The decision of the current Mayor of the Municipality of Zvecan, Dragisha Milović, to terminate the contracts of two municipal officials is being described as unlawful. Former mayor Ilir Peci says that the reasons cited in the decision do not hold and that the procedure was carried out in violation of the law, reports KosovaPress.

Former Mayor of Zvecan, Ilir Peci, told KosovaPress that last week the current mayor terminated the contracts of two municipal officials, even though they were employed on an indefinite basis. He stressed that the reasons cited in the decision — lack of evaluation, training, and budget — are unfounded and do not constitute a legal basis for their dismissal.

“Last week, the current mayor made a decision and terminated the contracts, the general appointment decisions that the municipal officials had. During my time as mayor, they were employed on an indefinite basis, but after six months their appointment was supposed to be renewed, whereas now their contracts have been terminated based on three points mentioned in the decision. These three points have nothing to do with the dismissal of the two officials. The first point was that an adequate evaluation had not been conducted, whereas the evaluation was carried out while I was mayor. At the moment, there was no one to conduct the evaluation, as there were no sector heads or directors, meaning there were no persons responsible for evaluation. Nor did the mayor call any meeting to assess what work these officials had done during the six months. The second point is that allegedly they had not completed enough seminars, but officials cannot request seminars themselves. These are assigned by the mayor’s office and his staff. The third point is that the Municipality of Zvecan does not have a budget, which is not true. Every municipality, when opening a job position, plans the budget for the entire period, especially when contracts are indefinite and not for six months or a year. Therefore, none of these three points stands,” Peci emphasized.

Peci said he was informed by the two dismissed officials and that he stands in support of them, stressing that justice must be respected in their case.

“I was immediately contacted by several municipal officials, specifically by these two officials who were dismissed from work. I, as an assembly member and the only Albanian in the Municipality of Zvecan, am in support of them and in support of the law,” Peci stated.

He said that the decision to terminate the contracts is unlawful and that the matter is now being pursued through legal channels by the Council and the Court.

“I participated in a meeting with the current Mayor of Zvecan and the two officials. I explained to him that, based on these points, this constitutes a legal violation and that the decision is not right. However, he is the mayor and he made the decision. Now, the Council or the Court are the instances where all legal avenues are being pursued,” Ilir Peci said.

Vedat Musa, who was dismissed from his job at the Municipality of Zvecan, told KosovaPress that the reasons cited by the current mayor Dragisha Milović are scandalous.

Musa added that, since he holds an appointment act, his salary should be secured until retirement.

“The reasons cited in the decision for my dismissal from the position I held, by the current mayor Dragisha Milović, are scandalous. First, that the municipality does not have sufficient budget to pay administrative assistants. Second, that there is no evaluation report from the director or the mayor of the municipality for the five-month period during which Ilir Peci was mayor. I know this and I have with me the evaluation decision that was conducted for the five-month period. Likewise, when the state opens a competition for a certain position, the budget is secured for that position. I am appointed by an official act, and as long as you are appointed by an official act, your salary is secured until retirement,” Musa said.

He stated that an appeal is being prepared at the Independent Oversight Council and that he is convinced the decision will be overturned in their favor, as they have committed no violations.

Musa added that the current mayor invited them to a meeting only after he had already made the decision to terminate the contract, without knowing who he was or what job he performed, which according to him makes the dismissal decision inappropriate.

“At the Independent Council, we are preparing the appeal to submit, and I am convinced that the decision will be overturned in our favor, because we have not committed any violation, not even the smallest one. I do not know on what basis the mayor relied, because it is said that there is no evaluation from the director, while I was without a director, without a direct supervisor, and without a department head. The mayor invited us to a meeting only after he had made the decision to terminate the employment contract. Imagine, he had made the decision to terminate my employment contract and then asked me what my name was and which directorate I worked in. This shows that he had no idea who I was and what work I did, let alone make a decision to dismiss me from my job,” he concluded.

The case of the termination of the contracts of two officials in the Municipality of Zvecan has raised suspicions of legal violations and mismanagement, according to former mayor Ilir Peci and dismissed official Vedat Musa.

KosovaPress has sent questions to the Municipality of Zvecan for clarification regarding this decision, but by the time of publication had received no response.