Permissibility of Repeal or Amend Municipality Participatory (Civic) Budget Resolution

Permissibility of repeal or amend participatory (civil) budget resolution can become a real problem during the COVID-19 pandemic (or during other crisis-like periods). On the one hand, that kind of action can undermine members of the local community trust in local authorities. On the other hand, the issue discloses a conflict between the essential values of local government. © 2022, Jagiellonian University. All rights reserved.

JOB SATISFACTION OF PUBLIC WORKERS IN NORTHERN PERU DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the job satisfaction of public workers in the provincial municipalities of the Tumbes region (Peru). Method: The method used was a descriptive, non-experimental cross-sectional design. The sample consisted of 319 male and female workers from the 3 provincial municipalities. A sociodemographic questionnaire and the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire were used as data collection instruments. Results: The results showed that only 10% of the participants had high job satisfaction. Within the dimensions, the majority showed low satisfaction (67%) with the remuneration received. No significant differences were found between men and women with respect to job satisfaction, and those with permanent employment status had lower levels than those who work on a temporary basis. Conclusions: It is concluded that most of the personnel working in the provincial municipalities of the Tumbes region have low levels of job satisfaction, so it is important to develop programs aimed at strengthening the bond and favorable attitude of workers with the institution where they work. © 2023 The Authors.

Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices of COVID-19 among deaf persons in the Greater Accra region of Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, studies continue to investigate the KAP of COVID-19 among diverse groups. We examined the KAP of COVID-19 among deaf persons living in the Ayawaso North Municipality in Accra. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used for this study. Our sample comprised deaf persons registered with the Municipal Directorate. In all, 144 deaf persons were interviewed using an adapted KAP COVID-19 questionnaire. RESULTS: Regarding knowledge, majority of the deaf persons (> 50%) were not in the know of 8 out of 12 items of the knowledge subscale. For attitude, deaf persons (> 50%) showed optimistic attitude in all 6 items of the attitude subscale. Deaf persons "always" practised 5 items and "sometimes" practised 4 items in the preventive practices to COVID-19. A positive moderate and significant correlation existed between the subscales. Regression analysis showed that, a one-unit increase in knowledge will result in a 1.033-unit increase in preventive practices while a one-unit increase in knowledge will result in a 0.587-unit increase in attitude. CONCLUSIONS: Campaigns about COVID-19 should emphasize the teaching of the science of the virus and the disease and not just the preventive practices, paying special attention to deaf persons.

SIGNIFICANCE, MIDTERM RESULTS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE BUDAPEST ONCOLOGY CT AND MR WAITING LISTS REDUCTION PROGRAM

BACKGROUND – High-value medical imaging diagnostic procedures are key elements of the diagnostic process of patients with suspected oncological disease and in determining the effectiveness of the initiated therapy. In Hungary, due to the high diagnostic demands, diagnostic waiting lists for computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MR) are usually long and result in less transparent reporting times, even in the case of individuals who are potentially suspected of having a malignant disease, or in the case of the follow-up of effectiveness of treatment of diagnosed cancer patients. THE AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY – Midterm analysis of the onco-diagnostic Program in Budapest implemented within the framework of the Healthy Budapest Program (HBP), gain experiences and presentation of underlying health policy processes. RESULTS – From November 2020 till 31st of December 2022 within the framework of the Program, the Municipality of Budapest has reimbursed 5437 contrast-enhanced CT and 2948 MR examinations with "C” or "D” disease diagnosis. Examinations has been financed in a sector-neutral manner to public and private healthcare providers in the so-called ‘BP' reimbursement category. The report undertaken by Semmelweis University has found, that in Budapest Municipality funded patients, radiological examinations were performed on average 15.2 days sooner (16.1 vs. 31.1 days), than in the case of the National Health Insurance Fund funded patients, the mean waiting time for CT/MR examination was shortened by 13.0 days (4.2 vs. 17.2 days, respectively). In 86% of cases, patients used the Program once, in 14% twice or more. Utilization of the Program shows a significant difference by the different districts of the Capital: the number of cases – originally planned based on demographic, prevalence and incidence data, broken down by district – was utilized between 3-45% for CT, and 8-37% for MR cases, respectively, by district residents mainly referred by district outpatient clinic specialists, between the period of November 2020 and August 2022. CONCLUSION – The Program has been utilised in a smaller scale, than it was originally planned before COVID, in terms of its cases. The program has achieved its aim through the reduction of CT and MR diagnostic waiting times and waiting lists, and it has an indirect effect in generally reducing waiting times at medical imaging. However, this is not sufficient to speed up and provide more efficient service for the entire oncology diagnostic process. Therefore, we wish to further develop the Program in the direction of adding additional diagnostic examinations and developing a patient pathway management module. © 2023 Literatura Medica Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Local scale dynamics to promote the sustainable management of construction and demolition waste

