Another council committee did not support the new structure of executive bodies of Mykolaiv City Council

The updated structure of the executive bodies of Mykolaiv City Council did not receive the support of the council committee on health and social protection.

This became known during a meeting of the commission on Tuesday, 18 November, according to NikVesti.

During the consideration of the issue, a member of the committee, Oleksandr Medvedev, asked how the number of executive bodies had changed. Andrii Volkov, the executive committee's administrator, replied that the number of employees had not changed.

«According to the decision of the city council, the total number of executive bodies of Mykolaiv city council is approved by the decision of the city council on the budget of Mykolaiv community. Therefore, the number of councillors will be decided by the deputy corps when voting on the budget. With this decision, we do not have the authority to change the total number of members», commented Andrii Volkov.

Alexander Medvedev noted that he would not vote for such a structure, as it does not bring any changes.

«I said that we need to give a specific number of employees for each division of our executive bodies. Then this structure will have an effect,» the commissioner said.

After that, Oleksandr Medvedev asked for an explanation of the changes that will affect the housing and utilities sector, because, in his opinion, the new structure will turn it into a «incapacitated».

«The structure is not just a name, but an effective body of our city. Therefore, I would like the deputy mayor to answer this question. Because the voted structure is controversial. I heard that the vote of Dombrovska (a member of the Mykolaiv City Council from the party «Servant of the People» Tetiana Dombrovska, — note) was not taken into account in the way she voted. This shows that there was some kind of fraud. Therefore, I would like to hear from the relevant deputy for housing and communal services», the committee member said.

However, the relevant deputy mayors were not present at the meeting. Therefore, the commission members asked to prepare a comparative table on the changes in the structure for the next meeting.

During the vote to postpone the issue and obtain additional information, the committee members did not have enough votes. After that, the chair of the commission, Anna Nord, put the draft decision to a vote, but it also did not receive the required number of votes.

«Thus, our committee did not support the structure. I once again propose that Andrii Volkov come out on Tuesday with additional information and voice it again. Most likely, the deputies do not understand what you meant by», commented Anna Nord.

As a reminder, on 14 November, members of the Mykolaiv City Council's Standing Committee on Land Issues also did not support the new structure.

It should be noted that in late August, Mykolaiv City Council approved an updated structure of the executive bodies of the city hall, which, in particular, provides for the liquidation of the anti-corruption department as an independent structural unit and its merger with the executive committee. During the session, city council member Andrii Yermolaiev, who headed the department, opposed the decision.

In September of this year, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption recommended that Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych create a separate, independent and functionally independent anti-corruption unit in the city council. The NAPC's letter emphasises that such units should operate autonomously and be responsible for preventing and detecting corruption.

What Sienkevych proposes in the new structure of Mykolaiv City Hall

Back in April, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych presented a draft of a 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.

At the same time, the draft of the new structure of executive bodies of Mykolaiv city council envisages an increase in the number of deputy mayors to seven. It is planned to create the position of vice mayor for digitalisation.

The draft of the new structure of the executive bodies of Mykolaiv City Council provides for a reduction in the powers of district administrations, which will no longer be the main spending units. The heads of the two districts, who are also deputies, publicly reacted to this: Oleksandr Bereza and Hanna Remennikova.

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