There are problems with openness in Mykolaiv city council: statement of the head of the transparency and legality commission

Olena Kiseliova, head of the Mykolaiv City Council's Standing Commission on Publicity, Legality and Deputy Ethics, said that she had personally encountered the problem of access to the City Council building.

This was discussed at the meeting of the commission, which took place on August 22, during the consideration of the response of the secretary of the city council, Dmytro Falko, to the information regarding the open criminal proceedings after the publication of the Institute of Mass Information on the fact that journalists were not allowed to enter the building of the city council of Mykolaiv, writes NikVesti.

As previously reported, the Mykolaiv City Council introduced new rules for access to the building for media representatives. Now journalists can enter the city council only by invitation of officials. The journalists of NikVesti learned about the new access regime after they could not get to the city council to take comments from the officials after the hardware meeting. The relevant rules were adopted at the beginning of February 2022 by order of the Mykolaiv mayor.

It should be noted that Dmytro Falko, the secretary of the city council, who was invited to the commission meeting, did not attend it. Speaking during the meeting of the commission, which was held in the mode of a video conference, Olena Kiseliova (political party «European Solidarity») reported that access to Mykolaiv City Hall was restricted not only to journalists, but also to members of the city council. According to her, only employees of the city hall and other persons who have been issued the appropriate cards to pass through the turnstiles installed at the entrance have unhindered access to the building. Deputies have to go through, as Olena Kiseliova pointed out, a humiliating procedure: explain to the guards where they are going, wait for one of the city hall officials to meet them, and then they can leave the building in the same way, accompanied by an employee of the executive bodies.

«Today, it is not so easy for a deputy to get into the Mykolayiv City Council building. I say this from my own experience. Because I already have some spicy moments, and therefore I am not surprised that journalists are not allowed in the building or some kind of access regime has been introduced. Deputies are simply not always allowed into the building. There is a certain procedure that we go through. To be honest, this procedure is a little humiliating for me. Because, if we compare a deputy and an employee of the executive bodies, then when we stand in front of this «turntable», then the person of the executive bodies, unlike us, definitely has more opportunities. She has some pass through which she enters and does not wait for anyone either to enter or to leave. And now we are going through this procedure. Why so? Apparently, there is a lot of work and some important things,» said Olena Kiseliova.

During the discussion of this issue, city council deputies Artem Illiuk (who was elected from the now-banned «Opposition Platform — For Life») and Tetiana Dombrovska («Servant of the People») expressed their confusion as to why deputies need special passes to enter the city council building, because in they have ID cards of deputies.

«And why these passes at all, if there is a deputy's ID card? I don't understand at all. Is this an internal instruction, or something?,» said Artem Illiuk.

«I also can't understand why we need anything else if we have a deputy's ID?» said Tetiana Dombrovska.

Olena Kiseliova noted that she does not understand what is happening with the so-called openness of the Mykolaiv City Council. And that's why I wanted to listen to Dmytro Falko, who should represent the interests of the entire body of deputies. The deputy turned to the secretary of the city council, Dmytro Falko, with a request to simplify the receipt of these passes by city council members.

«I don't understand why deputies have to go to representatives of executive bodies, sign something, get some tools for passing. I do not understand at all what is happening with transparency and openness, and that is why I wanted to listen to Dmytro Falko. I have an appeal to the office of the council and the secretary of the council: to make it easier for deputies to obtain passes that allow them to enter the building of the city council. I have a simple proposal that the council's apparatus, which is supposed to facilitate the work of deputies, organize a simple and concise work on obtaining passes by deputies to the Mykolayiv City Council building,» said Olena Kiseliova.

In addition, she suggested turning to the lawyers of the city council with a request to provide the commission with information on whether this order has the characteristics of a normative legal act, and whether it was necessary to make a corresponding decision in session, if the subject of regulation of this order is already an unlimited number of persons.

