Area transfer between TAO and Thesaban Pa Ko Dam

Boundary as of 2012

Another municipal change was announced yesterday, the transfer of some area of the TAO Pa Ko Dam (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลป่าก่อดำ) to be added to the municipality Pa Ko Dam (เทศบาลตำบลป่าก่อดำ) [Gazette municipality, Gazette TAO].

When the sanitary district of Pa Ko Dam was created in 1992 [Gazette], it covered the most densely populated area around Phayon Yothin highway, not taking care of the subdistrict boundaries. Thus the sanitary district did cover parts of the subdistrict Pa Ko Dam as well as smaller parts of Chom Mok Kaeo. Later in the 1990s, decentralization became the new policy, turning the sanitary district into a subdistrict municipality in 1999, and creating the TAO Pa Ko Dam in 1996. This additional local government unit thus covered the remaining area of the subdistrict - which is cut into two halves by the municipality.

Boundary as of 1992

This bisection of the TAO has now been changed, the whole eastern part of the TAO - mostly mountainous areas east of the river Maenam Lao - has been added to the municipality, leaving the more populous western part to the TAO. According to the meeting transcript of meeting 55/2012 on August 27, this affects the administrative village (Muban) 12 and parts of Muban 7 and 8, but sadly doesn't mention the population numbers.

Thung Kwao TAO upgraded to municipality

The first of more than 140 TAO upgraded to municipalities in August has been officially announced in the Royal Gazette last Friday [Gazette]. I am only covering this first one as I won't be able to write a posting on all the forthcoming announcements - at least I hope they will be published in the Gazette, not like those four years ago which are still not yet published there.

The TAO in this announcement is Thung Kwao (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งกวาว), Mueang Phrae district, Phrae province, about 3 kilometer northeast of the town center of Phrae. With a population of 6010 (as of December 31 2011) it is one of the rather small municipalities - though there are a lot smaller ones as well. The upgrade has been effective on August 31, one week after the term of the TAO council and mayor has ended. And quite fast, the new council and mayor were already elected on October 21 - thanks to the local Election Commission which finished the constituencies before the upgrade became effective [Gazette]. The new mayor is Prakit Suphaphon (ประกิจ สุภาผล), previously the village headmen of Mu 5, who defeated the last TAO mayor Phichit Patmaphonphong (พิชิต ปัทมาภรณ์พงศ์) with 1,639 votes vs. 1,547 votes.

Quite interesting is the transcript of the board meeting 28/2555, in which the upgrade of Thung Kwao was first discussed. Most is of course just the lengthy text which is present for every such act. But, this upgrade was discussed in a public hearing in Thung Kwao, in which out of 4,559 eligible voters 749 approved the upgrade and 748 disapproved - quite a small margin of approval.

Province governor reshuffle 2012 (Part 3)

In last weeks cabinet meeting (November 12), the third part of the province governor reshuffle was approved. A total of 23 posts were reassigned, mostly vice governors being promoted to their first term as a full province governor, replacing the vice governors which were acting province governors after that position became vacant in the earlier reshuffles - or in some cases the acting governor becomes the official governor. The cabinet meeting transcript does not give the date by which the reassignment becomes effect, but from a post in an Amnat Charoen forum it seems they are effective November 19.

As usual the transcription of the names is done manually and hopefully without any big mistakes.

