5. Formally (at the level of legislator) the rule of law
principles are reflected in legal and normative acts.
However, to a certain degree there exist is a problem
in their implementation locally.
Despite the fact how the law is applied locally – through
regular or written local procedures – the result must be
clear and complying with the standards of national and
international legislation.
An effective mechanism of protecting citizen’s rights at
any stage of the decision-making process in defined in
the legislation by filing suits in courts or by the
administrative appeal.
6. More than a half of the Department’s employees (55,6%) in their work
faced situations when the law did not clearly regulate the process
of decision-making on some issue.
The majority of staffs of the Department (88, 9%) think that they have
access to the newest laws, regulations and instructions in the
area of housing. 66,6% of employees consider that training on using
the new legislative tools are conducted for the benefit of the
department.
62,1% of citizens highly estimated the level of knowledge of the
Department’s employees on the laws and procedures regulating the
work of the department.
Essential part of the interviewed citizens – users of the Department’s
services (69%) think that the personal interest of the Department’s
employee may influence the decision-making process.
Citizens think that the officials treat certain status groups of
citizens differently.
7. 96,3% of the staffs agree with the statement that processing of the citizens’
requests is possible within the defined period of time.
59,8% of citizens think that the staffs of the
Housing department are accessible for the
personal meetings and communication.
57,7% of citizens think that the staffs of
the Housing department will help them
in case if obvious mistakes occur.
8. 85,2% of staffs state that sometimes it is complicated to make decision within
the defined period of time.
48,8% of the interviewed citizens consider
that the department does not follow the
timeframes, and 10,3% of the respondents
could not answer this question.
9. 39,6% of the interviewed citizens
consider that the Department will
reconsider its decision impartially
and fairly.
75,1% of the interviewed citizens
consider that the Department will inform
them personally about the decisions
being made.
10. 69,6% of users think that they can get the information from the
Department about their own case exclusively.
Only 49,6% of users think that the Department follows the established
requirements on archiving.
11. Citizens are much more convinced compared to the agency staffs that
the Department’s activities depends on the decisions and instructions
of the controlling agencies.
71,1% of citizens think that the
staffs of the department can
take bribes without any
consequent responsibility. On
the contrary, the staffs of the
Housing Department consider
this situation impossible
(73,1% persons).
14. Recommendations based on project results
•Problems hindering the implementation of the rule of law principles in
the Housing Department were identified.
•The defined problems belong to two levels: problems at the level of
the agency’s activities, as well as the problems at the level of citizens’
perception. Also two dimensions of the problems can be defined: those at
legislative level or at the implementation level.
•Specific recommendations include: conducting the thorough research
on contradictions in the legislation in order to develop local specifying
instructions and standards for the municipality; strengthening the
reporting on the decisions made by the Department; providing additional
training to personnel on using the new legislation in the sphere; improving
the current internal instructions on the record-keeping and
communication with the citizens as the users of the Department’s services;
and other.
•The proposed recommendations will work by the principle of “domino”:
resolving the problem with implementation of a certain principle will
positively affect implementation of other principles. Thus, the complexity
in addressing the rule of law principles not only in the activities of the
Department of Housing and Communal Services will be ensured, but it will
also positively affect the activities of other departments of Lviv City
Council, e.g. the Citizens Service Center.
