In 2020, the next local elections were held, which completed the new administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine. Finally, communities were formed throughout the country, new districts were formed within existing regions, and deputies of regional and district councils, and councils of territorial communities and their heads were elected.
In order to understand how the newly created communities live today, and how the heads of the OTG work during the war, "ElitExpert" begins a series of interviews with community leaders of the Odesa region. Our first material is about the Kili city community from the south of the region, which is headed by Vyacheslav Chernyavskyi. He was born in 1987 in the village of Shevchenkove, Kili district, Odesa region, and in 2020 he was elected the head of the Kili city community, Izmail district.
Our interview coincided with investigation, conducted by "ElitExpert" regarding the privatization of the state-owned enterprise "MTP Ust-Dunaisk", located on the territory of the community, therefore the first question concerned exactly this situation.
At the beginning of 2023, a state seaport was sold for the first time in Ukraine. However, the buyer still cannot take ownership of the object, and the State Property Fund (FDMU), which was engaged in the sale of the object by the state, comments rather vaguely on this situation...
We, as the Kili city community, have nothing to do with the activities of the Ust-Dunaisk port in Kili. But in general, we know about the situation there. The reason is that three operators work at one port berth, which periodically conflict with each other, which has a negative impact on the life of the community itself.
Before the war, the situation in the port was much calmer, but the cargo turnover did not exceed 50 thousand tons per year. Today, port operators process such a volume in two weeks, which is why conflicts and misunderstandings arise.
Due to the large volumes of cargo handled by the port, the roads in the community are destroyed, along which trucks with grain move to it. In order to somehow solve the situation, the Highway Service built a large truck parking area outside the city with the help of the state budget, but not all port entrepreneurs use it, and traffic jams still occur in front of the port.
Regarding the port privatization situation itself, there is information that one of the private companies operating there has property on the port territory that was sold by the State Property Fund together with the state property, and this does not allow the buyer of the port to complete the process of obtaining ownership of the object today. Therefore, the courts are currently ongoing, in which the buyer of the port is dealing with another private company regarding its property. And only after the settlement of these contradictions, the buyer of the state port will be able to register it as a property.
It is also important that the state sold a single property complex, the port, and the land of the port was in permanent use, and according to the terms of privatization, the new owner is obliged to contact the local administration and ask for this land for rent. In addition, I personally do not know how the state and private shares of the port's facilities and property are divided by individual objects, whether a private company has its share in each facility on the territory of the port.
And, in my opinion, the most important thing is, if you go back 15-20 years, when the first private companies started to get some property in the territory of the port, the question arises, how were they able to do it in the territory of the state enterprise? Was it legal? In my opinion, it was impossible to do it in a legal way. As a result, we have such a controversial situation today.
How do the Kili community and you, as its leader, interact with entrepreneurs working in the port?
Today, the community does not receive additional income from the port of Kili, which depends on the volume of transshipment. Each of the three port operators has a certain number of employees, from whose salaries we receive taxes, but they do not depend on the volumes of products exported by these companies. And most importantly, these taxes do not even cover the cost of maintenance and repair of our roads, which are destroyed by the traffic of trucks to the port.
We periodically communicate with all port operators to involve them in the repair of at least those streets on which their trucks move, because they are in a terrible condition. The development of design and estimate documentation for the repair of the road surface is currently underway, and the preliminary estimated cost reaches UAH 29 million. for one kilometer of the road.
While we try to maintain these roads with our own efforts, we fill holes and level the destruction. Port operators help us in this, but compared to their income, these costs are negligible.
Therefore, in my opinion, it is better if there is one owner, whether it is the state or a private company, then it would be much more convenient for the community to negotiate and understand who is responsible.
We are always ready to cooperate, to develop joint projects for road repair, because today 200-300 trucks move through the city to the port every day, and it is up to the community to repair the roads.
In addition, as I already mentioned, due to the fact that there are three operators working in the port, conflicts between them periodically arise - one of them broke the queue for loading the ship, the other disagrees with this and blocks the entrance. He puts his truck in front of the gate to the port and says that it has broken down or does not start, as a result, the operation of the entire port is blocked. And most importantly, because of this, trucks accumulate in the city, which can stand for several days under people's windows.
