Transparency International Georgia has evaluated the performance of the representative body of the Telavi Municipality which was elected in 2017 – the Municipal Council.

The report is based on the information requested and received from the Municipal Council and on observations of our organization. It covers the period from November 2017 to December 2019.

Main Findings
Trends revealed in the process of studying the activities of the Municipal Council of Telavi elected in 2017:

Exercise of the function of control

• During the reporting period, the Municipal Council of Telavi exercised weak oversight on the executive body and on legal entities established by the municipality, and the control was formal in most cases;
• Officials of the City Hall didn’t submit activity reports to the Municipal Council elected in 2017.

The process of adoption of legal acts

• During the period between 14 November 2017 and 31 December 2019, the Municipal Council held 51 sessions and 25 extraordinary sessions. Not a single session was canceled due to lack of quorum;
• During the same period, the Municipal Council didn’t approve a single contract whose value exceeds 5% of the budgetary payments;
• Not a single session of any commission was canceled due to lack of quorum;
• The website of the Telavi Municipality is the most active among those of the eight municipalities of Kakheti; it is constantly updated and events are announced;
• Video recordings of sessions of the Municipal Council are regularly uploaded to the Municipality’s website and are publicly available;
• Officials of the City Hall didn’t submit activity reports to the Municipal Council elected in 2017;
• The Municipal Council didn’t invite an independent auditor to conduct an audit at the municipal bodies of Telavi;
• The Commission on Mandate, Procedural and Legal Issues submitted 12 draft legal acts to the Municipal Council, while the Commission on Spatial and Territorial Planning, Infrastructure and Natural Resources submitted 3 draft legal acts.

Accountability

• Members of the Municipal Council missed sessions of the Council 167 times in total. The following members had the most absences: Levan Otiuridze – 25, Levan Mrelashvili – 13, Aleksandre Kupatadze – 11;
• From 1 January 2018 up to 31 December 2019, the Municipal Council spent fuel worth GEL 70,467.54;
• The Municipal Council didn’t invite an independent auditor;
• The Municipal Council didn’t create deliberative bodies to study individual issues assigned to its powers and to prepare recommendations, and didn’t define the procedure for their activity;
• The remuneration given to officials of factions of the Municipal Council amounted to GEL 177,208.64 in 2018 and to GEL 188,553.4 in 2019.