On a local scale, municipalities often incur high costs as a result of the illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste (CDW), due to gaps in awareness and training, a lack of adequate oversight actions or infrastructure and equipment. Moreover, there is a loss of resources, failing to close the loop of the circular economy. Six participatory workshops were implemented in 2021, via videoconference due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in a rural Portuguese region, to understand the contribution of local scale dynamics in the promotion of CDW management from an operational perspective. Three of them were dedicated to municipal technicians (39 participants, on average) and the other three to representatives of micro and small construction companies (25 participants, on average). The results reveal that strategies must rely on investment in local solutions to optimise logistics and cost issues, cooperation between stakeholders, and improving the market for recycled aggregates. Also, support for information, awareness, and training is essential, focusing on good practices onsite and oversight procedures. Additionally, municipalities were involved in the prioritisation of legal framework issues, and micro and small construction companies concerning the determinants contributing for their behaviour change. These findings contribute to solving gaps in the literature, useful for researchers and decision-makers in rural or less developed areas.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)

CROSS-BORDER TOURIST MOBILITY AS SEEN BY RESIDENTS OF THE KARELIAN BORDERLANDS: COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

This article offers a new approach to evaluating the significance of cross-border tourism for residents of the border region of Karelia amid COVID-19 restrictions. The work draws on data of a municipal-level survey of the region's population (575 people), conducted by the author in collaboration with Dr Ekaterina Shlapeko in 2021. Analysis of the survey results has confirmed the customariness of cross-border tourist mobility for the Karelians and the essential role it plays in their lives. These are manifested in regular trips to the neighbouring state, frequent contacts with Finnish travellers, marked preferences and a network of contacts with Finnish residents and organisations. The COVID-19 restrictions affected the routines of the residents of the Karelian borderlands more severely than those of people living in the inner municipalities or the regional capital. The findings of the study provide a comprehensive picture of the significance of cross-border tourist mobility (border tourism) and point to spatial differences in the perception of the study phenomenon by the residents of border, interior and urban municipalities. When applied in practice, the proposed approach gives an opportunity to widen the range of possible administrative decisions and can serve as a tool of regional economic policy on tourism. © Kondrateva, S. V., 2022

SIGNIFICANCE, MIDTERM RESULTS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE BUDAPEST ONCOLOGY CT AND MR WAITING LISTS REDUCTION PROGRAM

BACKGROUND – High-value medical imaging diagnostic procedures are key elements of the diagnostic process of patients with suspected oncological disease and in determining the effectiveness of the initiated therapy. In Hungary, due to the high diagnostic demands, diagnostic waiting lists for computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MR) are usually long and result in less transparent reporting times, even in the case of individuals who are potentially suspected of having a malignant disease, or in the case of the follow-up of effectiveness of treatment of diagnosed cancer patients. THE AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY – Midterm analysis of the onco-diagnostic Program in Budapest implemented within the framework of the Healthy Budapest Program (HBP), gain experiences and presentation of underlying health policy processes. RESULTS – From November 2020 till 31st of December 2022 within the framework of the Program, the Municipality of Budapest has reimbursed 5437 contrast-enhanced CT and 2948 MR examinations with "C” or "D” disease diagnosis. Examinations has been financed in a sector-neutral manner to public and private healthcare providers in the so-called ‘BP' reimbursement category. The report undertaken by Semmelweis University has found, that in Budapest Municipality funded patients, radiological examinations were performed on average 15.2 days sooner (16.1 vs. 31.1 days), than in the case of the National Health Insurance Fund funded patients, the mean waiting time for CT/MR examination was shortened by 13.0 days (4.2 vs. 17.2 days, respectively). In 86% of cases, patients used the Program once, in 14% twice or more. Utilization of the Program shows a significant difference by the different districts of the Capital: the number of cases – originally planned based on demographic, prevalence and incidence data, broken down by district – was utilized between 3-45% for CT, and 8-37% for MR cases, respectively, by district residents mainly referred by district outpatient clinic specialists, between the period of November 2020 and August 2022. CONCLUSION – The Program has been utilised in a smaller scale, than it was originally planned before COVID, in terms of its cases. The program has achieved its aim through the reduction of CT and MR diagnostic waiting times and waiting lists, and it has an indirect effect in generally reducing waiting times at medical imaging. However, this is not sufficient to speed up and provide more efficient service for the entire oncology diagnostic process. Therefore, we wish to further develop the Program in the direction of adding additional diagnostic examinations and developing a patient pathway management module. © 2023 Literatura Medica Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Education and COVID-19 excess mortality.

