Founding congress
In October of 1991, there was a third congress of the LTF. The new program was accepted and it had a whole chapter about local governments. This program had a provision to develop the system of local governments based on European Charter of Local Self-government. Activists of the LTF were divided into groups, and they went to all regions and cities of the Republic. Local governments were invited to the Founding Congress on December 14th and 15th,1991, in Jurmala, Lielupe, in the House of Knowledge.
On the first day, the meeting was led by the future chairman of the LTF, the chairman of Jelgava municipality, Jānis Bunkšs. 169 delegates attended the Congress. The first document of the Congress was the resolution of “Establishment of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments”. At the end of this document it is said – participants of the Founding Congress: “Are convinced that the warrant for democratic independent Latvia is the existence of self-contained and financially stable local governments. They are also convinced that voluntary association is needed for the expression and protection of common interests. They decided to declare the founding of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments and to start working immediately.”
On December 14, 1991, at 1:30 PM, the new association of local governments started to work. On the same day, temporary statutes were accepted and the temporary chairwoman was approved. Also, the sequences for voting the board and audit committee were approved, as well as three candidates were nominated for a chairperson position. During sessions of the next day, many important resolutions were accepted: regulations of entry and membership fees; temporary statutes; regulations of temporary board elections; political resolution that disapproved of the corrections made by the Supreme Council in September regarding governments of towns and rural districts that allowed the Supreme Council to discharge officials of council and local governments.
Also, the Congress elected the temporary board and the chairman of the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (LALRG) – the chairman of Jelgava municipality Jānis Bunkšs. He was reelected a few times and stayed in the office until September of 1993, when he continued his career in Civil Service (at first as the leader of the department of local governments in Cabinet of Ministers) and in politics (national level). Later, during three state administrations, he was a Minister of local governments.
The founding of the Association attracted a relatively high interest. In debates about temporary statutes, even the chairman of the Council of Ministers, and without doubt the leader of LTF – Ivars Godmanis, was participating. Interesting, prime minister did not give a congratulatory speech; but he participated in the debates as everybody else. It was a characteristic of the sense of democracy of the day. It made a sense that the political scene of Latvia has gotten a new participant. It was the beginning of the period of voluntary joining the LALRG.
