Odesa Mayor Trukhanov's 2024 Report Lacks Clarity and Accountability

On March 15, Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov reported on the results of his work for 2024. The venue and time of the event were not announced, only the date. Among the representatives of the regional authorities, Vitaliy Barvinenko, the head of Odesa district council, was present, Oleh Kiper, the head of Odesa regional administration, and Hryhoriy Didenko, the head of Odesa regional council, were not seen by Intent's correspondent in the hall.

According to the Law of Ukraine "On Local Self-Government", the mayor is obliged to report on his work to the territorial community at least twice a year. The city mayor's report to the local community must be made during an open meeting in a manner that allows residents to ask questions, make comments and suggestions. The city mayor's written report on his or her work should be published on the council's official website.

Of course, it should be taken into account that during wartime, in the context of a full-scale invasion, an open meeting may carry additional security risks. But there are no risks in publishing the mayor's report. Therefore, it is noteworthy that the website of the Odesa City Council does not publish Hennadii Trukhanov 's reports for 2021 and 2022.

City website, screenshot

Report scope and focus of attention

Hennadii Trukhanov 's reports for 2023 and 2024 differ significantly from the reports for the pre-war years. Over the past two years, the structure of the document has been expanded:

• Security and defense capability of the community;
• Elimination of the consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation;
• Restoration of the city's economic potential during martial law.

The structure of the report for 2024 remained the same as for 2023. The volume of the document is also almost the same. In pdf format, the report for 2023 is 100 pages long, and for 2024 - 102 pages. Gennadiy Trukhanov's reports are gradually increasing in terms of the number of words, and the volume of the document has almost tripled since 2017:

• In 2017 - 12,145
• For 2018 - 18,926
• In 2019 - 24,722
• For 2020 - 26,211
• For 2023 - 27,892
• For 2024 - 30,144

The structure of the report for 2024 by the number of words per section:

• Financial capacity of the city in modern realities - 637
• Security and defense capability of the community - 2,857
• Elimination of the consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation 591
• Restoring the economic potential of the city during martial law - 4,976
• Development of urban infrastructure and life safety - 6,126
• Digitalization and information security - 983
• Development of the social and humanitarian sphere - 11,723
• General issues - 1,982.

A significant part of the report is devoted not to what the mayor did last year, but to the statement of statistical data. The document contains information that can hardly be attributed to the activities of local self-government in general, local self-government in general, and Odesa city in particular.

For example, the reports for both 2023 and 2024 contain information on the cargo turnover of the ports of Greater Odesa. This term usually refers to three ports - Odesa, Black Sea, and Pivdennyi. It is not clear from the report what the Odesa City Council had to do with the activities of the Odesa Commercial Sea Port, and it is a mystery what the ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi are doing in the report of the mayor of Odesa.

Gennadiy Trukhanov's report, screenshot

Another example. The document contains data on the labor market, but not for the city of Odesa, but for Odesa district. It should be recalled that in addition to Odesa, the district includes 21 territorial communities. The infographic contains a note that due to the reorganization of the Odesa City Employment Center into the Odesa branch of the Odesa Regional Employment Center, the data is calculated only for the Odesa district, but there is no explanation why this information should be included in the report of the mayor of Odesa.

No frank discussion of problems and mistakes

Gennadiy Trukhanov's report is based on statistical information and statements of work performed, but it hardly addresses problems.

For example, the report for 2023 provides the following information: out of 121 general secondary education institutions: 93 have their own basic shelters; 4 have concluded agreements to use the shelters of other 13 business entities located next to them; 22 have an agreement to use the basic shelter of another educational institution located nearby.

In the document for 2024, the mayor states that 120 general secondary education institutions: 89 have their own simple shelters; 11 have concluded agreements for the use of shelters of other business entities located next to them; 17 have an agreement for the use of the simplest shelter of another educational institution located nearby.

Comparing the two reports, we can conclude that over the year, the city did not increase the number of its own simple shelters in secondary education institutions, but lost four. While in 2023, 119 out of 121 educational institutions had their own shelters or had concluded appropriate agreements, in 2024, it was 117 out of 120 institutions.

During martial law, this does not favor the community. The mayor does not draw attention to this and does not give explanations when reporting.

The document also states that in 2024, in accordance with the recommendations of the Commission and based on the results of public discussions in the format of electronic public consultations, 124 place names were renamed by the decision of the Odesa City Council of April 24, 2024, No. 2072-VIII "On Renaming (Naming) Place Names in the City of Odesa".

However, Hennadiy Trukhanov forgot to mention that from January 24 to April 27, 2024, he had the opportunity to rename a much larger number of place names, but did not do so. The head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, Oleh Kiper, did it for him in July.

Unfortunately, the mayor's report contains errors. Speaking about the city's industry, the mayor cites the following data in two recent reports.

Gennadiy Trukhanov's report for 2023, screenshot

Gennadiy Trukhanov's report for 2024, screenshot

Comparing these two excerpts, we can conclude that the city has lost two budget-forming enterprises. The number of people working at these enterprises has decreased by 2.4 thousand.

Judging by the reports, the average number of employees in the city has also decreased, because both 15 thousand and 12.6 thousand are 7%, if we go by the reports. That is, the average number of employees dropped from 214 thousand in 2023 to 180 thousand in 2024.

There is also a clear inconsistency in the data on the volume of products sold. According to the documents, the volume in 2023 was 123.491 billion hryvnias, and in 2024 it was 69.731 billion hryvnias. But by some miracle, this is 22.3% more in Gennadiy Trukhanov 's report.

It is also difficult to assume a purely technical error, that a unit was lost in the sales volumes for 2024. In this case, the increase of 46.24 billion (169.731-123.491) does not give a 22.3% increase, as written in the report of the mayor of Odesa.

Conclusions.

In his report for 2024, the mayor of Odesa provides a lot of statistical information, and there is some that is difficult to directly attribute to the mayor's activities.

In the document, Hennadii Trukhanov avoids talking about the problems and pain points of the city.

Unfortunately, the report contains errors.

In general, the report is structured not as a report of the community head, but as a report of the entire municipality.

Ігор Льов