Sochi City Council is a local representative authority.

Sochi City Administration and Sochi City Council are municipal public authorities in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, principles of democracy, independence of branches of power and division of authority between executive and representative powers.

Sochi City Council has inherited traditions of representative power from City Council of People's Deputies of Sochi; on the other hand City Council is a representative authority of a new type and with different functions.

Sochi City Council was established in March 1996 in compliance with Deputies elections and under Sochi City Council Resolution № 1 of March 12, 1996

The Sochi City Charter, adopted by resolution № 66 of September 24, 1996, defines procedure of election and number of Deputies (50 people), term of office (5 years) and competence of City Council.

Deputies are elected at direct universal suffrage by secret ballot in compliance with Federal laws and laws of Krasnodar region.

City Council is authorized to make resolutions at its session on any issues within its competence identified by the laws of the Russian Federation, Krasnodar region and by the Sochi City Charter.

City Council adopts the Sochi City Charter, rules referring to Sochi City municipality competence, rules and regulations of City Council, plans and programmes of City development, local Budget and Budget Report. City Council defines procedure of managing municipal property and other issues within its competence.

City Council sessions are convened by the Chairman of Sochi City Council as often as required but at least once every three months. The First session took place on March 12, 1996.

Sochi City Council resolutions which touch upon rights, liberties and responsibilities of residents are subject to publish by City Mayor in local print media.

PAGES OF HISTORY

The history of Sochi city begins in 1838. Typical problems of a town emerged as soon as Dakhovskoy settlement (name of our city at that time) was founded. The problems were exactly the same as today: renovation of roads, beautification and lighting of streets, equipment of water supply and sewerage systems, construction of bridges, etc. Some community leaders undertook to solve these problems. They were the first Deputies to stand for interests of the people in Town Hall and other authorities.In 1898 Sochi local representative authority году was called Town Department and was made up of Head, his assistant and 12 delegates elected by citizens. The first delegates were Arkady Gordon (see photo), Viktor Podgursky (see photo), Vasily Konstantinov, Nikolay Kostarev and others, everybody well-known for their activity in development and promotion of the resort city, its medical facilities, who were striving for a better future of Sochi and its people. After the revolution of 1917 and the Decree «About nationalization of resorts» the way of life changed dramatically. That was another rule, another country, another life… That was the time when everything - elected representatives, their elections and activity – was changed. Elections to City Soviet of working people were organized in 1950s under a watchful eye of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) «observers» in Sochi.

In 1990s it was not an easy job to form a representative authority because of turbulent political environment and distrust to authorities at all levels. But those were the days when we needed the most to consolidate local authorities, to prevent wasting the National resort city after 70 years of investments into development of this area.

Autumn of 1994 was the beginning of formation of Sochi local representative authorities. Elections were held on November 20, 1994 in Lazarevsky and Central districts only, where 11 Deputies were elected, but in Khosta district the elections were rendered invalid because of a low voter turnout. And only on February 25, 1996 the city received an appropriate City Council with 26 Deputies. The first session, that acknowledged the Deputies’ legitimacy, was held on March 12, 1996. Yury Barzykin (see photo) was elected the Chairman of Sochi City Council. On September 24, 1996 the Sochi City Charter was adopted and on February 25, 1997 neighborhood Soviets of self-government were established (by 2000 33 Soviets already existed). Sochi City Council also approved several programmes and regulations on financial and social issues.

In 1997 there were 10 sessions, in 1998 - 11 sessions (2 of them were special), and 9 sessions in 1999. The last session of Sochi City Council of the 1st convocation was held on November 15, 2000.

Sochi parliamentarians of the 1st convocation managed, despite certain mistakes, to achieve what was the most important after the USSR breakup, in a period of power vacuum and «the time of troubles» in political life – they were able to lay foundation for establishment and development of city authorities, preserved the resort city and created legal framework for evolution of parliamentarianism in Sochi. 

Elections of the 2nd convocation Deputies were held on December 3, 2000. Changes in legislation on elections increased the number Deputies from 26 to 50. So it was necessary to develop a new structure of the Council. 10 core committees have been formed in order to improve efficiency of operation and cover all fields of city activity. In 2001 the Chairman of Sochi City Council, Yury Barzykin, was offered a position Vice Governor of Krasnodar region, therefore Valery Podpovetny (see photo) was elected by overwhelming majority a new Chairman of the Council. New Deputies followed and further developed traditions of the 1st convocation. Among the City Council Deputies of the 2nd convocation were Honourary citizens of Sochi: Panteley Andryukha, Eleonora Ryabtseva and Petr Sozdanov. Top priorities for the Deputies included such key spheres as economics, resort, transport and social fields. Deputies of the 2nd convocation worked out and adopted more than 30 special-purpose programmes of a great importance; those programmes were socially and economically oriented and made it possible to develop health care, municipal service, educational and social spheres today. Sochi City Council of the 2nd convocation became a specific «training ground for executives» of different levels: some of the Deputies were appointed Heads of Sochi districts, Deputies Mayor of Sochi and Heads of Departments of the City Administration; a number of Deputies were elected to the State Duma and Krasnodar region Council.

