The finance manager who resigned from the municipality gave direct feedback to the councilors at the council meeting. The finance manager accused one of the council’s groups of making their work difficult and sending threatening messages.
An occupational safety notification has been made about the chairman of Sysmä’s council. The financial manager who resigned from the municipality last week at the council meeting accused trustees of interfering with their work and sending threatening messages.
– I see a certain group of councilors as the biggest problem in Sysmä municipality, which makes the work of office holders as difficult as possible. Our work is constantly criticized, doubted and belittled and all in all an attempt is made to create a rift between councilors and office holders, said Koittola to the council.
Koittola also said that he had received threatening e-mails.
The e-mail addressed to the mayor spread to others
The chairman of the municipal council, Veikko Kotolahti, says that he criticized the financial manager in an e-mail to the mayor, because the councilors had not received enough information about the preparation of the budget.
– I have not sent threatening messages to the financial manager. I have approached the municipal manager in this matter, not the finance manager, says Kotolahti.
– If we have doubts about the professional skills of an office holder, the matter must be brought to the attention of the superior. Now it seems that he has shared my message around the villages, says Kotolahti.
Kotolahti says that he addressed the message only to the mayor and for information to the chairman of the municipal board.
In the background, worry about preparing the budget
Kotolahti says that the councilors were worried that they were not given enough information about the preparation of the budget.
– The trustees have wanted more precise information about the budget. In the past, we have received information about what the numbers contain as a basis for decision-making. Now we only got headline-level numbers, says Kotolahti.
According to Kotolahti, the council’s budget meeting also brought up the fact that the councilors did not receive accurate information from the financial manager. He emphasizes that trustees have an indivisible right to receive information from office holders and nobody should be offended or take it upon themselves to ask for it.
However, Sysmä’s council approved the budget at its meeting.
Listen to Veikko Kotolahti’s interview:
The municipal government is considering sanctions
– I have told him that such communication is not appropriate. Even if the underlying concern is about the preparation of the budget, it still does not justify inappropriate communication, says Karola.
Karola does not want to comment further on the unfinished process.
Sysmä is now looking for a new finance manager.