The staff of Mykolaiv Parks has increased sixfold since the start of the full-scale war: they say they need 400 more workers

As of August 2024, there are 262 full-time employees at the Mykolaiv Parks utility company. This is six times more than in 2021, when this indicator was 39 people.

This is stated in the article NikVesti «How the communal enterprise Parks greens Mykolaiv during the war?».

For comparison, the number of employees of the utility company Mykolaivvodokanal has slightly decreased compared to the pre-war period: from 1,342 employees in 2021 to 1,288 in 2023, according to Opendatabot, a monitoring service for registration data of Ukrainian companies. At the same time, the number of employees of the Mykolaiv Electrotrans utility company decreased from 728 employees in 2021 to 573 in 2023. However, the number of employees of the utility company Mykolaivcommuntrans increased slightly: from 134 employees in 2022 to 155 in 2023, according to the data of the monitoring service.

The director of Mykolaiv Parks, Dmytro Chuchmai, explained the increase in the number of employees compared to other communal enterprises of the city by the fact that more women can work at the greening enterprise.

«You know, this is probably a big plus in our work, that we don't need, let's say, drivers, road workers. Women can work for us, and their number in the enterprise is about 70%. Therefore, our dear women fill a need at our company. Men are mainly used in our special transport. These are car towers, these are saws for tree trimmings. That is, where male strength is needed,» explained Dmytro Chuchmai.

In order to cover the entire territory of the city, the company needs about 400 full-time employees, Dmytro Chuchmai added. This is necessary in order for Mykolaiv Parks to be able to serve the Korabelnyi District, Inhulskyi District and part of the Tsentralnyi District on their own.

At the same time, the director of the enterprise assured, he has no goal to recruit a large number of employees. After all, says Dmytro Chuchmai, the work of Mykolaiv Parks must first be mechanized.

«I do not want to recruit a large number of personnel at all. This is very inefficient. Work must be mechanized and work must be mechanized. Today, nowhere in Europe do they mow with some obscure and old scythes. Now work is being mechanized. That's why I'm talking about the fact that, for example, in the Korabelnyi District, you need to clean up bins, artificial garbage, clean paths, sidewalks, parks, squares. This requires staff. This does not mean, in any case, that you need to send 150 or 200 people there and let them do something there. No. This, you know, is such an optimization of work. Therefore, the number I am talking about — 400 — will be quite enough to cover those areas, those areas that we have not covered yet,» he said.

However, there are plans to increase the company's staff by 150 employees in 2025, who will work in the Korabelnyi district of Mykolaiv, said the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.

«In 2025, we plan to increase the staff by 150 employees to carry out work on maintaining green areas by our own efforts in the Korabelnyi district of the city,» said the mayor.

Pruning trees in Mykolaiv

At the beginning of February 2024, ecologists asked the city authorities to develop a program of rules for the care of green spaces in Mykolaiv. It should be noted that currently the concept of development of green zones has not been developed in Mykolaiv, and the inventory of plantations was last conducted in 2018.

As you know, various promotions are currently being announced for planting trees in Mykolaiv. For example, young pines were planted in Victory Park in October 2023, and lindens were planted along Tsentralnyi Avenue in December.

Before that, in March 2022, the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych announced that poplars would be cut down in Mykolaiv to equip dugouts and heat people at roadblocks. Later, the director of the housing and communal services department of the city council, Dmytro Bezdolny, clarified that the felled poplars were used not only for fortifications, but also for heating social institutions and hospitals.

Already in May 2023, the Mykolaiv Parks utility company ordered 5 million hryvnias for tree removal, sanitary and rejuvenating tree pruning, stump grubbing, and tree planting services in the city. It was about planting 50 young maples. Then the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, asked the townspeople whether it is worth buying seedlings of trees and bushes.

Later, KP Parks explained the necessity of pruning sycamores on Soborna, which the people of Mykolaiv called «vandalism».