We study the role of education during the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy. We compare excess mortality in 2020 and 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic mortality between municipalities with different shares of educated residents. We find that education initially played a strong protective role, which however quickly faded out. After pondering several alternative explanations, we tentatively interpret this finding as the outcome of the interplay between education, information and public health communication, whose availability and coherence varied along the epidemic.

Rental assistance for victims of domestic violence: a benefit for extreme vulnerable women in the municipality of São Paulo/SP, Brazil

The study deals with the granting of a monthly rental assistance to women victims of domestic violence in the municipality of São Paulo/SP, Brazil. It proposes reflections on the agent condition, protective security, and substantive freedom in Amartya Sen's theory. It adopts the deductive approach to conduct the research and analyzes data from the Municipal Secretariat for Human Rights and Citizenship about this assistance benefit in the period of April to June 2021, to point out the bottlenecks and the contributions of this public policy, even more important in pandemic. It addresses the problem of knowing whether the rental assistance gives the conditions for the victim of violence to enjoy substantive freedom, protective security, and the agent condition, as proposed by Sen. It concludes that rent-aid is a relevant instrument to promote substantive freedom and protective security, as temporary monthly transfer of income to afford housing is integrated with programs that focus on professional qualification, income generation, and insertion of women in the labor market which brings about conditions for financial autonomy of the victim of domestic violence and enhances the expansion of the capabilities set and female empowerment. © 2022, Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law. All rights reserved.

The role of urban regeneration to improve community development in a metropolitan municipality

Background: The purpose of this article was to explore the role of urban regeneration to improve community development in a metropolitan municipality. This is important in light of the current strenuous socioeconomic situation, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Some of the pandemic's consequences on communities include socioeconomic challenges, loss of income, business disruption and health concerns. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the different mechanisms government uses to promote community development, and one of these mechanisms is urban regeneration. Aim: The study aims to establish whether urban regeneration can be used as a mechanism to promote community development. Setting: The article is based on South African metropolitan municipalities, mainly the three biggest municipalities in the country. These municipalities include the City of Johannesburg, the City of Cape Town and the eThekwini municipality. Methods: This research is based on unobtrusive qualitative research techniques or methods in order to collect and analyse information. The techniques used include conceptual, content, documentary and comparative analysis. Therefore, the contents and information used were collected from various secondary sources such as journal articles, books and government documents such as White Papers. In addition, political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal analytical framework is also used. Results: Urban regeneration is not a new phenomenon in South Africa;however, the mechanism is not fully embraced by municipalities in the country. The practice of both urban regeneration and community development goes hand in hand. Different metropolitan municipalities in the country have developed plans to incorporate urban regeneration as part of their community development programmes. Community development and urban regeneration are implemented in South Africa under different developmental policies. However, it is the sole mandate of the local government (municipalities) to promote this programme in their communities. The study also found that urban regeneration was also impacted both positively and negatively by the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative impact of COVID-19 is that various projects were postponed in order to redirect resources towards the COVID-19 response. Some of the projects affected municipal infrastructure grants to provide water to households and sanitise public transport facilities in municipalities that do not receive the public transport network grant. South African metropolitan municipalities lack a common shared plan on urban regeneration and community development. Conclusion: The main finding of this research study is that there is no concrete plan put in place to promote urban regeneration in municipalities. Hence, the study recommended that in conjunction with the national government, local levels should develop such a plan. Contribution: This research study will contribute to the decision-making process in local government. The research will also contribute to policy development and design on the topic of urban regeneration and community development.

Impact of weekday and weekend mobility and public policies on COVID-19 incidence and deaths across 76 large municipalities in Colombia: statistical analysis and simulation.

