Citizen advisor warns in an internal memo against “insolence” and “bad administrative practice”.
There are still problems with “bad management practices” and “disloyalty” in Nyborg Municipality’s vilified social department.
This is what Nyborg Municipality’s citizen adviser writes in a new internal document, which DR has obtained access to.
In the document, the citizens’ adviser expresses concern over a number of “particularly complex” cases where decisions “may have been made on the wrong basis”.
At the same time, she points out that there are cases which are “pushed away” on the grounds that “it is not our table”.
– There are tones of betrayal here, states the citizen advisor.
Problems go back several years
The scandal in Nyborg’s social department began to roll in earnest in December 2023, when an external report revealed a “betrayal of the culture” and violations of the law in hundreds of children’s cases.
It has since emerged that the problems in the social department have been known for years , and that Nyborg Municipality’s citizen advisor personally warned Mayor Kenneth Muhs (V) of “serious mistakes” and “concern for legal certainty” at a meeting in October 2021.
However, the mayor failed to share his knowledge with the rest of the city council, which, according to several experts, was a breach of the Municipal Administration Act.
The case is currently being investigated by the Danish Appeals Authority’s supervisory authority.
More inquiries from citizens
Earlier in the year, the city council in Nyborg adopted a comprehensive development plan worth almost DKK 300 million, which over the next four years must rectify the objectionable conditions.
But even though several initiatives have already been implemented, including the employment of more social workers, the citizen adviser has not become less busy – on the contrary.
In the second quarter of 2024, the citizens’ adviser received 85 inquiries from dissatisfied citizens.
This is an increase of 25 percent compared to the first quarter. And a whopping 86 percent of the inquiries are about cases in the social department.
In the internal memo, citizen advisor Marianne Vitus notes that there are still “areas that are lagging”.
Legal certainty challenged
In an e-mail to DR, the citizens’ advisor elaborates that she “over a wide range” misses good administrative practices in the social department.
– And therefore citizens’ legal security continues to be challenged, she writes.
In the boardroom of Nyborg Municipality, the director of social affairs in Nyborg, Lone G. Lorenzen, acknowledges that the situation is “not satisfactory”.
– But at the same time we have to face the fact that it takes time to restore trust and a good dialogue with the citizens, she says.
