NIS CITY DELEGATION AT THE FORUM OF SMART CITIES IN CHINA

May 21^st

The Delegation of the City of Nis, comprised of the Assistant Mayor MiloS Milosevic, the director of PUC Mediana Dragoslav Pavlovic, and the director of the PUC Parking Service Dejan Dimitrijevic, were took part in the traditional Smart Cities Forum in Shenzhen, China at the invitation of the Huawei Company. The Forum presented the accomplishments that have been achieved in this area in a number of cities in the world, and which, in cooperation with the Huawei Company, would be implemented in Nis. The association of smart cities currently gathers around 700 metropolises, including Beijing, Singapore, Barcelona, Dubai and many others. The goal is to create smart digital services for citizens that will enable a safer and smarter society and ambience. Integration of these technologies will help city administrations build a safe, intelligent and efficient social and economic environment. As part of the Forum, the members of the Nis delegation had a series of meetings with the representatives of Huawei’s management, as well as a tour of the Centrale Corporation and command centers managed by the complete system of smart and security services in the city of Shenzhen, which is the world leader in the implementation of high-tech innovations in organization of the functioning of the city.

May 12^th

USAID Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia Mr. Brock Bierman, and the cities of Nis, Pancevo, and Cacak signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to help their district heating plants become more energy efficient. The Memorandum was signed by the Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, the Mayor of Pancevo, Sasa Pavlov, and the Deputy Mayor of Cacak, Milica Dacic. The project for energy efficiency in Serbia will last two years and its value is 2.1 million dollars. The aim is to reduce energy consumption through improved heating efficiency at the local level. USAID will provide technical equipment and advisory services to Nis, Pancevo, and Cacak to increase heating energy efficiency, which will reduce the amount of fuel needed to meet consumer demand.  “The framework agreement signed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the US Government enabled us to sign this memorandum today. We are glad that USAID decided to support our city out of several municipalities they were considering. We believe that this will enable further steps in improving energy efficiency and that as a city we will make a full contribution. I believe that contributed funds will be used in the right way to improve energy efficiency, which will result in citizens’ satisfaction, as well as the savings for city district heating system, “said Mayor Darko Bulatovic. The Mayor of Pancevo, Sasa Pavlov, said that the energy efficiency and the use of alternative energy sources was a strategic determination of the City of Pancevo. Milica Dacic, Deputy Mayor of Cacak, also thanked for being selected by USAID for this project. “We are trying to awaken the ecological awareness of our fellow citizens through these projects,” she said

September 20^th

Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and the member of Nis City Council Member for Youth and Sports Branislav Kacar handed over the certificates on complete internships in public companies, city administrations and departments, cultural and sport institutions and city municipalities, to the students of the final year of basic studies and students of the master studies of the University of Nis. U-NI Practice 2017 is conceived as the project to help young people to undergo internship for a month in the public sector after their studies. It provides students the opportunity to gain experience in various areas. Working in public sector is an excellent opportunity to develop professionally and acquire the needed skills. The aim of the practice for students is to acquire practical experience in the work, obtain the certificate of practice issued by the City of Nis and the University of Nis, the possibility of obtaining a recommendation from the institution where the student underwent the internship and the possibility of recognizing the internship as an additional activity adding3 ESPB points by the educational institutions. 34 students applied for 105 positions (or 59 different positions) within 20 institutions in Nis and 31 students started and completed the internship during August 2017. All the interns and mentors have completed the internship evaluation questionnaire in order to define the guidelines for the next year.

Article No 52 of the Law on Public Enterprises (Official Gazette of RS, No 15/2016) provides that the Acting General Manager may be appointed to the moment of the appointment of the General Manager of a public company after a public competition for a period not longer than one year. Given the fact that the acting general managers at PUC City Heating Plant and PUC Gorica completed their term of office, and that according to the Law on Public Enterprises, the same person cannot be appointed twice as the general manager, Committee for the Appointment of Nis City Assembly, acting in accordance with the law and Statute of the City of Nis, will propose to the members of the Nis City Assembly to decide on the appointment of the new acting general managers of the two companies.

Acting general manager must meet the requirements for appointment of public company general managers referred to in Article 25 of this Law and shall have all the rights, duties and powers that of a public company general manager. The City Council cannot speculate who will be appointed as the new acting general managers given that their appointment is not within the competence of the City Council but of the Nis City Assembly Committee for the appointment.