BACKGROUND: Despite widespread restrictions on residents' mobility to limit the COVID-19 pandemic, controlled impact evaluations on such restrictions are rare. While Colombia imposed a National Lockdown, exceptions and additions created variations across municipalities and over time.  METHODS: We analyzed how weekend and weekday mobility affected COVID-19 cases and deaths. Using GRANDATA from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) we examined movement in 76 Colombian municipalities, representing 60% of Colombia's population, from March 2, 2020 through October 31, 2020. We combined the mobility data with Colombia's National Epidemiological Surveillance System (SIVIGILA) and other databases and simulated impacts on COVID-19 burden.  RESULTS: During the study period, Colombians stayed at home more on weekends compared to weekdays. In highly dense municipalities, people moved less than in less dense municipalities. Overall, decreased movement was associated with significant reductions in COVID-19 cases and deaths two weeks later. If mobility had been reduced from the median to the threshold of the best quartile, we estimate that Colombia would have averted 17,145 cases and 1,209 deaths over 34.9 weeks, reductions of 1.63% and 3.91%, respectively. The effects of weekend mobility reductions (with 95% confidence intervals) were 6.40 (1.99-9.97) and 4.94 (1.33-19.72) times those of overall reductions for cases and deaths, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We believe this is the first evaluation of day-of-the week mobility on COVID-19. Weekend behavior was likely riskier than weekday behavior due to larger gatherings and less social distancing or protective measures. Reducing or shifting such activities outdoors would reduce COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Lay-Expert Risk Perception Divide: Downscaling Global Problems to National Concerns

In the modern world, risks are complex and systemic, and their effects are intercon-nected with the transformations in different layers of social systems. Global issues are not necessarily reflected in local contexts, and public perceptions of risks may differ significantly from expert assessments. The aim of the article is to reveal the differenc-es between the opinions of the Lithuanian population and experts on economic, envi-ronmental, technological, geopolitical and social risks, and to compare the differences between the opinions of local experts and Lithuanian public and the assessments of experts from the Global Risk Reports. The article presents the results of a representative survey of the Lithuanian population and an online survey of municipal experts. The re-sults of the study show that expert and population perceptions quite often coincide, especially in the case of social and economic threats. The biggest discrepancies, when the experts assessed the risks as higher than the population, were revealed in the cases of COVID-19, floods, forest fires, energy disruptions, and the mines from war legacy. Public identified higher risks than experts in the case of traffic accidents, illegal tracking of persons, illegal use of bank accounts/cards, Astravets NPP, and increase in prices. In the perception of risks of Lithuanian population and municipal experts in 2020-2021 economic and social risks dominated, and global risks with long-term effects, such as ecological or geopolitical, were not reflected in the local perceptions.

Local e-Government Development: Results of an international survey

There has been rapid progress in local government websites, especially in terms of services provision and resident engagement. The assessment of local government websites can help to ameliorate effectiveness of municipality services and be used as a mechanism to understand the critical needs of residents. To this end, our research is focused on assessing features of local e-Government development in some of the largest cities worldwide based on their responses to a questionnaire. The findings are discussed suggesting possible ways to improve the level of local e-Government development. An examination of responses for 42 cities reveals that e-Government is prominently practiced. The results indicate that local governments organise their web presence and service provision applying a variety of e-Government strategies based on their needs and priorities. They mainly align with the national legislation covering e-Government regulations. Online services provision, usage and citizens' satisfaction need more systematisation. Social media platforms are tools with an increasing application perspective, especially in residents' engagement in decision-making. COVID-19 initiatives provided a pathway on how to apply technologies, in a relatively short time period, facing critical situations. Emerging technologies provide tools that can be used to solve critical urban problems. Finally, the present study contributes towards an ongoing discussion for the development of a common worldwide assessment scheme that would measure the level and sophistication of local government digital development. © 2022 ACM.

Trends in the Use of Home LTC Services in Large, Medium and Small Municipalities in Italy: Lessons for the Post-COVID-19 Reappraisal.

Italian Long-Term Care is considered largely inadequate, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exposed its limitations. Public Home Care Services in particular were revealed as under-financed and unable to cover the potential demand for care from the older population. But does the type of municipality and its geographic location play a role in creating or mitigating unmet demand? This is the first study addressing this research question in Italy. Our hypothesis is that older people's care preferences and care possibilities may vary between small, medium and metropolitan areas, as will the organisation, funding and availability of services, and the combination will influence (unmet) demand for public home care services. In this paper, using nationally representative survey data collected by the Italian National Statistical Institute in 2003 and 2016, we investigate changes and differences in the use of public and private home care services among people aged 75 or older in Italy by size of the municipality. Our results reveal inequalities in service use between Northern and Southern areas of the country and in particular between metropolitan areas, medium and small municipalities. Such differences reinforce post-pandemic calls for new investment and changes in the design of the Italian Long-Term Care system.

