The new Rezekne regional council has started work later than other local governments - only on October 1, 2021 - after the merger of Rezekne and Vilani municipalities. Now, the plan of the Environment Protection and Regional Development Ministry and the Saeima provides that the new municipality in 2029 will be merged with Rezekne city. Rezekne regional council believes that such a merger is not necessary. It is not a fight about borders, but about protecting interests of every resident, said the regional council chairman Monvids Svarcs (New Unity, For, Latgale Party).

Only Harmony party has been left in the opposition in the regional council, even though it had huge support during the election. Why did you not manage to reach an agreement with them to work together?

Of course, the wish to work together, first of all, is the competence of each party. If any party has already rejected such a wish during the pre-election time, it is very hard to find a common ground after the elections. What we underscore is that it is not the so-called silent opposition when the opinion of the opposition or its voters are ignored.

When forming the respective institutions at the council - committees, commissions, councils - of course, we also called on the opposition to present its candidates. Committees have full representation. Unfortunately, Harmony has not yet presented its candidate for the work at the roads fund or the environment fund.

Of course, the tradition of the previous period in Rezekne regional council that all 17 lawmakers worked together has stopped, but it is largely based on the election time, when the previous cooperation and mutual relations among people were not taken into account. This has been the main reason why the situation is as it is.

Is the current coalition ready to cooperate with Harmony?

I will say it once more that the current coalition is cooperating with Harmony. We are expecting all proposals that target development and are constructive.

Earlier you criticized another Harmony representative, Rezekne city council chairman Aleksandrs Bartasevics, about unsuccessful cooperation on developing mutual planning documents.

I will not repeat this story, trying to understand what motivation the council chairman had to act like that or not act at all. But it is good that this issue is seeing at least some progress compared to a standstill.

The regional council made a decision that the Rezekne municipality does not wish to be merged with the city. Why has such a decision been made?

We analyzed three directions. One issue is the everyday life of the local government and everyday problems that need to be solved in every administrative territory. In this aspect we are very different territories with different approaches how to solve one or another problem.

Another issue is the so-called territorial development planning. I have already pointed out that the current legislation already provides for a cooperation format and if all parties implement it, the planning documents and planning processes are coordinated, integrated.

The third aspect is a political one. The administrative territory is headed by the council. Lawmakers most often come from more populated areas, cities. Thus, there are concerns that in a merged municipality, interests of some territories will be neglected.

Thus, we underscore, that the fight is not about the borders, but about protecting interests of every resident. Keeping the current format - the state city and the rural territory as separate municipalities - we can better represent these interests.

How is the local government succeeding with development of the new structure?

Of course, we were lucky because since 2009 we had been working in the previous Rezekne regional council to form it in compliance with the reform, as a unit that is able to develop independently. The efficient administrative structure, as also acknowledged by the State Audit Office, sets functionality and competence of each territory. The reforms implemented during this period ensured us additional EUR 300,000 a year - this effect has been achieved through reforming coordination of accountancy, IT, land administration processes.

The financial effect of cutting regional council administration and the number of lawmakers is at about EUR 7,000-7,800 in six months.

Thus, the financial effect is not the most significant one in relation to the reform. The positive aspect of the reform is territorial planning, unified approach to solving different issues, starting from social issues and ending with technical infrastructure.

We have started to evaluate operations of Vilanu municipal companies to see how efficient they are.

Vilani hospital is one of the problem areas. Considerable investments are needed in it to ensure modern and good-quality services. The hospital is just carrying the name of a hospital, but its operations seem more like social care as there are patients who are there for years.

Do you not consider closing Vilani hospital, restructuring it in a social care center?

If the analysis shows that the company’s format is not efficient, then the local government in the respective committees will review this issue and make the decision on the format that ensures the best possible service to customers.

How do you see the school network in the municipality in the future? Are there any changes planned?

We started and regularly perform analysis of the education sector already in 1998. Undoubtedly, the priority is provision of high-quality service, whether in preschool, elementary school, secondary school level.

Of course, it is also important to ensure what we have promised in different parties and the government that a certain range of services should be provided as near home as possible. We cannot speak about taking preschool children to the education establishment for an hour on the road.

In relation to secondary schools in former Rezekne municipality and now also Vilani municipality, we have set five support points, five secondary schools - Nautreni, Dricani, Kaunata, Malta and now also Vilani - on which good-quality secondary education is based. We have resolved to preserve these five secondary schools in the municipality.

Does the local council engage in any way in the vaccination process, does it motivate its residents to get vaccinated against Covid-19?

Yes, of course. We have organized mobile vaccination points, we have undertaken the responsibility to organize this process in a safe environment.

What are the main challenges when preparing the 2022 budget?

I would not like to call them challenges. It is everyday work every year already starting from September - specialists of the responsible services are preparing their plans for the coming year. Every issue is being discussed, evaluated, based on the priorities and financial possibilities.

One of our priorities is our approach to families with babies. In the future, every family with a newborn baby will receive a benefit of EUR 40 a month until the age of 1.5 years.

Will the budget be larger than separate budgets of both municipalities added together?

We will have additional EUR 450,000. However, considering the risen energy prices, also considering the fact that social support should be increased, all of it will be spent in these areas.

In order to find funding for new initiatives, we will have to look into internal reserves, revise priorities, revise administration structure and efficiency. It is also important that the responsible employees with high qualification who have to make important decisions receive competitive wages. We will not hide that we cannot compete with the private sector, but we are doing everything possible so that the specialists are not looking in other directions for job offers.

Has the difference of wages in Vilani and Rezekne municipalities been big so far? There are municipalities who complain that wage difference in the newly merged municipalities has been even three times.

No, it was not that significant. There are no such big problems here.

Another task new municipalities have to fulfil after the reform is ensuring the work of municipal police in the territory. How much additional resources will this require?

Yes, the new municipal law provides for this norm. The process has started and in 2022 there will be seven administrative inspection employees - the head and six inspectors - who will cover the whole administrative territory. We will have to ensure competitive wages, pay taxes, provide technical equipment - it is quite a huge sum that the local government should find. The wage should be competitive to ensure that there are no corruption risks for such a responsible position. Of course, technical equipment includes everything, starting from uniforms and ending with computers, photo equipment and transport.

The sums are considerable, and I have already voiced an opinion to the previous and incumbent minister that it would be better to develop cooperation with the State Police, with financial responsibility from the part of the local government as well, because it is very expensive to ensure 24/7 police patrol.