The members of the legality commission by a majority of votes supported the relevant decisions regarding the appeal to Dmytro Falko and the council staff, as well as to the legal department of the Mykolaiv City Council.

What about access to Mykolaiv City Hall?

However, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, journalists have been denied access to events or official meetings held in the city council building for security reasons. However, the practice of restricting journalists' access to the Mykolaiv City Council was introduced back in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, the manager of affairs of the executive committee, Andrii Volkov, reported that such restrictions were being implemented in a test mode, in particular due to the requirements of the SBU to control all visitors to the Mykolaiv City Hall. That is, before entering the building of the city hall, visitors, in particular journalists, must say to whom exactly and on what issue they want to address. After that, the guards write down this information, call the representative of the city hall to whom the visitor came, he goes down to the checkpoint and picks up his guest.

However, the official also voiced another version of why access to the city council building for journalists was restricted. According to Andrii Volkov, officials feel discomfort because everything they say turns into news, which changes their behavior at work meetings in the presence of the media. At the time, the Mykolaiv City Hall also said that access to the City Council building was restricted in accordance with Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution №939 «For official use.»

It should be noted that all sessions of the Mykolaiv City Council, as well as deputy commissions and meetings of the executive committee, have been held online for the third year since the start of the full-scale war. The official meetings of the Mykolaiv city mayor with officials are also closed to the media. In contrast to the Mykolayiv City Council, from May 2024, journalists were granted renewed access to the sidelines of the Verkhovna Rada to cover the work of the parliament during plenary sessions in the same mode as during the covid pandemic.

At the end of last year, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, said that he considers Mykolaiv to be an «exemplary example of transparency.» In an interview with LIGA.net at the end of last year, the mayor of Mykolaiv answered the question «Do you consider Mykolaiv the most open city?» answered:

«The police checked us, everyone checked us — and everyone was very pleased and surprised that we had such a level of training,»  Oleksandr Sienkevych said then. Then he stated that he believes that other cities of Ukraine should follow the example of Mykolaiv.

In May, NikVesti journalists tried to get into the Mykolaiv City Council building in order to get comments from the heads of departments and departments of the City Council on current issues right after the mayor's staff meeting, which is held every week. However, at the entrance to the building, it turned out that the journalist's credentials were not enough, and the security refused to let the representatives of the publication in.

In response to an information request regarding the restrictions introduced for the media, the first deputy mayor of Mykolaiv, Vitalii Lukov, informed NikVesti that on February 3, 2022, the mayor of Mykolaiv by order approved the Instruction on the organization of security and ensuring the access regime.

According to the new rules, media representatives can enter the building according to the lists of events prepared by the organizational department of the department for ensuring the activities of executive bodies of the Mykolaiv City Council.

Passes are issued with one-time electronic passes upon presentation of documents certifying identity and professional affiliation.

To record comments, interviews, or for other matters, media representatives may enter the building only accompanied by an employee of the information support department of the mayor's department with registration in the visitor logbook.

«The instruction also defines the conditions under which citizens are prohibited from accessing the administrative building. The ban applies to persons for whom no security control measures have been taken or who have refused them, persons with signs of alcohol or drug intoxication, persons in a form that offends human dignity and public morality, persons with animals (except service dogs of law enforcement agencies) and persons with items listed in the instructions,» the document states.

It should be noted that the right to unhindered access of journalists to the premises of authorities is guaranteed by the Law of Ukraine «On Information», namely Part 2 of Article 25. The law specifies that «a journalist has the right to unhindered access to the premises of authorities, public events held by them, and to be personally received within a reasonable time by their officials and officials, except for cases specified by law.»

On July 26, the police opened criminal proceedings because journalists from the online media NikVesti were not allowed to enter the city council building. The case is being investigated under Part 1 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine «Hindering the legitimate professional activity of journalists.» The investigation is being conducted by police department №1 of the Mykolaiv district police department of the Mykolaiv region.