Odesa City Council to Select Chief Architect by Year-End, Saving ₴20M

The city council plans to select the chief architect of Odesa by the end of the year through a competition, but this is possible only if the creation of the Department of Urban Development and Land Relations is approved.

This was announced by Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Filatov during a meeting of the Commission on Territorial Development Planning, Urban Design, Architecture and Protection of Cultural Heritage.

After that, the city council will finalize the technical issues related to the merger of the two departments and announce a competition for the position of chief architect. On April 15, at the request of the deputy mayor, the commission withdrew the earlier amendment that the chief architect should be one of the deputies of the future director of the department.

The fact is that the legal department of the city council analyzed the legislation and decided that the head of the department should be the chief architect. For this reason, the appointment of the head of the department will also be made on a competitive basis.

Earlier, Oleksandr Filatov stated that the creation of the new department would allow the city council to save up to UAH 20 million.

The city council session is scheduled for April 16. Intent will traditionally broadcast the session online. Meanwhile, preparations for the session are underway. In particular, meetings of permanent deputy commissions are taking place to consider issues that may be submitted to the deputies for consideration at the session, and Intent is monitoring these meetings.

There are 12 standing committees in the Odesa city council, but as of February 22, 2025, the standing committee on culture, tourism and international relations and the standing committee on regulations, deputy ethics and corruption prevention cannot make decisions, as they currently have less than three deputies.

Кирило Бойко