The Tivat Municipal Assembly (MA) Service lacks information regarding the number of times each councilor in the current convocation of the local parliament has presented or spoken during sessions in Tivat.

In contrast, nearly all other local council services and those in the state parliament meticulously maintain records in hours and minutes about how many councilors or deputies have spoken at parliamentary sessions, including the count of individual speeches. Those interested in acquiring similar details concerning the Tivat parliament must sift through all the session minutes recorded to date or spend hours listening to audio recordings from the twenty sessions held thus far in the current convocation of the Tivat parliament, with a stopwatch and notepad in hand.

“The Assembly Service does not maintain a log of the number of appearances during Assembly sessions or the total duration of individual presentations by councilors who have been or are part of the current convocation established on December 2, 2022, in any specified format. Instead, councilor participation records are documented in the session minutes, which are regularly made available on the official website. This website also houses audio recordings of all sessions held,” stated the local parliament, presided over by Miljan Marković from the New party, to “Vijesti”.

The absence of such records constitutes a violation of Article 59 of the Rules of Procedure of the Tivat Municipal Assembly, which mandates that “records shall be maintained regarding councilor activities” to be “published on the Assembly’s website, in bulletins, and through other means.”

“The records mentioned in paragraph 1 include information about: the attendance of councilors at Assembly sessions, their presence in sessions of working bodies, the count of meetings held with citizen and civil sector representatives, absences from Assembly sessions and working bodies (whether justified or unjustified or due to party decisions), the total number of proposals or initiatives submitted, the count of accepted or rejected proposals, the number of discussions held in sessions, the listing of issues considered during Assembly sessions, the listing of issues that could not be addressed due to a lack of quorum, session durations, as well as the frequency and duration of working body sessions,” according to that article of the Rules of Procedure.

Given the lack of official records, the subjective opinions of journalists monitoring Tivat parliament sessions or citizens following session broadcasts on Radio Tivat prevail, suggesting that the opposition councilors, comprising DPS, SDP, SD, LP, and HGI, appear to be significantly more active and willing to engage in discussions than their counterparts from the governing coalition, which includes councilors from Narod pobjeđuje, Tivatska akcija, Krtoljska lista, Bokeški forum, and the political parties Nova, PES, Demokrata, and DSS.

In terms of participation during municipal council sessions, leading opposition figures include Vatroslav Belan (LP), Igor Petkovic (SD), Adrian Vuksanovic, and Ana Vuksanović (HGI), along with Dubravka Nikčević and somewhat Renata Bergam Grandis (DPS), and I’m talking to Lisičić (SDP). Among the ruling parties, the most willing to engage in discussions at municipal council sessions, often not only with the opposition but also with colleagues from the ruling coalition, is Sanja Vuković (Tivat Action); slightly more active are Sandra Sindik (Bokek Forum), Tonći Janović (PES), Petar Samardzic (The people win), Dejan Risanci (DSS), and the Municipal Assembly President Miljan Marković (Nova).

The participation of most other councilors during municipal council sessions tends to be largely limited to reading protocol reports from the municipal council working bodies they chair regarding the positions adopted by those working bodies on agenda items and raising hands during votes. Consequently, the bulk of the “political clinch,” i.e., polemics and responses to opposition challenges during sessions, must be addressed by the leaders of the local executive, namely the Mayor of the Municipality, Željko Komnenović (The people are hurting), and Vice President Jovan Brinic (Krtoljska list).

There are councilors from both sides of the parliament who have not spoken in municipal council sessions since December 2012, nor have Tivat citizens following session broadcasts had the opportunity to hear these councilors’ voices.

The Statute of the Municipal Assembly does not specify whether councilors who neglect their duties or fail to attend Municipal Assembly or working body sessions should face any sanctions. Similarly, the Rules of Procedure lack such punitive measures, implying that representatives in the Tivat parliament can freely skip sessions or working body meetings without repercussions. The only consequence that dispassionate councilors might face financially is the withholding of councilor compensation during months when they unjustifiably miss Municipal Assembly sessions or boycott its activities for political reasons, or the daily allowance for participation in working body sessions if they have unjustifiably been absent.

The Municipal Council did not provide information regarding which Tivat councilors have been most unjustifiably absent from Municipal Council sessions in the last two years.

Given that the ruling coalition possesses a slender majority of 17 councilors against 15 opposition councilors, government councilors are essentially compelled to consistently attend municipal council sessions to ensure the passage of decisions proposed by the executive branch, while the opposition enjoys a more relaxed stance. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Municipal Council Service has reported that those most frequently absent (with official justifications) from Tivat municipal council sessions recently include Aleksandar Djurovic (SDP), Adrijan Vuksanovic, Zdravko Mitrović (SD), Nebojša Kašcelan (DPS), Igor Petkovic, Ilija Janović (HGI), Ana Vuksanović, Ana Ivanović (DPS), Vatroslav Belan (LP), and Andrija Petkovic (Bokeški Forum), who was a councilor at the beginning of this convocation before assuming the role of Vice President of the Municipality.

“The most absences from working body sessions were recorded for Aleksandar Đurović, Adrijan Vuksanović, Zdravko Mitrović, Ilija Janović, Julija Samardzic (DPS), Igor Petkovic, Ilko Klakor (KL), Dubravka Nikčević, Milos Popivoda (DPS), and Vatroslav Belan,” announced the local parliament.

While some councilors, such as the head of the Tivat SDP and vice president of the SDP of Montenegro, Aleksandar Đurović, who have not attended Municipal Assembly sessions and working body meetings of which they are members for over a year, often claim their absences are justified. However, the President of the Municipal Assembly, Miljan Marković, emphasizes that he does not possess any statutory or procedural power to sanction them for this or to deny them their councilor fees.

According to official records provided on the Municipality’s website, councilors in the Tivat Municipal Assembly receive a monthly compensation ranging from 270 to 414 euros, depending on their participation in one of the working bodies of the local parliament and the number of sessions held. The gross salary for the President of the Municipal Assembly, Miljan Marković, was 1,658 euros for January.

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