Can the police help in such situations?
The police is not a court, it can only record or stop crimes. But there are often disputes between port operators over buildings, one or another warehouse, but this is resolved only in court, as is the confirmation of various documents of these entrepreneurs. We even gathered them and asked them to resolve all their disputes in the courts, and not to block each other's work, because the community and our people suffer primarily from this.
What do you personally see as a way out of this situation, so that the company that purchased the port could still take ownership of it and use it by right, and other port operators would not suffer from this as well?
First of all, if the state has decided to sell the port, it means that it sees the expediency in this.
Secondly, due to the presence of private port operators, they, and not the port, earn money. He receives pennies in comparison with the income of private individuals on transshipment.
Therefore, port operators need to sit down and agree on how to work further. Or go to court, because it cannot continue like this all the time. We, as a community, are already tired of their disputes, besides, we constantly need to find out whose truck broke the road or sidewalk, and if there was only one owner, we would clearly understand who to turn to and who is responsible.
Let's talk about the life of your community. In 2020, decentralization was completed, chairmen and a body of deputies were elected in all communities, and they have been working for the third year. What criteria, in your opinion, can be used to evaluate the work and effectiveness of heads of communities today?
First of all, you need to take into account that all communities are different in terms of their area and population, with different budgets, so you need to approach each one differently. For example, the development budget that the community can spend on infrastructure and improvement, some have only 20 million UAH per year, while others have 500 million UAH. And when repairing a kilometer of road costs 29 million, someone did 500 meters, and someone did 10 km. On the one hand, the head who repaired more is better, but for correctness, you need to look at the percentage of the budget and capabilities of each community.
Secondly, it is the work of educational and medical institutions. They are critically important objects for every community, the maintenance of which rests entirely on the local budget, except for salaries. The quality of functioning and provision of medical and educational institutions is a priority for any community, therefore it is a very important criterion for evaluating the work of the head of the OTG. But this direction also needs to be differentiated, because each community has a different number of schools and hospitals.
It is also important to analyze the size of the general budget and the development budget and the effectiveness of their use by the head of the community.
How it works for us — from the general budget, we spend part of the funds on educational and medical institutions, and efficiency is very important here. For example, there may be a small village in the community where there is a medical facility and 20 people live, and a larger settlement in the neighborhood where a hospital or FAP also works, but there are not enough specialists for both facilities - this is an inefficient use of funds. It is better to leave one, but that it should be with all specialists, in good condition and with the necessary material support.
And finally, in our country, funds from the central and regional budgets are often distributed among communities disproportionately, and depend on people's or regional deputies elected by the district where this or that community is included. The deputy comes to the community and tells that he "spent money" on the stadium or another object. But the problem is that one community may have five or ten such deputies, and another may have one or none at all. Therefore, this principle of distribution of state funds to communities is absolutely wrong. In addition to the important question of the expediency of spending these "exploited" funds, the head of one community can use this money to build a stadium when people do not have water, and another will repair the water supply in the village, you understand.
Tell us about the life of the community during the war, what problems and challenges did you face?
It is difficult for everyone today, and we are no exception. In those areas of the country where it is more or less peaceful, as well as in our community, people are beginning to forget about the war. This was especially felt last winter – the lights were turned off, the mayor was to blame, and no one wants to understand that it is not up to me.
Oblenergo did not inform consumers about the reasons for the lack of electricity, whether due to a missile strike or for some other reason. The leaders had to make all statements to the residents of the community about the situation, and, accordingly, we also received all the negativity. People didn't want to understand that I'm not the one sitting on the switch and deciding when to turn the light off or on. And so on many issues.
In my opinion, many colleagues from other communities cannot withstand such a load, and are unlikely to run for the next term.
As for improvement works, which residents see and demand even during the war, the issue is also not easy. Last year, until August, we could not spend money on any infrastructure issues, because the main thing was the provision of TRO and military units, which is what we were doing. But people asked why we are not doing anything about infrastructure and were indignant. Then the Cabinet of Ministers still allowed shelter works and other improvement projects included in the list of Resolution No. 590, and we gradually began to work in this direction.
