On 16 June, a plenary meeting of the 91st session of Truskavets City Council took place in Truskavets, during which around three dozen items were considered, mostly relating to land. Councillors also adopted a number of decisions in the areas of defence, the budget and the use of municipal property.
At the start of the meeting, Andriy Hnidan spoke with councillors’ enquiries. These concerned situations involving a specific serviceman and an employee of a local self-government body. The councillor also called on colleagues to support the Mayor in the event of possible pressure on him from certain structures.
Another enquiry from Andriy Hnidan related to the delay in installing ‘No stopping’ signs on Skoropadskyi Street in Truskavets, although the relevant executive committee decision was adopted several months ago. The acting head of the Housing and Communal Services and Construction Department of Truskavets City Council, Orest Lobos, explained that decisions on new road signs had been taken at several executive committee meetings, so a single order for their purchase was formed. According to him, the signs have already been ordered and, once delivered, the municipal enterprise ‘Park kurortnyi’ will install them in the designated locations.
The first block on the agenda comprised so-called defence and mobilisation issues. Councillors approved the allocation of UAH 500,000 for the transport of mobilised personnel, as well as an additional UAH 700,000 for an anti-aircraft missile regiment providing air defence in Lviv region.
The City Council then moved on to matters of leasing and using municipal property. The civil society organisation Resource Centre ‘University of the Third Age “Dzherela”’ will continue to rent premises in the territorial centre. The municipal enterprise ‘Truskavetsvytlo’ was given the opportunity to conclude a usufruct agreement for a Mercedes-Benz vehicle. In addition, the municipal enterprise ‘Truskavets Information Centre’ will conclude a usufruct agreement with the municipal enterprise ‘Park kurortnyi’ concerning 35 market stalls at the ‘Berezovyi Hai’ market and one more stall for security.
The Truskavets community continues to support its partner towns in Sumy region — Bilopillia and Konotop. Whereas last year children from the Bilopillia community underwent health improvement in Truskavets, this year councillors agreed to allocate UAH 17,500 for health improvement for around one and a half dozen people, including 13 children from Konotop. The funds will be transferred as a subvention to the Konotop community, and the children’s stay will take place in one of Truskavets’ hotel complexes.
The session approved amendments to the community budget. The total amount of adjustments is around UAH 19 million, the main part of which is a state subvention for the payment of monetary compensation for housing. By contrast, the actual changes to the city budget are minor and amount to less than UAH 7 million. They provide for:
- adjustment of design and cost estimate documentation for the capital repair of Stebnytska Street in Dobrohostiv and Harabachiv Lane in Ulychne;
- financing of a medical information system;
- funds for settlement payments to local self-government employees who are being dismissed;
- additional expenditure to honour fallen soldiers;
- a subvention to the Drohobych community to ensure the operation of a military medical commission;
- almost UAH 200,000 for envelopes and stamps for the tax service;
- co-financing of the grant project ‘Ethno-code of Mykhailo Bilas. Pastel’.
The block of land issues prompted the most discussion. In particular, councillors considered an appeal from the Western Interregional Forestry and Hunting Management regarding a change in the legal status of land they describe as ‘self-forested’ and its transfer into the permanent use of the forestry enterprise. Similar appeals have already been brought before sessions several times, but have not secured support.
The matter concerns certain municipal plots in Orov, Ulychne and other villages of the Truskavets community that foresters classify as ‘self-forested’. Some of this land is used by local residents as pasture. Having conducted a detailed legal analysis of the situation, the City Council prepared a reasoned refusal for the Forestry and Hunting Management. It stresses the inadmissibility of changing the legal regime of non-demarcated parts of land plots.
Because of the refusal to adopt a decision in previous instances, the community will have to pay a fine, since the law provides for liability for failure to take decisions. At the same time, the City Council emphasises that in this way it is protecting the interests of the community and does not agree to the transfer of disputed municipal land.
The final item on the agenda was an appeal to higher state authorities — the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine — regarding an increase in monetary support for servicemen. The initiative came from the European Solidarity faction.
The appeal proposes, in particular, setting the minimum basic pay for military personnel at UAH 50,000, as well as defining clear terms of military service and transparent rules for demobilisation.
The work of the 91st session of Truskavets City Council lasted around an hour and a half. All decisions adopted are published on the Council’s official website. The next, 92nd, session is tentatively scheduled for 9 July.