Pyeongtaek City Strengthens Transparency in Selection of New Residential Waste Collection and Transport Business Operators

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park Chan-hyuk] Pyeongtaek City announced on the 23rd that it has implemented strong countermeasures including police reports and full-scale investigations of evaluation committee candidates to restore credibility in the recruitment of residential waste collection and transport service operators.

First, the city decided to report to police individual A, whose qualifications as an evaluation committee member were questioned during the previous selection of new business operators.

Despite lacking qualifications, A registered as a candidate for the evaluation committee and, after being selected as a committee member, violated a confidentiality agreement by disclosing his selection results to the public, thereby obstructing the selection process for waste management service operators.

Additionally, to enhance transparency in the resumed selection process for new residential waste collection and transport business operators, Pyeongtaek City has launched a full-scale investigation of 158 evaluation committee candidates.

The investigation will be conducted by the newly organized "Clean Pyeongtaek Task Force Team" on the 20th to strengthen fairness in business selection, and will be cross-verified by the Resource Circulation Division, the audit office, and the Planning and Budget Division (Legal Affairs Team).

During the investigation process, candidates with potential issues regarding evaluation committee qualifications will be excluded from the lottery selection for committee members.

The committee member lottery will take place on the 26th at 3 p.m. in the Comprehensive Situation Room at Pyeongtaek City Hall. Journalists and civic organizations can attend the lottery without a separate application process.

Through the lottery, a total of 8 committee members will be selected—2 from each of 4 fields: △civil servants △professors and experts △lawyers and △civic organizations. Additionally, 1 alternate member from each field will be selected.

The lottery results will be individually notified to committee members on the morning of the 27th, the evaluation day, to strengthen security. If a selected committee member cannot attend the evaluation meeting, an alternate member will be appointed.

Moon Jong-ho, the division head serving as head of the Clean Pyeongtaek Task Force Team, stated, "To restore public trust regarding the selection of waste management service operators, the city plans to implement unprecedented extraordinary measures," and added, "Based on the measures announced today, we will proceed fairly with the new business operator selection process so that anyone can accept the results."

Meanwhile, the evaluation committee for selecting new business operators for Pyeongtaek City's residential waste collection and transport services was originally scheduled for the 19th but was suspended due to evaluation committee members' lack of qualifications. The city plans to enhance fairness and transparency and resume the selection process, with eligible candidates to be announced on December 31.