Sienkevych has criticised the work of the water utility staff: «I’d like to see more professionalism and less advice»

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych criticised the work of employees at the municipal utility company «Mykolaivvodokanal», citing poor-quality repairs, constant repeated digging up of streets and a failure to maintain the area after work has been carried out.

He made these remarks during a staff meeting on 11 May, according to NikVesti.

According to the director of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivvodokanal», Hennadii Iziumov, there have been no mass redundancies at the company following the incident involving employees. A reorganisation of the structure and the reduction of posts with overlapping functions is currently underway. Employees affected by the cuts are being offered other vacancies.

«First and foremost, we are not laying off staff. We are streamlining the company’s structure and rationalising positions that have overlapping functions. Almost all employees are being offered vacant positions. We have many vacancies for engineering and technical staff. I talk to people in the departments, answer their questions, and this is yielding results,» said Hennadii Iziumov.

At the same time, Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that he expects the company to carry out higher-quality work on the city’s streets and criticised staff for failing to carry out repairs properly.

«I heard this in the video, and it made me laugh: ‘We don’t need managers, we need professionals.’ I’ve seen the work of these professionals when they dump soil onto the road, and the water washes it all over Pohranychna Street — from 6th Slobidska to Sadova. Everything is covered in mud: the road, the cars, and the soil, which instead of being in the green area, is lying on the road. And this is what the ‘professionals’ tell us. Or how, at the Sadova roundabout or on Sadova and Bedzai streets, they dig up the ground, driving tractors onto the green areas, destroying kerbs, roads and so on. I have seen this work by the ‘professionals’ with my own eyes. That is why I would like to see more professionalism from them and less advice,» says Oleksandr Sienkevych.

He also cited the example of Sadova and Bedzai Streets, where, according to him, the same section has had to be dug up three times over the last two years.

«As far as I can remember, Sadova and Bedzai streets alone have been dug up three times in the last two years. This means that the ‘professionals’ dug up that spot, did something there, and after a while, six months later, thanks to their ‘professional’ work, they’re digging it up again. Meanwhile, money is being spent on digging, various works, fuel for travelling back and forth, asphalting, and getting everything back in order. And six months later — digging it up again. You can really feel the professionalism, as they say,» added Oleksandr Sienkevych.

The company director also announced that Mykolaivvodokanal plans to introduce work flow charts and strengthen monitoring of compliance with them.

Oleksandr Sienkevych instructed the company’s director to hold a press conference at the end of May to report on what had been achieved over the past three months.

Earlier, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych told NikVesti that talk of alleged preparations for the privatisation of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivvodokanal» was a manipulation and an attempt to discredit the company’s new head.

Scandal at Mykolaivvodokanal

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 editorial team at NikVesti. 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. At the same time, the Supervisory Board denied having taken a decision to dismiss Vasyl Telpis.

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