Pattaya City Council disbands after fight over CCTV cameras

[reader]

From Pattaya Mail

The Pattaya City Council disbanded after half its members resigned in apparent protest over a 200-million-baht contract for closed-circuit TV cameras.

Council Chairman Anan Ankanawisan announced the panel’s dissolution on Aug. 11 following the resignations of Wasan Naowniew, Chakorn Kanjawattana, Saksit Yaemsri and Choluek Chotekamjorn who comprised half of the eight remaining members of the council, which originally had 12 members appointed by the previous junta in 2016.

With fewer than the six required members, the council was automatically dissolved. Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said he will send a letter to Chonburi’s governor asking for either new members to be appointed or a special election called.

None of the city council members running Pattaya for the past five years ever stood for a public vote.

The four who resigned didn’t give a reason for stepping down, but they quit a day after a furious city council debate over spending another 200 million baht on more CCTV cameras.

The city council project was proposed after the Royal Thai Police last year said it would pay for the installation of 9,000 more cameras after Pattaya City Hall spent hundreds of millions of baht over the past decade to buy cameras and practically nothing to maintain them, leaving most CCTV units in Pattaya inoperable.

Police officials said last year that the 9,000 cameras would cost 30 million baht. But the contact put before the council was for an undisclosed number of cameras. Half of the council protested, claiming they believed the city was wasting money and that they needed more information before voting.

The matter finally was put to a secret ballot, with the vote split 4-4. Anan then tabled the measure and held it over for more discussion at a scheduled Aug. 13 council meeting.

That meeting now will not happen.

The city council was appointed by an Interior Ministry committee chaired by then-Chonburi Gov. Khomsan Ekachai on June 30, 2016, to replace the elected 24-member panel, which was disbanded when their members’ terms expired two weeks before.

Under the junta, which seized power in May 2014, no new local or national elections were allowed until 2019, and the National Council for Peace and Order steadily replaced elected governments throughout the country with their own people.

Continues at

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/pattaya-city-council-disbands-after-fight-over-pricey-cctv-cameras-367583

[PeterRS]

14 hours ago, reader said:

From Pattaya Mail

None of the city council members running Pattaya for the past five years ever stood for a public vote . . .

The city council project was proposed after the Royal Thai Police last year said it would pay for the installation of 9,000 more cameras after Pattaya City Hall spent hundreds of millions of baht over the past decade to buy cameras and practically nothing to maintain them, leaving most CCTV units in Pattaya inoperable.

Privately appointed crony city council members and something like 9,000 inoperable CCTV cameras! What a total mess. The entire council should be lined up and jailed for some months as punishment for total incompetence! 

[Guest]

More CCTV cameras, when they don't even maintain the existing ones ?  

Yet another example of waste and corruption. 

This is in the city where they keep digging up and re-surfacing perfectly good pieces of road.    Or re-surfacing the pavements, but making such a mess of it that the surface is no better than before.  The last lot of re-paving in South Pattaya had paving slabs that don't cover the full width of the pavement, with a little section of compacted hardcore between the paving slabs and the kerb. Not only does this look a mess, but if anyone drives a pick up onto the pavement, the edge of the paving slab can break off as it's not protected by a kerb.   So paving slabs are failing within days of being laid.

[Boy69]

Wouldn't it be better to spend this aoutragoes about of 200 million BHT for the Covid 29 victims ,the homeless and struggling business ?

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, Boy69 said:

Wouldn't it be better to spend this outrageous about of 200 million BHT for the Covid 29 victims ,the homeless and struggling business ?

I would but who will benefit then ? Only said struggling and homeless , not appointed councilors