Local Authorities

The Secretary-General ensures (also) an independent control over the activities of local authorities. Therefore, in the light of this function, in addition to that of coordination and oversight, he/she cannot advocate acts of management, except in the event of default. The Administrative Tribunal (TAR) of Calabria, by judgment n. 1653/2022, has declared illegitimate, for relative incompetence, the award of a contract with a decision taken by the Secretary-General rather than the responsible Public Officer.

The Council of State confirmed the illegality of the resolution of the Municipality of Seregno which approved a complex corporate integration project between its subsidiary and A2A S.p.A.. The judgment is particularly interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it is confirmed that a public tender must be carried out in circumstances such as those of the present case, and secondly, it remains to be seen what consequences the ruling will have on the operation.

D.L. n. 174/2012 details the internal control system in local authorities envisaged by D.Lgs. n. 286/1999, providing for a preventive and a subsequent phase of administrative regularity control. According to art. 147-bis T.U.E.L., subsequent control is an internal arbitral control, implemented during the following phase of the formation of the act, under the direction of the municipal secretary. It must be ensured according to general principles of corporate audit and methods defined within the organization's autonomy. Acts subject to control include: expenditure commitment determinations, entry verification documents, expenditure settlement documents, contracts and other administrative documents. Subsequent check concerns legitimacy and cost-effectiveness of administrative action. Nevertheless, accounting principles do not properly integrate the purpose of the subsequent check for administrative regularity, as they are concentrated only in regularity check of the determinations, contracts and deeds subject to control and not also accounting check. Art. 147-bis.3 affirms that the municipal secretary must send control results to: units evaluating employees’ results, for example useful documents for the evaluation, the Auditors, the City Council and the various heads of services, along with directives to comply with in case of irregularity. Subsequent check processes may take advantage of digital transformation since it is realized through a double paper-digital track. Thus, we could hypothesize the development of an ad hoc IT platform. As an outcome, there could be several benefits such as the dematerialisation and progressive digitization of the procedure. Besides, all the information of the authority would be better integrated, while optimizing the data acquired, avoiding duplications in document requests and allowing for a green transition.

With judgment no. 1274 of July 3, 2020, the Regional Administrative Court of Milan has clarified that the selection, by public notice, either of public or private entities interested in providing mobility services in sharing with electric devices, does not constitute a public service activity if the Municipality has not expressed the political aim of satisfying the need of its administrators to move around the city through the use of hoverboards, segways, electric scooters and monowheels; this is due to the lack of the fundamental moment of "political engagement", which is an indefectible prerequisite to be able to integrate the figure of public service.

This paper analyses the decree n. 1135 of 8 June 2020, through which the Campania Regional Administrative Court, section V, has precautionary upheld the request to suspend the effectiveness of the ordinances n. 248 of 29 May 2020 and n. 249 of 04 June 2020 of the Mayor of Naples. The two ordinances determined, on the one hand, a derogating discipline regarding the opening hours of retail establishments, already subjected to regional regulation, and on the other hand, an extension in terms of concessions for the temporary occupation of public land, which, instead, are disciplined by the municipal regulation "Dehors".

The article proposes new forms of participation and financing of public works that ensure the involvement of the population thanks to the solutions made possible by blockchain. The contribution starts from the consideration that the financing of public initiatives affects administrations and citizens closely, both as users and as taxpayers. The city is thus understood as an innovation laboratory, where virtuous solutions can be experimented and implemented while maintaining a close connection to the population. To this end, concrete solutions are proposed for innovative, traceable and sustainable financing of public infrastructures, activated with the new tools developed on blockchain technology.

Local authorities are increasingly called “proximity public administrations”: proximity to the needs of their citizens. The experience of the “Covid-19” pandemic represents an authentic “proof” for all local administrations. The essay analyzes the role that, according to the most recent state regulatory provisions, the Republic entrusts to local authorities, in order to actively support its citizens.