Clean facades, bus stops and less time-consuming excavations await Tomsk authorities after the dissolution of the sanitary police

After the disbandment of the sanitary police in Tomsk, its functions were transferred to employees of the road department of the mayor’s office and district administrations, at the same time they have the authority to fine violators. Authorities hope that the changes will lead to clean facades in the city, a reduction in lengthy excavations and a quick restoration of amenities after them.

The Tomsk sanitary police appeared in 2013 as a division of the department of road activities and city improvement. Her task was to identify and record various violations in the area of ​​improvement. The question of the expediency of the existence of the sanitary police as a separate institution has been repeatedly raised by city deputies. They noted that the activities of this body were ineffective. Last November, Tomsk Mayor Dmitry Makhinya decided to disband the sanitary police. It was reported that inspectors in district administrations will be empowered to monitor and issue fines to resource workers.

On April 25, Deputy Mayor for Public Improvement Nikolai Glebovich reported at the city council committee that as of April 8, the sanitary police had completely ceased to exist.

“Today, all people have been fired and laid off, the activities of the institution have been stopped since April 8, 2024, the liquidation of the legal entity will occur on July 15 after the expiration of the period allotted by law. Six positions to perform partial functionality have been added to the road activities department – ensuring control in the field of landscaping and working with the landscape commission and green spaces. Two rates have been added to district administrations, departments have been created to control improvement. The districts are accepting people; the work is far from complete, because not all people from the sanitary police have expressed their readiness to move to municipal service. <...> In fact, there are no people today. In the department of road activities, out of six positions, only three are occupied,” said the deputy mayor.

He noted that previously the sanitary police did not have the right to issue protocols. Now, employees vested with the functions of the liquidated body will be able to fine violators.

“According to the law, only municipal employees can do this. Those employees who are included in the staff of district administrations are endowed with this right,” Glebovich added.

Deputy Inga Pervushina proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of such work in six months. The deputy mayor noted that it would be possible to analyze the sanitary condition of the city in the fall, and the work on receiving fines into the budget could be seen at the beginning of next year.

In general, officials expect that thanks to the powers of employees, the walls of the facades should become cleaner and there should be less long excavations.

“We would like to see a fight against the posting of illegal advertisements, but we will not help here with fines alone. We work with facade owners. We also plan to fight a number of organizations that [занимаются] mass advertising – performances, sales and that kind of thing. They seriously disfigure the appearance of the city. About two-thirds of this garbage comes from four to five network organizations raiding the city. I hope we will enter into a civilized dialogue with them and either fines or… a kind word from a gun can do more than just a kind word. <...> What residents should see – [чистые] stops, fewer announcements, excavations, shorter restoration times, at least during the improvement period, and the list goes on,” noted Nikolai Glebovich.

Deputy Vasily Eremin believes that work in this direction in the city is being carried out ineffectively and said that it is necessary to “pass a vote of no confidence in the mayor.”

“Why, let’s say, today don’t we conclude an agreement with management companies? Remember, about ten years ago, when they were starting up and entering the market, all the houses had beautiful notice boards, and so on. Everything today has almost collapsed, <...> why isn’t this being done? Now we hear again: we will do it, everything will be fine, we will report in January. I think that at the June meeting of the City Duma we will pass a vote of no confidence in the mayor of Tomsk regarding what is happening in our city. Well, in my opinion, the city has never seen such dirt, such potholes, ruts and ditches,” he said.