Poltava journalists say the City Council gives incomplete answers to requests

"Poltavshchyna" editors say that the Poltava City Council provides them with incomplete answers to their requests for information. The journalists also reported this to the regional IMI representative, Nadia Kucher.

According to them, the city authorities gave them incomplete answers to three requests and failed to answer one other request.

On March 10, the media outlet posted the article "The UAH 23 mln food reserve created in Poltava 2 years ago: what came of it", reporting that the official responses received by the journalists were incomplete. Such responses, in the editors' opinion, give ample space for very varied interpretations.

In February 2024, "Poltavshchyna" sent a request for information to the City Council to monitor the food reserve situation.

"We wanted to know what products were purchased for the food reserve over the past two years, whether goods from it were issued to someone in this time, how many people received aid, how many products remained in the reserve and whether they planned to replenish it. In response, we received two different letters from two different executive committee subdivisions," the media outlet writes.

On March 5, the Poltava City Council's Administrative Services Department provided a list of goods and reported that they had "given the above-listed material goods from the local food reserve away irrevocably and free of charge."

The Poltava City Council's Administrative Services Center did not provide the rest of the information nor even the minimal specifics, because "it did not exist as a ready-made document."

On March 8, the Education Department of the Poltava City Council sent them an additional reply, reporting that the food reserve had been handed over to educators for safekeeping and that they did not have the rest of the information.

"We still have many questions to the City Council. Seeing as requests for information proved to be an unsuccessful communication method, we suggest that Kateryna Yamshchykova and her deputies publicly communicate the issues related to the reserve, its distribution and possible replenishment," the media outlet says.

In addition, "Poltavshchyna" complains that the City Council provided incomplete answers to their other requests:

• the request for information about the owner of a small clock-shaped structure on Kashtanova Avenue was met with a non-reply;
• the request on rock salt for road de-icing, submitted by the editors last December, was redirected to the Department of Housing and Communal Services, followed by three months of silence;
• the request on the expected cost of drones was received in a month, but without any details.

Another request, where "Poltavshchyna" was asking for a list of Poltava addresses with dysfunctional elevators, received no reply.

The IMI representative reached out to the Poltava City Council for an explanation. The head of the Council's press office, Maryna Serova, responded as follows:

"If any of the departments, offices or other managers do not respond to a written information request in a timely manner, please write to me immediately."

The Poltava City Council secretary, Kateryna Yamshchykova, promised that "Poltavshchyna" would soon receive an answer to the elevators request and also noted that she would review each of the requests which were met with an incomplete answer.