"It should be noted that on February 6, 1998, by a Decision of the Lutsk City Council, the Statute of the territorial community of the city of Lutsk had already been approved; however, it was not registered with the bodies of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, as required by the Law of Ukraine 'On Local Self-Government in Ukraine,' and therefore is not in force. The need to approve a new edition of the statute is also conditioned by the fact that, as a result of changes in legislation, the norms of the Statute approved in 1998 have become outdated and do not correspond to the current legislation of Ukraine. And therefore, a need arose to develop and adopt a new document," noted the author of the draft, A. Kozyura.
A few words specifically about the developed draft.
The Statute of the territorial community is a local normative-legal act which, within the framework of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, defines: - the rights and obligations of city residents; - the powers of the territorial community; - the mechanisms for exercising local self-government and regulates other issues assigned to the competence of local self-government.
It was developed through analysis and use of the positive experience of other cities of Ukraine, taking into account the historical, socio-economic and other peculiarities of our city.
The Statute of the territorial community of the city of Lutsk defines the legal status of the city's territory, the suburban zone, and the city's population. Decisions adopted by the City Council on such issues as defining the symbols of the city of Lutsk, city holidays, and conferring honorary titles and distinctions of the city have been harmonized and systematized.
A special place in the developed draft is occupied by a section devoted to the rights and obligations of the residents of our city. This section concretizes and details the content of the fundamental rights of man and citizen, enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine, taking into account the specifics and peculiarities of the city of Lutsk.
In particular, the mechanism for the operation of such rights of Lutsk residents as the right to private property, to work, to entrepreneurial activity and to social protection has been enshrined.
Provision has been made for ensuring Lutsk residents' right to clean air – in this case, the provisions of Ukrainian legislation in the sphere of prevention and reduction of tobacco product use have been concretized, as well as the corresponding decisions of the Lutsk City Council aimed at reducing the harmful impact of tobacco smoking on the health of Lutsk residents.
The new Statute defines ways of ensuring such a complex of rights as the right to education, to library services, to engage in physical culture and sports. In addition, the right to quality housing and communal services, cleanliness and proper sanitary condition in the city, and to green spaces.
The procedure for keeping domestic and other animals on the territory of the city of Lutsk, and the procedure for handling them, have been systematized in accordance with the requirements of sanitary norms and adopted decisions of the City Council, with the aim of preventing the creation of a threat to the life and health of Lutsk residents.
Provision has also been defined for many other rights that are no less concerning to the residents of the city of Lutsk, such as the right to proper condition of city roads, to receive quality communication services, to an appropriate level of trade and consumer services, public catering, and consumer rights protection.
The importance of such separate enshrinement of the above-provided rights of the residents of our city lies in the fact that the existence of a numerous quantity of legislative acts in which various social relations are regulated in detail deprives ordinary citizens of the opportunity to be aware of what complex of rights they possess.
Having become acquainted with one – albeit voluminous, but systematized – document, the Statute of our city, Lutsk residents will be able to take advantage of the scope of rights that belongs to them by law.
In addition, the Statute of the territorial community enshrines the powers of the city community, the forms of direct participation of Lutsk residents in city self-government, and defines the procedure for implementing such forms of popular will expression as the city referendum, consultative survey, general meetings of Lutsk residents at their place of residence, public hearings and local initiatives.
The rights of Lutsk residents to individual and collective appeals and to the personal participation of city residents in the discussion of issues of city life are explained.
The Statute contains provisions on what links the system of city authority consists of, through which the city community exercises city self-government. The basic principles of work, the status and competence of each of the bodies included in the system of city authority have been enshrined.
Furthermore, the developed document defines the relations of deputies with voters, of the city mayor with the city community, of bodies and officials of city self-government with state authorities, as well as the relations and cooperation of city authority with enterprises, institutions and organizations of various forms of ownership.
The Statute of the territorial community of the city of Lutsk also contains provisions on communal property and the lands of the city community, the city budget, local taxes and fees, city economy and natural resources that are the property of the city community.
The Statute also provides that, for the purpose of developing the provisions defined therein, the City Council must adopt a series of normative acts – Regulations that will regulate in detail certain spheres of relations. These are such documents as the General Plan of the City, Local Building Rules, Rules for the Improvement of the City of Lutsk, Rules for Providing Residents of the City of Lutsk with Services for the Maintenance of Residential Buildings and Adjacent Territories, Rules for Trade at Markets and Rules for Retail Trade, and certain others.
In accordance with the Law of Ukraine 'On Local Self-Government in Ukraine,' local self-government bodies are legal entities, and therefore, delay in adopting the statute does not allow for state registration with the bodies of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and deprives the Lutsk City Council, as a legal entity, of the opportunity to be guided in its activity by the main local normative act, which takes into account the peculiarities of the respective territorial community.
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Proposals to the draft Statute can be sent to the author, Andriy Kozyura, at the address: akozyura@ ukr.net