Fourth attempt and only 28 votes: Kim does not rule out dissolving the Mykolaiv city council over deputies' absenteeism
The draft, based on Ernst & Young's recommendations, curtails the powers of district administrations and increases the number of deputy mayors to seven, including one responsible for digitalization
April 30 at a session of the Mykolaiv City Council the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration and city council deputy Vitaliy Kim criticized the low attendance of elected officials and the shortage of votes after changes to the structure of the executive bodies were adopted by the minimally required 28 votes.
During consideration of the issue of adjusting the executive committee’s structure, the vote was restarted several times due to lack of support, and the decision passed only at the margin of the rules — exactly 28 votes “for”.
Kim insisted that without approval of the updated structure of the executive bodies the city council will not be able to function fully, so he urged colleagues to stop dragging things out and to support the document.
“I also ask you to support and vote, because, as I understand it, some deputies do not want to vote, and there are those who are sabotaging. But this is a technical issue to unblock the work of the city council. I ask you to set aside political or personal ambitions and support this structure. Let’s close this issue so the city council can work,” — Vitaliy Kim said.
“We can later make changes, add or adjust individual units. This is not a final decision,” — Oleksandr Senkevych replied.
Later, the head of the RMA drew attention to the fact that when decisions pass by one or two votes, the council’s ability to make any further moves is put at risk.
“If we have 29 deputies in the hall, and a decision requires 28 votes, and two more don’t come — what then? Can we dissolve the city council? This is not work when one vote effectively decides everything in the city,” — Vitaliy Kim said.
“It’s long overdue (to dissolve the city council — ed.), back in 2022,” — city council deputy Olena Kyselova exclaimed in response.
On the fourth attempt the city council nonetheless supported changes to the executive committee’s structure, although before that deputies had rejected the draft three times. In February, on a second attempt it was also not possible to approve the updated model, which, among other things, envisaged creating a separate unit for the protection of cultural heritage, and in March the city administration’s lawyers warned of the risk of an administrative collapse due to a number of unadopted decisions needed to complete the structural reform.
Earlier we wrote:
- “This is not politics, it’s a crime”: Dombrovska exposed vote falsification in the city council
- Scandalous disruption of the Mykolaiv City Council session: deputies ignore even the online format!
- Secret sessions: Mykolaiv deputies vote in unknown ways and it’s unclear who is voting
- “It’s just chaos and a disgrace”: how the latest session of the Mykolaiv City Council went
- “This is some fidgeting,” — Senkevych angry at city council deputies, because of whom the session had to be postponed
