«This is the starting shot of the gun», Sienkevych on the reform of the structure of Mykolaiv City Hall

The draft resolutions of the Mykolaiv City Council on streamlining the structure of executive bodies, liquidation, merger and renaming of departments are only the first step towards a complete reform of Mykolaiv City Hall. The issue of introducing an additional position of Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation and reducing the powers of district administrations, which are still budget managers, is planned for the next stage.

This was announced yesterday, 7 August, during a presentation of draft decisions to city council members by Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, according to NikVesti.

Earlier, we analysed the proposed draft decision, which envisages the liquidation of two departments: the anti-corruption department, which is to be merged with the executive committee, and the energy department, which is to be merged with the Capital Construction Department (CCD), and the creation of three new units: Internal Audit Service, Public Works Inspectorate and Procurement Department, as well as massive renaming: for example, Housing and Utilities — «Municipal Economy», Department of Economics — «Strategic Development and Investment», Human Resources— «Human Resources Department».

«We are in a transitional period. And now these two decisions are actually the starting gun for us to change the structure... In fact, our work on the structure is finally the first giant step... We still have a lot of work to do. First of all, the regulations on executive bodies, which will define the responsibilities of each directorate, department and division. The first big step for this is that we are making these two decisions,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

According to his plan, if the city council session on 28 August adopts the proposed decisions to approve and streamline the structure, all changes, including mergers, liquidations, and re-registrations of structural units, should be implemented by the end of the year.

«Next, we will have access to develop and approve job descriptions for each department, regulations on departments, which we will also approve at the city council session. And after that, we will reach the final number of employees and will be able to approve it,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Answering the deputies' questions about how the number of employees will change, the mayor said that it is impossible to say the figures yet, but he assures that it will definitely decrease.

«I propose to return to this issue when we consider the budget for the next year, including the planning of funds for salaries, and then approve this issue and the number of employees. It will be 100% reduced, I can't tell you the percentage or the amount right now. But we will already see the functionality of each unit, calculate it and approve it together... We have come to reduce the number of key spending units, consolidate procurement, and centralise the functions of certain areas. Then we will see the efficiency of the work. It is logical that when we define the powers of each body and each unit, we should already define the man-hours of work of this unit. This way it will be easier to control it and understand whether one person works for 2 hours and then goes home to drink tea, or whether he or she works for 8 hours, and then the number of people who work there and drink tea can be reduced. We have come to the conclusion that the procedures and processes of the city council should be transparent and understandable. And these worksheets should become available in the future so that all Mykolaiv residents can see what a particular person in a particular department is doing,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Regarding the absence in the draft decision on the new structure of a clause on the creation of another position of deputy mayor for digitalisation, which is provided for in the updated structure presented, the meeting heard that although vice mayors are part of the structure of executive bodies, the approval of their quantitative and qualitative composition is a separate decision of the Mykolaiv City Council.

Back in April, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych presented a draft of the new structure of executive bodies, which was developed in accordance with the recommendation of the Ernst & Young audit. The new structure envisages a reduction in the number of key spending units, liquidation and consolidation of departments. At the same time, the mayor's office is not yet able to say how much the number of executive body officials and their maintenance costs will be reduced. As of today, an internal audit unit has already been created, departments have been merged, and new regulations for the work of the updated bodies have been prepared.

Earlier it was reported that Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych believes that deputies should not combine representative and executive functions, and therefore should not hold senior positions in the executive bodies of the city council.

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