Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov scored a victory in his fight with the city municipal council.

On October 26, with 40 votes for and 12 abstaining, city councillors approved a new procedure for appointing executives of municipal companies. The new procedure can be described as a minor revolution in the municipality’s existence.

As a result, radical change will occur in the management of municipal companies and municipal property. According to the new directive, the chairpersons and members of municipal companies’ executive boards will be selected after a competition. Candidates will also have to present and defend their ideas before both the council and the mayor.

The revolutionary change, however, affects the way managers of municipal companies are appointed. They will be appointed only after the Sofia mayor puts his signature on the contract. The mayor also got  the right to dismiss employees of municipal companies. Until October 26, only the municipal council had the right to release from office municipal employees. With the new procedure, Borissov got  carte-blanche to appoint and dismiss whoever he likes. According to the new procedure, the manager of the municipal company concerned will have to face certain engagements in the company’s future performance. Within four months of the October 26, all municipal companies have to adjust their internal regulations to the new procedure. The companies will have to cut the number of their board members to five or three people as well. On October 26, councillors also provided for the creation of a public register of municipal commercial companies and joint ventures. From now on, all municipal companies will no longer have the right to trade in their shares without the sanction of the city council.

The draft version of the new procedure had waited for this vote for more than two years. Although Parliament adopted a new Act on Managing of Municipal Property, Sofia city councillors had doubts about abolishing the procedure, which contradicted the law.

Their hesitance might be found in the words of Vili Lilkov, municipal councillor from Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria. Speaking to journalists after the vote, Lilkov said: “the fact that 12 councillors abstained today goes to show that there are people with interests in the municipal companies”.

Lilkov was certain that within six months there would be cardinal reform in the municipality’s policy towards its own companies.

Ever since Borissov assumed office a year ago, he has been accusing municipal councillors of not letting him choose the board members of municipal companies. Borissov’s argument was simple. Since he is the mayor, he should have the right to dismiss or appoint managers of municipal companies. Borissov claimed that councillors had divided seats in executive boards according to quotas, wherein each party appointed a set amount of board members.

Borissov was elected in a special election last year after his predecessor, Stefan Sofianski,became an MP. According to the Election Act, when a mayor is elected as a result of special elections, he has to work with the current municipal council. Councillors can be elected only at regular elections, which in this case will be held next year. Having to work with councillors from other political parties became one of Borissov's excuses for the municipality’s problems. With the change on October 26, councillors gave Borissov all the rights he had wished for. From now on, Borissov will no longer have the excuse of  “I do not have any rights in appointing or dismissing heads of municipal companies,” as he had often claimed. With power, however, comes the responsibility. In achieving his goal of controlling employment policy in all municipal companies, Borissov will have to accept all the negative impacts of future scandals involving those companies. No doubt such scandals will happen, as they have happened before.

Such was the case with the head of the Ecoravnovesie company, which deals with controlling stray dogs in Sofia. A check in the activities of the company for the past two years, ordered by Borissov, showed massive violations. This followed the dismissal of Stilyan Kirchev, head of Ecoravnovesie.

In the case of Ecoravnovesie, Borissov was the good guy who brought to light Kirchev’s alleged misconduct.

Now, with the rights given to him by the council, Borissov will have to pick the best people for filling seats in municipal companies. Bearing in mind the way the former firefighter Borissov acts, lots of dismissals will follow the October 26 councillors’ decision.