Text prepared for “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia” (Mirror of the Week newspaper)
In early May, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 6504, which was supposed to settle the status of local self-government body officers regulatorily.
This is a new and important phase for both decentralisation and civil service reform as a whole. It was very much anticipated on the ground. However, to date, the draft law has been waiting for signature in the Presidential Office beyond the 15-day period established by the Constitution. And even if Volodymyr Zelenskyi had signed the voted draft law on time, the new rules of service in local self-government bodies would come into effect only after the end of martial law — this is provided for in the draft law. We suggest you figure out what they want to change this time and how it will work.
Who is a local self-government body officer, and what is wrong with this “status” now?
A local self-government officer performs functions related to the work of local self-government bodies and the development of the community, receives a salary from the local budget and is selected for the position through a competition. These functions are established by job duties and deal with the drawing-up of local self-government bodies’ documents, provision of administrative services, management of the community’s property, human resources, etc. In fact, this is a person who is responsible for a certain sector in local self-government bodies (for example, works in the social policy department of a city council).
As of today, the issue of the status of local self-government body officers is regulated by the Law On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies of 2001 and other by-laws related to competitions for filling positions in local self-government bodies, attestation of officials, etc.
Yet this legal framework is not sufficient. At the regulatory level, there are no clear criteria to define the concepts that deal with service in local self-government bodies — among other things, there is no definition of local self-government officer, the concept of position in a local self-government body and the legal status of local self-government officers, etc. are not sufficiently substantiated.
Procedures for payroll and competitive selection are prescribed in a vague manner, too. Because of this, attestations of officials were carried out in a pro forma way and ‘for a tick’. The awarding of bonuses, additional payments, competitive selection took place non-transparently, accommodating the manager’s ‘personal affection’ for individual employees rather than their professional competencies.
No clear and transparent rules of service in local self-government bodies generated chaos and nepotism on the ground, irresponsibility of officials and staff shortages. This sounds especially threatening given the role of local self-government in confronting the enemy now and also in the processes of communities’ recovery in the future. To prevent the situation from worsening, lawmakers proposed a new legal framework.
New draft law — new hopes
Draft law No. 6504 On Service in Local Self-Government Bodies was registered in the Verkhovna Rada in early 2022, but due to the full-scale invasion, its consideration got slightly protracted.
International partners positively assessed the initiative to implement just standards for service in local self-government bodies, as this is important for the promotion of the decentralisation reform and professionalisation of local self-government bodies, as well as corresponds to the norms of the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Article 6).
The approval of draft law No. 6504 improves the following procedures: terms and conditions of service and the legal status of officers, particularities of service of elected officials of local self-government, payroll terms and conditions for the executive service staff in local self-government.
When and if the changes become effective, we should receive:
1. A clear statutory definition of the status of a local self-government body officer.
This norm is positive from the perspective of perception of the role of a person who works in local self-government bodies. After all, the average community resident often has a question: who is this officer? On the other hand, lawmakers’ itemisation of the category sends a message to the officers of local self-government bodies regarding their important role in the development of a community. Service in local self-government bodies, like the civil service, is an element of public service, which is governed by uniform principles.
2. Depoliticization of the management system.
Among other things, officers will have no right to demonstrate their political views or take any actions that may prove their involvement in, or special attitude to, a political party. In addition, a person who works in support offices of the council or its executive body will be prohibited from being a member of that council.
Depoliticization of service in local self-government bodies will enhance their authority. The executive bodies of councils will act as bodies that tackle the issues of local importance and of the community, not of a political party.
3. Additional legal protection for officers.
An officer may not be transferred to lower or higher positions without justification and their consent, nor may the essential terms and conditions of service be changed (this applies to job duties, working arrangements, belonging to a certain category, etc.).
These changes will serve as an additional motivation for officers since the terms and conditions of their work will not be determined by individual senior officials in favour of those who are closer to them. In addition, any benefits or promotions will be based on officers’ professional competencies. And in fact, it is officers that will be responsible for their professional growth in local self-government bodies.
4. Optimisation of payroll processes.
Councils in question will set officers’ pay, factoring in local conditions and local budgets possibilities. Reasoned decisions on establishing bonuses and additional payments due to increased workload will be published on the council’s official website.
This will be an additional incentive for local self-government bodies to streamline the service framework and train their employees. Further, the transparency of bonus awarding processes will terminate the so-called individual bonus awarding, where senior officials award bonuses in unreasonably high amounts. Community residents will actually be able to see what community funds are spent on. The minimum pay has been set out for officers. Still, there is no established maximum amount, which could be grounds for abuse by local self-government bodies, but at least this risk will be lower. There is another important nuance here: at the start of the public service reform, one of its main objectives was to maximise salary and minimise top-ups and bonuses within the pay breakdown. However, this was failed at the state level, just as in the case of local self-government bodies, unfortunately.
5. Regulatory settlement of the issue of officers’ professional training and professional development.
Professional training of local self-government officers will be carried on throughout their service and professional development — at least once every three years. An officer individual professional development program is introduced. It will be compiled by the very officer him/herself together with the HR management office.
These norms will minimize formalism that was predominant in observations during attestations and employee professional development.
6. The new position comes into being, i.e., the chief of staff at local self-government bodies, to organise competitive HR selections and generally ensure the creation of proper service conditions.
This position will serve as a safeguarding tool for officers, as in case of violation of their rights or obstruction of work, the officer will notify the chief of staff thereabout, and the latter will respond accordingly. This will also be minimising chaos in service at the level of local self-government bodies, as all processes will be planned from start to finish (competitive HR selection, work planning, training, performance monitoring, etc.).
7. Regulatory settlement of the specifics of the service of elected officials, i.e., those elected in local voting or by council.
The draft law provisions clearly delineate the positions of local self-government officers and elected officials.
For example, after the implementation of the law, community heads as elected officials won’t be in a position to set bonuses for themselves at their liberty because the draft law clearly defines ceilings and also given that the council will make a decision on bonuses with information about it being published on a website.
8. New features of the executive support service.
Previously, Ukrainian legislation did not detail the executive support service. From now on, this will be an additional safeguard for the officers of local self-government bodies because an adviser, consultant, assistant and manager at executive support service will be prohibited from giving instructions to the officers of local self-government.
From concept to implementation
The adoption of draft law No. 6504 is a long-awaited and important step. Yet, for now, this is only a framework of rules, a concept to be implemented in the non-ideal Ukrainian set-up.
From now on, the future of the civil service reform, as well as that of decentralisation, will also depend on communities — on their desire to overcome internal chaos and sort out processes, keep on reforms and shrug off old habits. Last but not least, the human factor will be important — who will stay on the ground to implement necessary changes once martial law is over, and will the state and local authorities be able to ensure the effective operation of such an essential link of the public service?
The text was prepared within the framework of the project “Civil Society for Ukraine’s Post-war Recovery and EU-Readiness”, which is implemented with the financial support of the European Union.
