Sienkevych backed the new director of the water utility amid his dispute with staff

The Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, stated that talk of alleged preparations for the privatisation of the municipal enterprise ‘Mykolaivvodokanal’ is a manipulation and an attempt to discredit the company’s new director.

He said this in a comment to NikVesti, responding to statements by the company’s employees regarding a conflict with management.

According to the mayor, the privatisation of «Mykolaivvodokanal» is currently impossible, as it is a critical infrastructure enterprise, and also due to loan obligations to European banking institutions, the terms of which prohibit a change in ownership.

«I watched this video, which was rather poorly produced with those notes that people couldn’t read properly the first time round. After hearing that everything is being done to privatise the Mykolaivvodokanal company, I lost interest in watching the video. Someone is trying to mislead the company’s employees and is stirring up unrest among the staff through manipulation. We currently have neither the desire nor the ability to privatise a critical infrastructure enterprise. This cannot be done because the company is currently indebted to European banking institutions, where the terms of the agreements prohibit privatisation,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

The mayor believes that the circulation of such statements may be linked to the desire of certain individuals to retain their influence over the company and their positions.

«Some people are doing this to discredit the new manager and to keep their jobs there,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He also noted that the conflict at the company arose after the new director began optimising the structure and cutting unnecessary costs.

«It didn’t start with anyone being made redundant, but with the director taking on the task of optimising the company’s organisational structure, with the aim of cutting unnecessary costs as much as possible and making the company operate more efficiently,» said the mayor.

Oleksandr Sienkevych also commented on the employees’ demands voiced in the video, specifically: not to lay off staff, not to raise tariffs, and at the same time to increase wages.

According to the mayor, it is impossible to meet all these demands at once.

«This means either injecting more money or simply leaving everything as it is and providing more funding. This will not happen, because last year we provided over half a billion hryvnias in funding to «Mykolaivvodokanal». It is the largest recipient of budget funds,» he said.

The mayor explained that the city is forced to co-fund the company because the funds the water utility receives from consumers are only enough to cover about half of its needs.

«Today, the money the company receives from people is only enough to cover half of its operations. Instead of repairing pipes and so on, we co-funded the company so that the people who are now talking about pay rises there could actually receive those pay rises,» stated Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He assured that the city would continue to support the water utility’s employees, but that reforms and optimisation at the company would continue.

«I respect and care for every one of these employees. But we will continue with reforms aimed at improving the efficiency of this company. This is not about sacking individual people; it is about changing the company’s structure,» he added.

When asked whether the mayor had spoken to the water utility director regarding the conflict, Oleksandr Sienkevych said that the conflict exists and «will continue», but the city authorities support the director in implementing changes.

«There is a conflict, and there will be. We support the director in his approach to ensuring that reforms are implemented at the company,» he said.

Separately, the mayor criticised the work of some water utility employees and cited examples of inefficient repairs.

«When I hear these people say they need professionals, I demand professionalism from them in their workplaces. So that they don’t dig up the same spot four or five times, as on Sadova and Bedzai Streets. If you are professionals — work and show how professionals should work,» declared Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He also drew attention to the fact that dirt and flooding often remain on the roads after excavation work.

«Don’t dig up the road, dump earth onto the road surface and pour water over it, so that it flows eight blocks down and dirties our streets and cars, forcing people to curse the city council and the water utility itself,» said the mayor.

In addition, Oleksandr Sienkevych supported the introduction of transport monitoring for the company, specifically the installation of GPS trackers and the tracking of fuel consumption. According to him, this is standard practice already in place at other municipal enterprises in the city.

«It is standard practice to install GPS trackers on vehicles and calculate how much fuel is consumed per kilometre. If there are protests against this, I will not pay any attention to them. We will implement this,» he stated.

As an example, the mayor cited the work of «Mykolaivoblteploenergo», where, he said, a GPS monitoring and fuel accounting system is already in place.

«Have you heard of any opposition to this at «Mykolaivoblteploenergo»? No. Fuel meters and GPS trackers have been installed there; all the equipment is operational, accounted for, and work orders are issued. This is normal,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He added that he sees no reason to side with those who oppose such changes, and emphasised that monitoring the operation of municipal equipment is essential.

As a reminder, employees of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivvodokanal» have spoken out against the company’s new management and the Supervisory Board, accusing them of unprofessionalism and allegedly preparing the company for privatisation.

The water utility’s Supervisory Board, together with Director Hennadii Iziumov, stated that the company is in a critical financial state due to a prolonged governance crisis, ineffective management and systemic operational issues.

Also, during a meeting between staff and the new CEO on 15 April, the dismissal of Technical Director Vasyl Telpis was discussed. An audio recording of this conversation is in the possession of the NikVesti editorial team. Employees reported that the dismissal came as a surprise to them, as Telpis had worked at the company since the 1980s and had been acting as head following the death of Borys Dudenko.

At this meeting, Hennadii Iziumov stated that he had not made the decision to dismiss Telpis and claimed that it had been taken by the Supervisory Board. However, the Supervisory Board denied having made a decision to dismiss Vasyl Telpis.