ICEA hosted Ukrainian municipal leaders in February 18 – 24, 2013
The International Cultural-Educational Association (ICEA) in partnership with the Association of Ukrainian Cities (www.auc.org.ua/en ) hosted a group of municipal leaders from the city of Odessa, who participated in a program conducted in cities San Francisco and Long Beach, California in February 18 – 24, 2013.
The program provided presentations and meetings hosted by collaborating organizations, including the San Francisco and Long Beach Mayor’s offices, local Ukrainian community, meeting with Ukrainian General Consul in San Francisco, which provided opportunities to learn about the innovations in American municipal systems, structure of public services, and budget planning in American cities.
The objectives of our program were to introduce members of the Ukrainian delegation to:
American municipal systems and municipal facilities; such as:
Municipal Budget structure,
Organization of City Administrator’s office,
Organization of city and county governments,
Fire and Police Departments,
Public safety system and 311 call customer service center,
Long Beach seaport operations,
San Francisco Public Library
Sister Cities International programs,
City tours of architectural, cultural and historical heritage sites
Initiatives to develop tourism.
Ukrainian delegation from Odessa municipal government was presented by:
Anatoliy Orlovskyy – Deputy Mayor, Odessa City Administrator
Svetlana Bedrega – Deputy Mayor, Director of Financial Management Department
Mariia Ieremieienko – Director of Legal Department, municipal government
Mykola Pestruiev – Public works adviser in the Odessa Mayor’s Office and elected member of the City Council
Dmytro Polunin – Director of Transportation Agency, municipal government
Oleksandr Riffa – Director of Parks and Landscaping Department, municipal government
Oleksandr Prokopets – Director of street and facility lighting department, municipal government
ICEA gives specials thanks to the following individuals for their wonderful support:
San Francisco:
Linda Yeung – Deputy City Administrator,
Andy Maimoni – Deputy Director of 311 Custom Service Center,
Raymond Guzman – Deputy Chief of Fire Divisions Administration,
Mindy Talmadge – Public Information Officer, Fire Department,
Leo Solomon – Director of IT Division in Police Department,
Luis Herrera – Director of Public Library.
Long Beach:
Robert Foster – Mayor,
Dr. Noel Hacegaba – Executive Officer on the Board of Harbor Commissioners.
We also want to thank the staff of the Ukrainian General Consulate in San Francisco for their help in making our program such a success, especially Sergiy Aloshyn – Consul General of Ukraine in San Francisco, Yurii Babkov – Consul of economic and trade, Oleksandr Savostianov – Consul of the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco.