Chisinau City Hall spent 600,000 lei on local councilors laptops

The members of Chisinau Municipal Council were bought laptops they should use during meetings, Info-Prim Neo reports. Mayor Dorin Chirtoaca said that providing the councilors with laptops would make the project and decision management an electronic one. “We are nearing European international standards regarding the electronic management of documents”, he stated. The Mayor mentioned a similar project would be implemented in the City Hall, which would help to avoid countless papers being needlessly multiplied. “Our meetings consume a huge amount of paper and these laptops will smooth Council’s and divisions’ activity”, he said. Dorin Chirtoaca stated laptops could be used outside the City Hall only in work purposes. Each councilor will sign a contract of material responsibility. “We think it wouldn’t be normal if the laptops were kept strictly in the City Hall. It’s logical you should be able to carry the laptops with you, as many of you work in other divisions or enterprises”, he said. Independent councilor Oleg Cernei praised Mayor’s idea, but stressed the CMC Regulation should be amended. “You can already see that some councilors read news on the web and so on. We need a set of rules regarding the use of laptops. Otherwise, everyone will do whatever they want and it will be fun, not work” he said. However, the Mayor assured him everyone could resist the lure to access other websites. Adelaida Boico, member of the Liberal-Democrat faction, agreed the laptops were a good thing. “It happens quite often we receive the necessary papers too late or councilors work somewhere else and don’t have time to come to the City Hall to get them. With laptops, we’ll receive the necessary information through email”, she said. Democrat Party councilor Valeriu Cotaga stated this project should have been implemented a long time ago. “I was sick of carrying so many papers. Sometimes I had to take them home or I forgot them at work and so on. Now, I’ll have them in my laptop”, he said. Besides, CMC Secretary Valeriu Didenco announced that the City Hall and the Municipal Law Library will publish the online version of the Chisinau Gazette.