Today, we are already able to carry out current or capital repairs of communal property, but all the same, the first priority for us is the functioning of all communal services, educational and medical institutions. In addition, there are requests from military units related to our community - they are considered first.
From what funds is the budget of your community formed?
The main activity of enterprises and households in our region is agriculture, where taxes come from. We also receive funds from the lease of communal real estate and land and subventions from regional and state budgets.
At the beginning of each year, after the formation of the budget, we first allocate funds for the medical and educational spheres. The state finances only the salaries of doctors and teachers, and all other expenses — for technical personnel, heating, electricity and repairs — are paid by the community budget. In second place, we have expenses for ensuring the work of all communal services and the apparatus of the city council, and all that remains is our development budget. Before the war, its size was 17-20 million UAH, this year it will be up to 22 million UAH.
Is a new business coming to the community and how do you attract investment?
In my opinion, for effective local investment, it is necessary to make changes to the legislation, because today's situation does not work in favor of business. Here is an example - an entrepreneur comes to me with a business plan for a factory, who needs a hectare of land for its construction, but I cannot sell him this land directly. We have to allocate a plot and put it up for auction. What does this lead to? Someone else finds out about the investor's interest in this particular plot of land, beats the price and buys it himself. And then he comes to the same entrepreneur and offers him to buy this plot of land, but more expensively. But the entrepreneur has already calculated the expected cost and profitability, and he is not satisfied with such a high price from the intermediary. And he just walks away from us. The same situation arises with the sale or lease of communal premises.
Therefore, the investor in our country is not protected by the state, and for this it is necessary to develop mechanisms at the level of the central government. Allocate him land without an auction, but with conditions, if you do not fulfill the points of your business plan agreed with the authorities, did not build the plant, did not hire people for work, etc. - then this plot is taken back from you, because it doesn't work otherwise.
How many immigrants arrived in your community during the war, and how were they received?
From the beginning of the war until today, about 1600 immigrants have registered with us, most of them are people who had something to do with Kilia, be it relatives or friends. There are also those for whom Kilia is a completely new and unfamiliar city, but we try to help everyone find housing and work. We also have a volunteer center that, together with the city council, helps displaced people. We cooperate with a local hotel for a hundred people, where visitors can stay for a while.
As of today, almost everyone who came to us has solved the housing issue. Yes, it is different, some are better, some are worse, but the main thing is that people are not on the street and have a roof over their heads.
Regarding the migration of the local population, many people left at the beginning of the war, but today the majority has already returned. Almost all the men returned, most of the women too. People saw that not everything is as good in Europe as we were told, and most importantly, that it is not as bad as it was thought. Medical and educational services here are much more affordable, and the quality is almost the same.
Yes, we have problems with jobs, but those people who went abroad in search of work at the beginning of the war are also returning, because it is not easy to find work, accommodation and documents in Europe.
Regarding the mood in the community. People are different, there are those who talk about the military - "you earn a lot there at the front", I have a simple answer to them - go there yourself, and earn. We, like the whole country, have losses of our military compatriots, and I do not think that their mothers or wives are any easier because of this money.
We constantly help the military, take care of their families. That's why we "don't wipe our pants" in the rear either. Everyone is working, each in his own direction.
What are the main tasks in the Kili community today?
At the beginning of the year, we form a general plan for the work of communal enterprises, the executive committee, and the main tasks to be completed during the year.
The main document is the socio-economic development program. We see what our development budget will be, and in accordance with it, we plan certain repair and improvement works for each quarter.
Currently, we are already preparing for winter, coal is being purchased for educational and medical institutions, and all life support systems are being checked. Communal services are preparing in their areas: water supply, inspection of high-rise buildings, winter equipment and energy systems.
We are also finalizing the issue of shelters in schools. Groundwater is very close to our community and there are almost no basements that could serve as bomb shelters, so we are preparing shelters in accordance with existing conditions and norms.
In general, we work, help and bring our victory closer.
Olena Ovchinnikova led the conversation
