Control over city council’s decisions

During the session, MPs of the city council make various decisions — from the transfer of playgrounds, acceptance of property into municipal ownership, or budget implementation. Drafts of these decisions must be published at least 10 days before the date of consideration (except for urgent ones). The decisions made at the session are published within 5 days. If these deadlines are violated, you have the right to contest such decisions in court.

Open plenary meetings 

According to the Law “On Local Self-Government,” all citizens of Ukraine have the right to freely attend such meetings. All you need to do is show your ID card. Sessions of the city council should be held at least once a quarter, and as far as the issues of allotment of land plots and provision of documents of a permissive nature in the field of economic activities are concerned — at least once a month. Announcements about their holding are published on the official website of the city council,

Reporting meetings

MPs and the mayor are required to report to voters at least once a year. Such reports should be open. In addition, the texts of reports are published on the city council’s website and in local media. At such meetings, you can ask the MP about the decisions that they submitted and supported, about the implementation of the election program, and for reports on the use of money from their fund of MP.

It is your right as a voter to give instructions

To eventually solve the problem of a city, neighborhood, or even a house, you can give MPs of the city council instructions. What does it look like? This document is submitted in writing and must be supported by the majority of participants in the meeting. Such instructions can be submitted during open meetings or reports of the MP.

You have the right to submit a local initiative

A local initiative is a written proposal for the city council to consider any important issue that falls within its competence. In this way, you can submit draft decisions of the council and request their consideration in the presence of members of the initiative group. The city council, in turn, must adopt the procedure for considering a local initiative (deadlines for submission, number of signatures, creation of an initiative group, etc.).

Attend public hearings

Such collective meetings with representatives of the city council are a chance for the community to discuss the most important and most painful issues. During the hearings, you can submit proposals, discuss the city’s problems that concern you, and ask the authorities for explanations regarding their decisions.

Join or even create advisory bodies

These can be public, supervisory, or expert councils that are established under state and local government bodies. As part of such councils, you can monitor the work of the city council, advise, conduct expert inspections, and so on.

You can hold or attend peaceful assemblies

If you want to draw attention to a specific issue, express disagreement with the actions, decisions, or inaction of local authorities, then this tool is for you. To hold a peaceful assembly, you need to inform local self-governments of your intention and provide information about the date, place, time, and approximate number of participants.

Send requests for information

A request for the administrator to provide public information may be your first step towards further actions. Because of the requests, you can find out about the use of funds from the local budget, objects of municipal property, activities of municipal enterprises, and so on. The administrator must respond within 5 business days, if the amount of information is large — within 20 business days.