Officials at Odessa City Hall are delaying the drafting of regulations concerning UNESCO and MAFs

Members of the Odesa City Council—who serve on the committee on municipal property, economic and investment policy, state regulatory policy, and entrepreneurship—accused municipal officials of being too slow in processing regulatory acts.

According to the Center for Public Investigations, in particular, Olena Ivanova, director of the Department of Culture, Tourism, and Cultural Heritage Protection, came under criticism for requesting a six-month extension of the deadline for a document related to the development of regulations for real estate within the UNESCO zone. 

Councilmember Roman Senyk statedthat it might be necessary to reduce the boundaries of the city’s historic district and the UNESCO-protected zone due to the broad scope of the currently approved regulations, which, in the councilmember’s opinion, create inconveniences for residents, business owners, and officials who “don’t know what to do about it.”

In response, CommitteeChair Oleksandr Slavsky notedthat this is not the first time the deadline for finalizing this regulatory act has been postponed and demanded that, at the committee’s next meeting—should another postponement be necessary—department heads provide information regarding disciplinary proceedings against those responsible for this work who failed to complete it.

The advertising department also faced criticism for requesting a postponement of the completion of the rules for placing small architectural structures in the city, which have already drawn numerous comments. The council members noted that the current regulatory act,published onthe city hall’s website, contains many contradictory provisions that must either be reworded or revised.

Roman Senik himself even threatened a representative of the department, stating that until the regulatory act is finalized, his personal relationship with the department will remain strained. In particular, he noted that if the deadlines have to be postponed again after this, he will speak out at every session about the department’s shortcomings. In general, the council member stated that the advertising department should be abolished altogether, as it does not benefit the city.      

Кирило Бойко