October 9th, 2026
Hello, everyone.
The monthly council meeting was held this Tuesday. These are the topics that were discussed. Some will be presented here, and others in the next newsletter to avoid overloading you with information.
Queries – Limor Zer-Gutman:
a. Purchase of waste bins from Extraordinary Budget (TAVAR) 2511.
b. Safety consultant's opinion regarding underground waste bins.
Motions for the Agenda – Limor Zer-Gutman:
a. Filing an objection to Plan No. 353-1527829 Zikhron Ya'akov.
b. Changing the garbage collection and disposal method and transitioning to underground waste bins in the HaTnumat neighborhood and throughout the settlement.
Approved Agenda:
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TAVAR 2632 in the amount of 1,040,000 NIS for establishing a ninja complex on Marvad HaKsamim St. 🥷
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Reduction of TAVAR 2519 (development of roads and sidewalks on Achi Eilat St.) and increase of TAVAR 2516 (paving and regulation of HaMeginim St.). 🛣️
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TAVAR 2637 fencing a lot for the safety of residents. 🚧
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TAVAR 2638 in the amount of 200,000 NIS for the development and renewal of public gardens and green spaces throughout the moshava. 🌳
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TAVAR 2639 in the amount of 220,000 NIS for the installation of speed bumps for safety in the settlement. 🛑
⚽ 130,000 NIS was approved for fencing the soccer field in Gibor.
🌿NIS 200,000 out of NIS 600,000 was approved for the development of public gardens and public spaces.
New gardens are built using funds from the capital budget, while maintenance of existing gardens must come from the operating budget. However, in the 2026 budget, the allocation for garden maintenance was almost entirely cut. That is why I asked during the meeting: How can funding for garden maintenance be approved from the reserve fund?
The answer: This does not involve the maintenance of existing gardens, which is indeed covered by the budget. Rather, it involves the maintenance of existing areas not included in the contract with the council’s landscaping contractor. An investigation revealed that there are public areas that have not been maintained because they were not included in the tender established five years ago. Now there is a need to develop them from scratch, which is considered the creation of a new garden.
Contrary to legal requirements, no detailed list of the gardens or a detailed bill of quantities was attached. This was done, however, for the special budget allocation regarding the fencing of the Gibor field.
The mayor reported that a budget for landscaping development on Begin Road will soon be submitted to the council for approval.
🚗220,000 NIS was approved for the installation of speed bumps at several locations in the town where vehicles travel at high speeds.
Here, too, we did not receive a breakdown of where the speed bumps would be installed. During the meeting, a complaint was raised regarding the Neve HaBaron neighborhood, where certain streets have an excessive number of speed bumps, making driving difficult. Council members Dudi Rosenzoig and Ilan Amrani volunteered to meet with the council’s safety advisor to investigate the matter.
🚨 The Ministry of the Interior issued two “red cards” to the mayor and the Moazah.
Public funds—our money—cannot be spent in violation of the Ministry of the Interior’s guidelines! We’ve been through this before, 10 years ago, during the previous term of the current mayor. As part of my ongoing efforts to uphold proper governance, I submit inquiries, motion proposals, and send official requests to the Ministry of the Interior and law enforcement agencies—all for the benefit of the public. This is to ensure that project funding and financial activities are carried out responsibly and in accordance with the guidelines, regulations of the Ministry of the Interior, and the Local Authorities Ordinance. 📋
I would like to emphasize that the council’s legal advisor, Attorney Yossi Barzilai, was obligated, as a gatekeeper, to clarify to the council members during the plenary session that the two votes in question, as presented by the mayor, did not comply with the Ministry of the Interior’s guidelines and the Local Authorities Ordinance. He did not insist on this point nor did he explicitly state it during the meeting or in the minutes.
Many council members rely on his silence and tell me, “If the legal advisor doesn’t say it’s forbidden—then as far as I’m concerned, there’s no problem, and I’ll vote in favor.” However, I know that I cannot rely solely on his words, so I am examining the matter thoroughly and contacting the Ministry of the Interior.
These are the two votes that the Ministry of the Interior rejected:
Purchase of green trash cans: The council plenary was asked to approve funding for approximately 1,000 green household trash cans from development funds (plenary session of February 4, 25, Budget Resolution 2511). This action is prohibited under the Ministry of the Interior’s guidelines. In this case, the legal advisor and the treasurer were obligated to clarify that this action could not be funded from development funds, but these points were not mentioned at all in the plenary session minutes. On the contrary—Council-member Dr. Avigail Dolev, from my party, asked why the contractor who won the bid was not funding the purchase of the trash cans as required. 🗑️
At the time, I wrote to the Ministry of the Interior regarding this matter, but received no response. Council members were not informed as required by the Ministry of the Interior’s decision. Only following an inquiry I submitted (see the agenda) was it revealed that the Ministry of the Interior had halted the illegal expenditure and prohibited its funding from development funds.
Here is the inquiry I submitted, and the council chair’s response to it.
What is no less serious from a public perspective is the lack of transparency toward council members and the public: without my inquiry, we would not have known about this. I would like to remind you that it is mandatory to keep council members regularly updated on the issues we have voted on.
⛺Building for a Youth Movement: At one of the recent meetings, we were asked to approve a budget for the planning and construction of a building for youth movements—a very welcome initiative! However, regarding the funding sources, we were asked to approve—in addition to the Ministry of Education’s authorization of approximately 2 million NIS—an additional 1 million NIS based on a letter of commitment from one of the youth movements to fund the building (The name is, of course, specified in the document and known to the council members. However, I will not repeat it here so as not to further compromise the allocation process that is yet to come.)
During the meeting, I asked whether it was permissible to accept funding from a specific youth movement before the allocation process had been completed and it had been determined that the building would indeed belong to that movement, and whether this would constitute “contamination of the allocation” in the future. The legal advisor replied that it was possible to vote on the budget, and based on this response, all of us (including myself) approved the request.
However, this continued to seem problematic to me, so I contacted the Ministry of the Interior, since during the previous term under a different mayor, that very same legal advisor had given the opposite answer and made it clear that it was not possible to designate a future building for a specific youth movement prior to the allocation process. What has changed? Is it the identity of the mayor? 🤔
As can be seen from the council engineer’s letter, the Ministry of the Interior also blocked this move—which forced council members to convene a special session during the holidays just to approve the amended budget, so as not to lose the Ministry of Education’s support.
🙏 Thank you to the Ministry of the Interior for reviewing my inquiries and determining that the approvals for these capital budget allocations were not in order!
Removal of the underground trash bin on Rizling Street in the Park HaYayin neighborhood
Following complaints from residents, I submitted the following inquiry:
In early August 2026, the council unilaterally removed the underground trash bin on Riesling Street in the Wine Park neighborhood (an area designated as private property).
In a response sent by the council chair to residents, it was stated that the reason for removing the underground trash bin was a safety hazard resulting from the bin’s overflow. It was also claimed that a discussion had taken place with the residents of Riesling Street, but many of them maintain that they were not approached regarding the matter.
It is important to emphasize that the locations of underground trash bins in Park HaYayin were determined in the approved development plan. Residents also claimed that the incident—allegedly involving a hazard caused by the removal of an underground trash bin—did not occur on Riesling Street at all.
Hence the question:
Is there a safety consultant’s opinion outlining the danger posed by the removal of the underground trash bin, and what is the safe, sanitary, and accessible solution that has been determined for residents in place of the removed facility?
The mayor written response provided during the meeting:
