Local council in Mykolaiv oblast misses query response deadline due to accountant's day off

The Pervomaysk District Council (Mykolaiv oblast) provided a delayed response to an information query citing staffing difficulties, as per the article by the Institute of Mass Information representative in Mykolaiv oblast, Kateryna Sereda.

While researching the openness of district councils, the journalist reached out to all four district councils in the oblast with queries about the management's salaries and bonuses, the staff numbers and the districts' general budgets. The Pervomaysk District Council was the only one that did not respond within the deadline stated in the law.

After a reminder via a phone call, the state body reported that their accountant responsible for preparing the reply was on vacation and that the entire Council apparatus consisted of just four people. An answer to the query was provided within 24 hours after that. The District Council missed the deadline by a week in total.

The Pervomaysk District Council missed the deadline for responding to an information query, but did provide answers after a reminder. Screenshot: the Pervomaysk District Council's reply to the query

As reported in Sereda's article, the Pervomaysk City Council has had other issues with access to information besides delays in responding to queries. The May 2025 monitoring study by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights revealed outdated information and inactive phone numbers on the Council's website, absence of open data from the state portal data.gov.ua, and violations of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”.

Moreover, there is no dedicated section on access to public information on the Council’s website; it is hidden in the subsection “Council's Work”, which makes accessing needed information more difficult.

The Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” guarantees everyone the right to receive information from state authorities and local self-government bodies. Article 20 of the Law outlines the terms for processing queries: a response must be provided within five working days. In case of violation of these requirements, officials can be held liable.

Institute of Mass Information lawyer Volodymyr Zelenchuk has written an explainer for journalists on access to information.