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Municipal Newsletter for Internal Use
Municipality of Sliven
Background
The enormous flow of information, which enters the Municipality of Sliven, does not reach every official and, consequently, cannot be comprehensively used by the municipality experts. This information must be channeled and put in a form that is suitable for the municipal officials. The information exchanged between the municipality and the citizens should also be improved. These two problems have generated the idea to publish a Municipal Newsletter, which should improve both the exchange of information in the municipal administration and the information passed over to the citizens of the Municipality of Sliven.
The enormous flow of information, which enters the Municipality of Sliven, does not reach every official and, consequently, cannot be comprehensively used by the municipality experts. This information must be channeled and put in a form that is suitable for the municipal officials. The information exchanged between the municipality and the citizens should also be improved. These two problems have generated the idea to publish a Municipal Newsletter, which should improve both the exchange of information in the municipal administration and the information passed over to the citizens of the Municipality of Sliven.
Practice
The Newsletter of the Municipality of Sliven was published first without using any foreign experience. The Newsletter was an implementation of Mrs. Ginka Stoyanova s idea. She is head of the "Organization and Control of Management" Department. The municipal authorities and personally the mayor Eng. Yanko Yankov supported the Newsletter s publication. The editorial team worked for free and used the copying technique and printing equipment of the Municipality of Sliven (with the exception of the Jubilee issue dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the Municipality of Sliven, funded by the LGR Foundation and the Open Society Institute Sliven). The limited funds of the municipality restricted the number of printed copies to less than 45-50 per month. So far, the Newsletter has bbeen only for internal use and just a few copies have reached the citizens of the municipality.
The front page, the graphic layout and the columns are invariably the same, which facilitates the editing team and the users. The Newsletter is published monthly, several days after the sessions of the Municipal Council. The goals of the Newsletter are:
Ю To ensure total transparency of the Municipality of Sliven s activity by collecting, differentiating and submitting to the Sliven s municipal administrators up-to-date and useful information. This information should assist them in their everyday work, in their professional career and it should enhance the efficiency of the interaction between the municipal departments.
Ю To make the Newsletter the visiting card of the Municipality of Sliven, by providing the required information about all events and initiatives that have occurred during the current month and the forthcoming events for the next month;
Ю To ensure public access to the Municipal Council s decisions and to the mayor s orders, to the events in the life of the Municipality of Sliven, the activities of the Association of Bulgarian municipalities, the positive experience of Bulgarian and foreign municipalities and mayors in solving different problems.
The permanent columns in the Newsletter are "Regulatory Framework", "Foreign experience", "NGO s Programs and Projects", "Municipal Council Sliven", "Useful Information", "Guest of the Newsletter". Heads of departments are usually the guests of the Newsletter. Their presence complies with the priorities and the accents for the current month in the activities of the Municipality of Sliven. For example, in the May Newsletter issue, because of the May days of culture, the guest of the Newsletter was the "Culture" Department Head in the Municipality of Sliven.
The Newsletter of the Municipality of Sliven was published first without using any foreign experience. The Newsletter was an implementation of Mrs. Ginka Stoyanova s idea. She is head of the "Organization and Control of Management" Department. The municipal authorities and personally the mayor Eng. Yanko Yankov supported the Newsletter s publication. The editorial team worked for free and used the copying technique and printing equipment of the Municipality of Sliven (with the exception of the Jubilee issue dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the Municipality of Sliven, funded by the LGR Foundation and the Open Society Institute Sliven). The limited funds of the municipality restricted the number of printed copies to less than 45-50 per month. So far, the Newsletter has bbeen only for internal use and just a few copies have reached the citizens of the municipality.
The front page, the graphic layout and the columns are invariably the same, which facilitates the editing team and the users. The Newsletter is published monthly, several days after the sessions of the Municipal Council. The goals of the Newsletter are:
Ю To ensure total transparency of the Municipality of Sliven s activity by collecting, differentiating and submitting to the Sliven s municipal administrators up-to-date and useful information. This information should assist them in their everyday work, in their professional career and it should enhance the efficiency of the interaction between the municipal departments.
Ю To make the Newsletter the visiting card of the Municipality of Sliven, by providing the required information about all events and initiatives that have occurred during the current month and the forthcoming events for the next month;
Ю To ensure public access to the Municipal Council s decisions and to the mayor s orders, to the events in the life of the Municipality of Sliven, the activities of the Association of Bulgarian municipalities, the positive experience of Bulgarian and foreign municipalities and mayors in solving different problems.
The permanent columns in the Newsletter are "Regulatory Framework", "Foreign experience", "NGO s Programs and Projects", "Municipal Council Sliven", "Useful Information", "Guest of the Newsletter". Heads of departments are usually the guests of the Newsletter. Their presence complies with the priorities and the accents for the current month in the activities of the Municipality of Sliven. For example, in the May Newsletter issue, because of the May days of culture, the guest of the Newsletter was the "Culture" Department Head in the Municipality of Sliven.
Results
Full transparence of the activities of the Municipality of Sliven and the Municipal Council is ensured for the municipal officials and partially also for the citizens of the Municipality. The coordination among the municipal administrators was also improved. Conditions are created for a more active control over the implementation of the Municipal Council s decisions, the mayor s orders, the problems of MC coordinating sessions. The Newsletter provides information about the experience of other municipalities (Bulgarian and foreign) which is useful for the municipal administration s personnel. The coordinating information has been systematized in a form that is suitable for use on different occasions. The Newsletter brings benefits also with respect to time and resources, since it is used to disseminate the MC decisions, mayor s orders, cultural information and diverse current information. Such information far has been either not received by the municipal officials or photocopies have been made with the resulting losses in time and material.
Full transparence of the activities of the Municipality of Sliven and the Municipal Council is ensured for the municipal officials and partially also for the citizens of the Municipality. The coordination among the municipal administrators was also improved. Conditions are created for a more active control over the implementation of the Municipal Council s decisions, the mayor s orders, the problems of MC coordinating sessions. The Newsletter provides information about the experience of other municipalities (Bulgarian and foreign) which is useful for the municipal administration s personnel. The coordinating information has been systematized in a form that is suitable for use on different occasions. The Newsletter brings benefits also with respect to time and resources, since it is used to disseminate the MC decisions, mayor s orders, cultural information and diverse current information. Such information far has been either not received by the municipal officials or photocopies have been made with the resulting losses in time and material.
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