• Wirawat Chuenwarin (นายวีระวัฒน์ ชื่นวาริน), governor of Maha Sarakham to become governor of Amnat Charoen.
• Suwit Subongkot (นายสุวิทย์ สุบงกฎ), vice governor of Kalasin becomes governor of Kalasin.
• Chumphon Saengmani (นายชุมพร แสงมณี), vice governor of Lamphun to become governor of Nan.
• Thongchai Lue-adun (นายธงชัย ลืออดุลย์), vice governor of Mukdahan to become governor of Bueng Kan.
• Aphinan Chansang (นายอภินันท์ จันทรังษี), vice governor of Nakhon Pathom to become governor of Buriram.
• Chuchat Kifapaeng (นายชูชาติ กีฬาแปง), vice governor of Chiang Mai to become governor of Phayao.
• Monthiao Thongnit (นายมณเฑียร ทองนิตย์), deputy director-general in the MOI to become governor of Phetchaburi.
• Aphichat Todilokvet (นายอภิชาติ โตดิลกเวชช์), vice governor of Samut Sakhon to become governor of Phrae.
• Nophawat Singsakda (นายนพวัชร สิงห์ศักดา), vice governor of Udon Thani to ebcome governor of Maha Sarakham.
• Sakonsat Bunpradit (นายสกลสฤษฎ์ บุญประดิษฐ์), vice governor of Nakhon Ratchasima to become governor of Mukdahan.
• Choetsak Champathet (ว่าที่ร้อยตรี เชิดศักดิ์ จำปาเทศ), vice governor of Kanchanaburi to become governor of Ranong.
• Phinit Thanphanit (นายพินิจ หาญพาณิชย์), vice governor of Chiang Rai to become governor of Lamphun.
• Nueachai Chiraaphirak (นายเหนือชาย จิระอภิรักษ์), vice governor of Chumphon to become governor of Satun.
• Phakthon Thianchai (นายภัครธรณ์ เทียนไชย), vice governor of Chonburi to become gopvernor of Sa Kaeo.
• Suraphon Saengsak (นายสุรพล แสวงศักดิ์), vice governor of Ratchaburi to become governor of Singburi
• Mrs. Sumitra Sisombat (นางสุมิตรา ศรีสมบัติ), vice governor of Chachoengsao to become governor of Sukhothai
• Suphat Sisunthonohinit (นายสุภัทร์ ศรีสุนทรพินิต), vice governor of Suphanburi to begcome governor of Suphanburi
• Chatpong Chatphut (นายฉัตรป้อง ฉัตรภูติ), deputy director-general in the MOI to become governor of Surat Thani .
• Chaloemchai Phoengkhon (นายเฉลิมชัย เฟื่องคอน), vice governor of Uttaradit to become governor of Uttaradit.
• Phongsathon Satchacholaphan (นายพงศธร สัจจชลพันธ์), vice governor of Kanchanaburi to become inspector general in the MOI.
• Pradit Sukontasawat (นายประดิษฐ์ สุคนธสวัสดิ์), vice governor of Narathiwat to become inspector general in the MOI.
• Athit Bunyasophat (ว่าที่ร้อยตำรวจโท อาทิตย์ บุญญะโสภัต), deputy director-general in the department of disaster prevention and mitigation to become inspector general in the office of the office of the permanent secretary.
• Nisit Chansomwong (นายนิสิต จันทร์สมวงศ์), deputy director-general in the department of community development to become inspector general in the office of the office of the permanent secretary.

Ko Samui municipal constituencies

With every change of status of a municipality the number of constituencies changes, thus whenever a TAO is upgraded to a municipality or a municipality gets upgraded to a higher municipal status the Election Commission has to draw constituencies for the council election. The constituencies are then announced in the Royal Gazette, but as there are so many of them I only add the basic information while adding them in my XML (as of today I have 2491), and of course normally don't mention them here.

Yesterday, the constituencies for Ko Samui were announced, which has been upgraded from a town municipality to a city municipality effective September 14. With the upgrade, the council has changed from 18 to 24 members, to be elected in four constituencies each having six seats. While most constituency definitions describe the boundaries even if the boundaries are identical with those of the administrative villages, in this case only the subdistricts and villages for each constituency is listed. For example, constituency one consists of village one to three of Ang Thong subdistrict, the whole Lipa Noi subdistrict and village one and three of Taling Ngam.

But since I have no map showing the boundaries of the administrative villages, this kind of definition doesn't help me much to create a map showing their outline. On the website of the municipality I found an announcement from a committee within the provincial office of the Department of Local Administration with three proposals for the constituencies - of which number one was then later chosen. The announcement has an archive attached, which contains maps for the three proposals - however sadly just photographs of the maps, thus not that sharp and not planar either.

The three constituencies for the town municipality from 2008 are defined by a boundary description only, the two constituencies of the subdistrict municipality defined in 2004 however also lists the subdistricts and villages. Apparently, the constituencies for the first municipal election in 2000 wasn't published in the Royal Gazette. But I found no maps for those, and not enough time to try to get the village boundaries from the map above and then merge the polygons to the 2004 constituencies.

Now the constituencies are defined, the Election Commission has to set the date for the election - as the council term ended on September 13, without the upgrade the election must have been within 45 days, thus no later than October 28. Not sure if there is any maximum delay between constituency definition and election, but as far as I know no date has been announced yet. Since the website of the Surat Thani Election Commission is not updated often (the latest found there is from June this year), the better place to find the date would be the Facebook page of the municipality...

Three new license plate graphics

On Monday, three new province graphics for car license plates were announced.

