SOUTHERN CITY Quarter 4 2022 26 Municipal Diplomacy Prior to my election as mayor, I used to manage all that is connected to public services and public utilities. That includes wastewater treatment and landfill management. I am connected to the mission of this group here in North Carolina. Although I have a background in this field, I have accrued additional knowledge with this visit… But we need a couple years more to reach you and advance as well. Because we come from a centralized system, generationally from the Soviet system, unfortunately people are not used to taking responsibility and giving much importance to this domain. They do not appreciate the work in this domain. We can change it. … Besides the fact that I have gained from my experience here, the citizens are also expecting changes to be made. We hope that through these partnerships, we can grow together and the citizens can benefit… When the city halls are supporting from all sides, we see improvement. Not just through finances, but through expertise. » Sergiu Andronachi, Mayor of Cimislia ˘˘˘ The landfill seems to work like a beehive. On their morning tour, conducted by staff and done in-depth over the course of three hours, guests are driven around in a bus and shown each phase of the operation, which run concurrently and neatly timed with one another. At the summit of the facility, everyone exits the bus to get a closer look. A parade of trucks work up the hill—which again, is compressed garbage—and dump their days pickup right at the feet of what look like bulldozers. They move the piles around for the crusher, an impossibly large and heavy vehicle that smashes garbage into the earth using metal spiked wheels. Alongside it are dirt trucks, at the ready to immediately cover the crushed load with a layer of soil. It’s a dozen or more vehicles beautifully choreographed and playing their parts to complete perhaps the most intentionally out-of-mind public service a locality can offer. Not many people see—or care to see—where their garbage ends up. Heading down the slope, there is still more to watch and appreciate. As this hill is nothing but waste and soil, it creates a great deal of gas emissions. The landfill collects these. Strewn about, looking like straws in a drink, are poles that collect these gases as they breach the surface. Those gases are then funneled together, down the slopes through a web of infrastructure, and into a building that rests at the base of the mounds. This is an energy plant, and it creates electricity using the gas emissions, powering the landfill itself. What remains is then sold into the larger electric grid. This landfill is self-sustaining. No emissions reach the atmosphere. Starting from scratch, creating an operation like this seems insurmountably large and complex. And yet, that’s what the Moldovans are here to do: learn how to make these things happen back at home. ˘˘˘ I’ve been mayor for the last three years. During this short period, we’ve been able to implement multiple projects, but we have to admit that even with all the great things that are being done, we are behind when it comes to waste management. We are very grateful that we got to come to North Carolina to come get knowledge and information. We are representatives of three mayoralties and four districts. We hope to establish partnerships long term with our counterparts here. We are convinced that this type of technological advancement is not possible only with the forces of the local public administration in Moldova, so we rely on these partnerships to enhance our capabilities. The state of North Carolina, with Secretary Marshall, has supported these types of initiatives that can help us and support us in this endeavor. Our hope is that we will have the same type of support in the sphere of waste management. » Alexandru Bujorean, Mayor of Leova ˘˘˘ Just as there is immense value in seeing behind the scenes of a public service, so too is there value in seeing the perspective of your global peers. What can the local leaders of Moldova offer to the local leaders of NC? For one, it’s a return to basics. The culmination of the Moldovan delegation’s trip was a meeting with the mayors and managers of several Wake County towns for presentations and a Q&A session. Participating were Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina, who each mapped out their current strategic issues and ways forward. They also, and perhaps most helpfully, detailed their organizational fundamentals. How does the city run? Who is in charge of different departments? How are services provided? Looking side-by-side at the challenges of the quickly-growing North Carolina towns with the challenges of Moldovan towns, the comparison is stark. Drilling deeper, though, into the essential functions—the goals of service, and of quality of life, and of security—the images begin to overlap. The differences dissolve. And from this viewpoint, so inspiringly motivated by hope and ambition on the part of the Moldovans, the promise of the relationship—to better Moldova by adopting the best of North Carolina—seems very much within reach. Mayor Andronachi of Cimilslia, Moldova puts it succinctly: “If you can do, we can do it.” continued from page 24 Just as there is immense value in seeing behind the scenes of a publ ic service, so too is there value in seeing the perspective of your global peers. What can the local leaders of Moldova offer to the local leaders of NC? For one, it’s a return to basics.
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