Prediction of COVID-19 Infections for Municipalities in the Netherlands: Algorithm Development and Interpretation.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 was first identified in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China. The virus quickly spread and was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. After infection, symptoms such as fever, a (dry) cough, nasal congestion, and fatigue can develop. In some cases, the virus causes severe complications such as pneumonia and dyspnea and could result in death. The virus also spread rapidly in the Netherlands, a small and densely populated country with an aging population. Health care in the Netherlands is of a high standard, but there were nevertheless problems with hospital capacity, such as the number of available beds and staff. There were also regions and municipalities that were hit harder than others. In the Netherlands, there are important data sources available for daily COVID-19 numbers and information about municipalities. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to predict the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants per municipality in the Netherlands, using a data set with the properties of 355 municipalities in the Netherlands and advanced modeling techniques. METHODS: We collected relevant static data per municipality from data sources that were available in the Dutch public domain and merged these data with the dynamic daily number of infections from January 1, 2020, to May 9, 2021, resulting in a data set with 355 municipalities in the Netherlands and variables grouped into 20 topics. The modeling techniques random forest and multiple fractional polynomials were used to construct a prediction model for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants per municipality in the Netherlands. RESULTS: The final prediction model had an R² of 0.63. Important properties for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants in a municipality in the Netherlands were exposure to particulate matter with diameters <10 µm (PM10) in the air, the percentage of Labour party voters, and the number of children in a household. CONCLUSIONS: Data about municipality properties in relation to the cumulative number of confirmed infections in a municipality in the Netherlands can give insight into the most important properties of a municipality for predicting the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections per 10,000 inhabitants in a municipality. This insight can provide policy makers with tools to cope with COVID-19 and may also be of value in the event of a future pandemic, so that municipalities are better prepared.

Metropolitan municipalities with disaster: Covid-19 pandemic and Ankara, Bursa, Diyarbakir and Manisa Metropolitan Municipalities example

The coronavirus (COVID-19), which emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019, spread rapidly worldwide and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Turkey came face to face with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that swept the world on March 11, 2020;a scientific committee was formed quickly and took the necessary precautions. On the other hand, the general elections of local administrations held on March 31, 2019, were concluded, and the newly elected mayors and councils started their duties. Mayors prepared the strategic plan for the period of 2020-2024 on the one hand, and the investment and performance program for the first term, 2020, and their budgets on the other hand, and started to implement them on January 01, 2020, after the approval of the council. In this study, the issue of budget expenditures has investigated how much four different metropolitan municipalities in Turkey and four regions of Turkey are struggling with the disaster (covid-19 pandemic). As a result, the economic and social struggles of metropolitan municipalities in Turkey in such disaster situations, which can be considered extraordinary, are revealed with the results of budget expenditures. © 2022 Peter Lang AG. All rights reserved.

Municipality Solid Waste Management. A Case Study of Smart City Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Waste Management has become a big problem in India as a result of rapid urbanization. The urban population is around 377 million spread over 7,935 cities and towns who generates 62 million tones municipal solid waste per year. Only 43 million tons (MT) of the waste is collected, 11.9 MT is treated, and 31 MT is dumped in landfill sites. One of the essential services provided by Municipal Corporation is Solid Waste Management in order to keep the urban area clean. Further, The COVID-19 pandemic-induced catastrophe has altered the dynamics of waste generation in practically every sector around the world, necessitating specific attention. Unpredictable changes in trash quantity and composition also put pressure on policymakers to react quickly. Nevertheless, almost all the solid waste is dumped within the city haphazardly. It is believed that India had an unsound system of waste disposal management. This study was carried out to find out the issues if any regarding the solid waste management practices undertaken by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and suggest certain remedial measures to improve the system. © 2022 by ASERS® Publishing. All rights reserved.