• Udon Thani [Gazette] The artwork has changed quite a bit, though the main elements of the 2005 design are still present - the pottery from Ban Chiang, the peculiar shaped rock of Phu Phra Bat Buabok and some orchid flowers. Newly added are other artifacts from Ban Chiang, the large lotus field of Kumpawapi lake, and the provincial flower Flame of the forest to the left.
• 
  Phang Nga [Gazette] The graphics is almost identical with the one announced back in 2008 - only the colors have slightly more contrast now.
• 
  Suphanburi [Gazette] It is already the third design announced for Suphanburi. Compared to the previous one from 2010, no new symbols were added, only the Suphanburi tower as well as the Dragon Museum are now placed as photographs instead of drawings - which to me make them look rather artificial within the design.

Three new Muban in Tak

Yesterday the creation of three new administrative villages in the province Tak was announced in the Royal Gazette. Signed by the province governor on October 10, the change became effective October 19.

• Ban Mae Ku Noi (บ้านแม่กุน้อย), village 7 of Mae Ku subdistrict, Mae Sot district, is split to create village 11 named Ban Mae Ku Burapha (บ้านแม่กุบูรพา).
• Ban Mae Ku Nuea (บ้านแม่กุเหนือ), village 8 of Mae Ku subdistrict, is split to create village 12 named Ban Mai Don Chomphu (บ้านใหม่ดอนชมภู).
• Ban Rom Klao Sahamit (บ้านร่มเกล้าสหมิตร), village 5 of Khiri Rat subdistrict, Phop Phra district, split to create village 13 named Ban Rom Klao Charoen Suk (บ้านร่มเกล้าเจริญสุข).

Minor note - this time the coordinates in the announcement are given as full MGRS coordinates, e.g. ๔๗Q MU ๕๗๓๕๘ ๔๐๐๓๒. Normally the 47Q at beginning is omitted, as it is obvious which UTM zone is meant.

Local election coverage at Election Commission

In the last weeks, a lot of local governments - especially Subdistrict Administrative Organizations (TAO/SAO) - had elections for their councils and usually also for the mayor. These are the reason why I haven't been able to post as regularly and in-depth here lately, as I am trying to keep up to date with all these and incorporating at least the basic data - the name of the mayor and the begin and end of the terms of the mayor and the council - into the XML files. In order to do so I have to rely on the data posted at the website of the Election Commission (ECT), or more exactly at the sub-pages maintained by the provincial branch offices of the Election Commission.

I have found several very detailed files already, most helpful so far are two Excel sheets which list all the entities which have their term ended in this year and in 2009. And the most detailed data for one specific province is available from the Trang office - an Excel sheet with all the councilors and mayors and their dates of election, including by-elections of councilors. Last updated in May 2011, it helped me to get Trang almost completely covered. Just hope there'll be an updated version of that file after the current row of elections is done.

But sadly only some of the provincial commissions keep their webspace updated, with items like a complete election reports containing all candidates and the votes they could win, or at least a list of winners like the one I just recently worked through for Nakhon Si Thammarat. Others provincial branches did not update their election calendar for months, or have no results from any elections. The worst is Bueng Kan, there even the start page shows a "Under construction" sign - should have been enough time since the creation of the province to get the website filled with content as well. But since its simply impossible to work through all the 3116 local elections this year, I focus on the southern provinces and those where I find very comprehensive documents - browsing through several long PDF just to find an election date is just beyond what I can manage. Of course I would be happy if anyone would help to update the XML files, then I could focus on programming something using these data, like my own dynamic election calendar.

Muban rename in Chiang Rai

Today, the rename of the administrative village number 11 in Chedi Luang subdistrict, Mae Suai district, Chiang Rai was announced in the Royal Gazette. The rename was approved on August 9 in meeting 4/2555 of the board to consider name changes, and one month later on September 19 signed by Chiang Rai vice governor Surachai Linthong (สุรชัย ลิ้นทอง).

The village was originally named Ban Pa Tueng Ngam (บ้านป่าตึงงาม) - though the TAO website lists it without the final "Ngam" - and was created between 1998 and 2005. It is now renamed to Ban Mai Saeng Kaeo (บ้านใหม่แสงแก้ว). The rename was done due to the fact that village 1 of the subdistrict is also named Pa Tueng Ngam. Since the creation of village 11 was done before the Muban creations have been published in the Royal Gazette, I can only guess that village 11 was created by splitting off a part of village 1.

On the TAO website I also found the full order by the province administration as sent to the TAO administration, including on page three the scan of the original of what is now published in the Royal Gazette.