Michel Terestchenko, scion of a noble Ukrainian family declared winner of the local mayoral election in Hlukhiv on October 30, has already set about his official meetings. The first one took place on November 2 at the office of Mykola Klochko, head of the Sumy Oblast State Administration, who had invited all newly elected mayors of the oblast.
“You are elected by the community, and you have assumed responsibility for its development. In the conditions of decentralization you have all the powers and real mechanisms to carry out your authority,” said Klochko in his welcoming speech. “This year we have been allocated over 100 million hryvnias from the State Fund for Regional Development to construct a number of facilities. So, it is up to you to choose your priorities and come up with proposals. We should grasp the chance and attract additional resources to develop the territorial communities.”
What was discussed during a tete-a-tete between the newly elected Mayor Terestchenko and the head of the Sumy oblast? Of course, first they talked about the recent election, in which Terestchenko had to counter the powerful administrative resource. “During the election campaign the entire establishment was working against me, while the governor kept silent. So, I thought that he had orchestrated it all and that he was backing our opponents,” said Terestchenko in a commentary to The Day. “However, Mykola Klochko said he had no clue and could not even imagine such a situation. According to him, such a situation could only exist in Hlukhiv raion, where the local establishment obeys Derkach rather than follows the guidelines from the governor.”
Quite expectedly, the administrative establishment of this northern raion of Sumy oblast, after having for 17 years worked for oligarch Andrii Derkach and his clique of loyal mayors, launched a powerful counterattack against Terestchenko even after the election. This was also a matter of discussion with the head of the Sumy oblast. “I informed Mr. Klochko that the situation in Hlukhiv is obscure. I still cannot start performing my mayoral duties. The Territorial Election Commission (TEC) has not finished working yet, and a plenary session of the municipal council has not yet been slated,” shared Terestchenko in his interview. “It cannot start because several legislators from People’s Will procrastinate and will not submit their personal data. The head of the TEC, member of the Opposition Bloc, said that the former mayor Yurii Burlaka flew abroad two days ago. He has taken a vacation, which hinders the proper work of the commission. We see that our work is being sabotaged from all sides, so I asked the governor what he could do about it.” According to Terestchenko, “Mr. Klochko promised to cooperate. The meeting was absolutely warm and positive. Now I hope for a meeting with the president soon, when the new local government in Hlukhiv is officially registered and introduced,” added he.
Yet despite the resistance of the “old guards” of Hlukhiv, the mayor-elect has launched activities to fulfill his electoral promises, bypassing the red tape: “In Sumy I am going to talk with the oblast department of finance. They have to okay and give us all the necessary information concerning the budget and the like. We already have some information at our disposal, which allows us to monitor the situation in town: we have to be aware to which degree the public services are prepared to meet the winter. We also see a possibility to implement a digital system document processing system or access to all necessary information via the Internet.
“We held a meeting recently where I introduced the team who will be working with me. It includes a legislator from the Kyiv Council Olena Yeskina and her colleague, Roman Holovnia. Our team is backed up by HR expert Andrii Miroshnychenko, to help form a strong civic non-party platform which will help us and also pressurize the authorities demanding reforms and cleansing the town from corruption.
“We have also started to organize commissions within the municipal council. The standing commissions include those for youth, sport, culture, and economy. But we will also set up special commissions to fight corruption and carry out lustration, and also to restore the center of the town. As long as they cannot formally perform their duties, our civic platform will be working.”
