Сommunity, authorities and business: Mykolaiv will update its city charter for the first time in 15 years

Mykolaiv residents are involved in drafting a new version of the city's charter. Photo: Mykolaiv City Council, NikVesti

A working group has been set up in Mykolaiv to prepare a new version of the city's Charter. It includes 16 representatives of local authorities, 16 representatives of local civil society institutions, two independent experts and two business representatives.

This was reported by the correspondent of NikVesti.

As you know, the current Charter of Mykolaiv has been in force since 3 September 2009. According to the first deputy mayor, Vitalii Lukov, the document needed to be updated primarily due to changes in Ukrainian legislation.

«There have been certain changes in Ukrainian legislation regarding democracy, and in line with European standards, we need to revise the city's Charter. Based on decolonisation and decommunisation, there were some nuances, where, for example, the history of Russia was taken into account in our Charter, and so on,» Vitalii Lukov told NikVesti.

In particular, there are place names with outdated names in the Charter, a screenshot from the document

According to him, the new Charter will pay special attention to «the clear definition» of instruments of public participation:

«Public initiatives are something that we must clearly define and enshrine in the Charter. The work on the document is ongoing, and we plan to present the final version in the spring. Now, by order of the mayor, a large advisory expert group has been set up to collect proposals from various public associations. It is important that the group maintains a balance between representatives of executive bodies and the public so that neither party has an advantage in formulating recommendations.»

What was the principle of selecting the members of the working group?

Representatives of the public, as well as members of the working group from local governments, the expert community and business, were selected through an open competition. Candidates filled out a questionnaire on the city council website, and applications were accepted until 21 September.

«The city council's website had an announcement about recruitment to the working group, which included a questionnaire for candidates. Anyone could fill it out, and then a ranking vote was held. Prior to the expanded working group, a small expert group had been working to study changes to the legislation and form a rating of candidates. Those with a portfolio, experience and achievements in the public sector were selected. As a result of the voting, the group included 16 representatives of the public, said Tetiana Zolotukhina, a representative of the NGO «Mykolaiv City Development Fund», which was a member of the working group.

Representatives of the working group, photo: Mykolaiv City Council

Representatives of the working group, photo: Mykolaiv City Council

Representatives of the working group, photo: Mykolaiv City Council

Tetiana Zolotukhina believes that the new version of the Charter should include not only the instruments of public participation, but also other principles that were not present in the old document of 2009.

«In addition to the instruments of public participation, the Charter should also contain other principles that were not present in the 2009 document. The current Charter still contains outdated norms and Russian narratives [...] According to Law №3703, the Charter should provide for at least ten instruments of public participation — if necessary, there can be more. This ensures the ability to respond to any life situation,» she added.

According to , the first meetings of the working group are scheduled for the third decade of November. Work on the text of the updated city charter will begin then.

As a reminder, 150 social housing apartments are planned to be built in Mykolaiv, in the Soliani neighbourhood, by 2028 with the support of the Danish GAU Fonden Foundation.