman and invited Bogusław Nowak to the lectern.
Bogusław Nowak first described himself and his achievements, and then used various insulting words to describe Krzysztof Gwizdała. When the language became particularly harsh, the council chair merely reprimanded him gently. In the end, Nowak did not forget to express his gratitude.
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for allowing me to return to this city and for allowing me to recreate the original (Gliniada—editor’s note). I would like to refer to the earlier speech by the director, to his beautiful… to his erudition,” Bogusław Nowak addressed the mayor, whom in 2015 he presented as a dummy on a toilet seat and paraded it around the market square during the Ceramics Festival, shouting that he had destroyed Gliniada, as well as Director Filipowicz, whom he insulted several years ago at the Tour de Konstytucja event.
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Roman to councillors: Mr. Gwizdała is showing that I’m crazy
Toward the end of the session, the mayor was only watching what Krzysztof Gwizdała was doing. When Gwizdała, sitting in the audience, gestured while speaking to the person next to him, the mayor interrupted the session and lodged a complaint with the city council chair.
“Mr. Gwizdała is showing now that I’m crazy,” Piotr Roman said.
The situation was so embarrassing that it is difficult to comment on it, so we will leave its assessment to readers.
The councillors unanimously voted in favor of a vote of confidence in the mayor. None of them raised any comment or objection; the only question asked by one of the councillors was: when is the vacation?
As Agnieszka Gergont reported, the full session will be available in about two weeks, once the city’s IT staff have processed the recording. In other cities, sessions are available immediately.
