The document reveals problematic conduct • Some have not required class operators to approve the absence of sexual offenses • Employees have activated political Facebook accounts of mayors

• Carmiel Municipality

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The State Comptroller's Office publishes this morning (Tuesday) a scathing report dealing with local government, raising a series of failures and suspicions of improper administration. At 10:30, the Comptroller submitted the report to the Speaker of the Knesset, MK Yariv Levin in his office. A discussion is expected today in the State Audit Committee on the findings of the report.

The auditor's report includes 12 chapters, each devoted to a different topic. An entire chapter was devoted to the Carmiel municipality. The report found a number of suspicions of improper management, including employing relatives, fear of political affiliation in tenders for senior positions, hiring more workers, power tenders A person who was not properly managed and more.

State Comptroller's report reveals: Corruption in local authorities // Photo: Courtesy of the State Comptroller's Office

 Among other things, it was found that the municipality did not employ its full-time auditor as required by law and that in two tenders held in 2019 for senior positions, the municipality selected candidates for whom there is a fear of a political affiliation with the mayor.

In addition, deficiencies were found in the salary and related payments that the municipality paid to its employees, including overtime pay and high-rate standby, without rules and without criteria for their allocation, payment of vehicle maintenance without reporting and control as required and allocation of attached vehicle and participation in fuel expenses.

The report also found that some local authorities did not require community center operators to approve the absence of sexual offenses, while others did not act to make the activity accessible to underprivileged populations.

The report also criticizes the construction inspectorate in the local planning and construction committees. Among other things, it was found that there is a barrier in inspectors in at least half of the construction committees, almost all committees (98%) did not prepare a construction offense survey, 58% did not submit reports to the National Enforcement Unit. About 60% of the commissions did not forward to the National Enforcement Unit reports for registration in the criminal record and 43% of the administrative demolition orders issued by the commissions were not carried out. The report specifically mentions the local castle castle where there is widespread unenforced construction offenses.

It was further revealed that most local authorities use social networks to convey messages directly to the public, but for the most part the conduct on this issue is nothing less than a wild west. There are heads of authorities who employ authority employees in the operation of their personal accounts which also contain political propaganda, despite the prohibition to do so.

It was also found that most authorities censor responses and block users without a clear procedure for doing so. In other cases, it has been found that some local authorities have published content without verifying that it does not infringe on copyright, equal rights or the right to privacy.

The report concludes that the Ministry of the Interior and Justice has not established clear rules for the conduct of local authorities on the social network, allowed and forbidden.

Damage to coastal cliffs

The auditor's report found significant deficiencies in the protection of the coastal cliff, nine years after the government decided that it should be protected because the cliff was found to collapse and retreat to the east. Only 8.6% (NIS 26 million) of the budget set in the Ashkelon Cliff Protection Company plan. Marine defenses were made and almost no land defenses were made.

The report states that the government ministries responsible for promoting the protection of the cliff, the Government Company for the Protection of the Cliffs of the Mediterranean Coast Ltd. and the local authorities in whose area a cliff exists, have not taken sufficient actions to protect it and this endangers public peace. The report notes that this could lead to the destruction of buildings and infrastructure, the loss of land and damage to national parks: "The public from the danger posed to it by the collapse of the cliff, including areas where collapses occurred," it was written.

State Comptroller, Matanyahu Engelman: "In this report, we examined horizontal and individual issues and whether the authorities acted economically and efficiently, while complying with the rules of good administration and pointing out the shortcomings that need to be corrected to improve the work for the residents. We at the Comptroller's Office see the importance of innovative and groundbreaking audits, which is why we have dedicated a special chapter on the activities of the authorities and elected officials on social networks and the relationship with the residents on these networks. I sincerely hope that all the subjects of the report will learn.

The Karmiel Municipality stated in response to the report: "Regarding 2019, the two tenders were carried out legally and suitable candidates with a master's degree with extensive experience in the public field and local authorities were selected. This also emerges from his treatment as required by the rules of proper administration of the municipality's attorney general, Adv. Shlomo Geva, for the two appointments mentioned in the report: 'I came to the conclusion that there is no fear of a conflict of interest between the candidate and her other affairs.' It is important to clarify that the Ministry of the Interior approved these subscriptions and that the State Comptroller did not find a flaw in the mayor's conduct in the matter.

Unfortunately due to a technical glitch / unfortunate error, the opinion of the Attorney General was not forwarded to the State Comptroller prior to the publication of the report. After passing on to the State Comptroller the opinion of the Attorney General, we have no shadow of a doubt that the State Comptroller will remove this section From the report.