The Perception of Local Governments on Street Vendors during the Covid-19 Era: The Case of Izmir

The spread of COVID-19 has shaken people's lives around the globe in an extraordinary way, threatening health, disrupting economic activity, and spreading fear and anxiety. However, the outbreak originated as a public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has also developed into a global economic crisis, with severe and potentially lasting impacts on employment and trade. The chapter investigates the changing dynamics of street economy during the COVID-19 era. In this study, one of the biggest but overlooked stakeholders of the street economy, municipality's perception through the constables regarding the street vendors will be investigated. It is known that the worldwide epidemic of COVID has caused such problems as layoffs, depreciation of money, the global crisis, foreign trade coming to a halt, and, thus, it reduces individuals' purchasing power. Therefore, it is considered that the number of individuals who are parties to the street economy has increased. This research aims to understand and discuss how COVID-19 has been affected to the street economy from the point of view of the constables, who are one of the most important stakeholders of the issue. A qualitative depth interviews were conducted to the constables of Izmir Municipality in Turkey. A semi-structured interview questions were applied and the data were analysed with the NVIVO program to understand the changing dynamics of street economy during the COVID-19 era in Turkey. The research aims to support and guide the local authorities with fresh data from the field regarding the changing characteristics of street economy.

Communicating for legitimacy in the public sector: The case of the Covilha Municipality in Covid times

This paper seeks to understand whether there is a concern in a municipal body as the Covilha City Council to legitimize itself;gauge how it legitimizes the public processes of urgent matters, such as the Covid-19 process;and find out which categories of moral legitimacy suggested by Suchman (1995) are more important for the citizens of the municipality. In this case, legitimation through municipal communication was analyzed based on an in-depth interview with the professional responsible for communication, content analysis of press releases released by Covilha City Council, and with data collected in four focus groups in order to understand the legitimating processes and expectations from the citizens' point of view. The results show that there an intention on legitimizing that is not translated in a strategic or tactical-planned way. Although there is an intense communication around the urgent public process, with about 14 press releases referring to it in the period of six months, these are limited to a more informative character and to the dissemination of activity and political decisions, rather than strategic or with contents that seek legitimization processes with implicit and/or symbolic dimensions. From the analysis of communication management, despite the professionalization and even a structure in the body in question, there is no decision-making autonomy, nor monitoring of the public or planning according to analyses. In this way, ad-hoc communication may mirror momentary mental strategies of the manager and the team of communication and public relations professionals, but does not consider an analysis of publics, nor the production of specific materials for each segment of citizens. These findings are in line with conclusions from studies of government communication, which suggest the need for a strategic and not only tactical approach to build intangibles (e.g. Sanders and Canel, 2013). Furthermore, the study reveals that citizens have expectations in various dimensions, including public communication in awareness-raising processes and strategies with preference to better suited tools to all age groups. As a conclusion we can state that there is no satisfaction of the communicative needs and consequently legitimacy is in question. The focus group analysis shows that younger citizens seek and expect communication processes at the level of the role of politicians and dialogical processes;the dialogical and procedural expectations decrease with the age of the groups. However, there is a predominance of structural legitimacy in all Portuguese groups, which mostly include national and regional bodies. The roles of local processes are left to the background. Consequential legitimacy has less relevance. The professional practice of communication in the public sector in the case of Covilha Municipality regarding Covid falls short of what is proposed by the academic discipline. This study contributed to reinforce the idea that legitimacy and legitimation processes are always contextual and dependent on the environment and that, therefore, without research on publics, strategic management and strategic plans it is not possible to have an effective communication management in the public sector.

Mayoral Influence on Participatory Budgeting in Lithuania during Covid-19

The paper deals with two topics: Participatory Budgeting (PB) and mayoral impact on its success. Its theoretical background is rooted in the interrelation of the discourse of PB and characteristics of mayors as city leaders. The paper analyzes articles revealing personal, social and political characteristics of mayors and their impact on civic governance. The scope of collected characteristics was researched with a view on how they impact succession and the resilience of PB. The idea behind this analysis was not only to reveal mayoral characteristics and their impact on PB in general, but to test them against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic as an example of an external crisis. PB practice in Lithuanian municipalities was researched. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with mayors or their subordinates and helped to reveal the mayors’ role and impact on PB resiliency. Relevant statistical data was collected and analyzed in order to obtain the specific characteristics. The results proved the impact of mayors’ social and personal backgrounds on PB resiliency, but during challenging times or even crises, political affiliation, interrelation with the council or administrative and political skills are supportive factors. The paper suggests that mayors cannot ensure the persistence of PB alone when finances are scarce during times of crisis. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.