Interior Ministry officials are concerned over the deteriorating state of operations in Sderot City Hall and may in response dissolve the city council and appoint a new council that will oversee day-to-day operations of the rocket-bombarded southern city.

Last January, a committee was appointed by the ministry to monitor and evaluate the performance of city officials, including Mayor Eli Moiyal. Next week, the committee’s findings will be presented. The committee chair, former ministry general-manager Dov Kehat has already indicated his findings are not a simple matter.

Ministry officials have indicated that if their suspicions prove to be based in fact, they may dissolve the city council and appoint a comptroller to oversee tenders and other day-to-day functions. The appointed official will also have authority to sign off on all budgetary matters in place of the mayor. Officials stress that at present, there has not been a decision to suspend Moiyal but it is one of the possibilities being considered.

Officials add that the committee’s findings are in tandem with another investigation that focused on Moiyal’s dealings in awarding tenders. This committee has submitted its findings to the mayor, requesting his response regarding their findings, that he awarded tenders to contractors as he saw fit, totally ignoring prudent governmental procedure.

Despite the harsh findings; due to difficult security realities and the difficulties endured by Moiyal during recent years, they are seeking to permit the mayor to remain in office if possible, stating anyone can see “Moiyal is operating in an untenable situation” – from one side, the anger of city residents, accompanied by the security realities added to the difficulties of running a City Hall under such impossible daily realities.

One such example is the fact that the Knesset Finance Committee only this past March allocated funds to fortify schools in Sderot – and this was only in response to a Supreme Court ruling. Officials point out that not everything is the mayor’s fault and he is seeking to operate under the most difficult of situations.

Investigators also found it difficult to review much of the material pertinent to their investigation because police are also involved, suspecting foul play regarding tenders and other governmental procedures. As such, not all the material was made available to inspectors.

After the committee officially submits its findings, the interior minister will have to reach some difficult decisions.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)