During the term of the 2nd convocation Krasnodar region Council passed a regional law on electors’ instructions to their Deputies and Sochi City Council effectively implemented it; citizens received targeted and tangible support. Money from Deputies funds were used to install thousands of residential water meters, to construct and equip dozens of yard play grounds and neighborhood entertainment centres, to renovate schools, polyclinics and hospitals and to help hundreds of low-income groups. That was the time when Sochi parliament actually stopped being a Soviet of peoples' Deputies by giving real help to people, not just promises.

Sochi City Council of the 3rd convocation was elected on December 5, 2004. Sochi voted for experienced managers, large-scale entrepreneurs and executives well-known in the city. In accordance with the City Charter, the term office of the Deputies was extended from four to five years. The initial period of «getting started», adaptation and adjustments for operation was minimal, thanks to the core team which remained the same. 16 Deputies were elected for the 2nd or 3rd terms.

It was a difficult environment of changing legislation and a new market economy. Experience received during previous convocations helped Deputies to avoid hasty decisions. All the projects that were approved at the sessions, had been thoroughly worked out by related committees and Deputy groups, with professional lawyers and economists involved to give their expertise and advice on the draft documents. It also became a new and useful experience to arrange hearings of reports submitted by Heads of Departments and Commissions of Sochi City Administration.

In compliance with the Law of Krasnodar region «About electors’ instructions», Sochi Deputies continued rendering targeted social assistance in their electoral districts. Financing for the Law implementation was increased. While in 2001 only 12 million rubles were allocated to execute electors’ instructions, in 2006 already 100 million rubles were channeled for targeted assistance. This money was used to renovate roads in rural areas, mount gas supply systems, do landslide protection works, construct and renovate polyclinics, install water meters in flats of pensioners, render targeted social assistance and provide medical services for veterans, pay scholarships, help the ones who lost their homes in fire, etc. One of remarkable features of Sochi City Council of the 3rd convocation was that among the Sochi Deputies were 10 heads of educational institutions. Therefore all parliamentarians had their attention drawn to issues of education and bringing up of young Sochi residents. It is well-known that the most profitable investments are in the young generation. Following this principle, Sochi Deputies have been continuously supporting their colleagues - teachers – in composing Sochi budget for education. More than ten schools were renovated and about ten more were scheduled for overhaul. Sochi local authorities provided heir teachers not only with renewed schools. On the initiative of Sochi City Mayor Deputies adopted resolutions to construct apartment houses for teachers, doctors and cultural workers. Hundreds of families moved to new flats.

Deputies of Sochi City Council facilitated renovation of city streets, Fine Arts Museum, Zimny Theatre, Sochi Sea Port, City Hospital №4, Primorsky, Frunze and Riviera parks. All across the city hospitals were renovated, polyclinics constructed and apartment houses for veterans and young families commissioned.

Sochi City Council of the 4th convocation was elected on March 14, 2010. And again Sochi people elected managers and entrepreneurs to become their delegates. As stipulated by the Sochi City Charter, Deputies’ term of office is five years. The first session of Sochi City Council of the 4th convocation was participated by the Governor of Krasnodar region Aleksandr Tkachev, Vice Governor of Krasnodar region Murat Akhedzhak and Mayor of Sochi city Anatoly Pakhomov.

Governor of Krasnodar region Aleksandr Tkachev in his address to the Deputies emphasized that it was the first session of Olympic Deputies. Now the delegates are responsible not only for the life of the city, but also for every street and every family of the resort. The Governor set a task before the Deputies to work as team to have successful Winter Olympic Games 2014, to create a world class resort with the best sports facilities that Sochi, Krasnodar region and entire Russia will benefit from for decades.

At the session 49 Deputies (out of 50) elected by secret ballot Anatoly Lutsyk (see photo) the Chairman of Sochi City Council. New structure of Sochi City Council was approved – now, instead of eight committees, there are ten of them: Committee on Land and Property, that had been part of Committee on Architecture and Building, is a separate division now. A new Committee on Rural Areas, Agriculture and Entrepreneurship has been created, as well as Committee on Sport, Olympic Movement, Youth and Mass Media. Sochi City Council of the 4th convocation has significantly been «rejuvenated» - eight Deputies are younger than 35.

Professional scope of Sochi City Council includes representatives of the following branches: health care, entrepreneurship, trade, public utilities sector, construction, education, recreation, resort and transport industries. The Council has 47 members of United Russia party, two members of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and one member of The Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Out of 50 Deputies of Sochi City Council 46 members have higher education and 10 delegates have a degree of Candidate of Sciences. 24 Deputies of Sochi City Council have received governmental and regional awards, as well as city badges of distinction.

There are still a lot of tasks and problems to be tackled, but the team of Deputies knows them and is ready to solve them together with Sochi people.