Meet Our Delegates

Delegates

Irina Malinina

Department Head for the Novgorod Region Borovichsky District Administration in Novgorod, a city of 57,000 between St Petersburg and Moscow.

Irina comes from a beautiful city, one of the very oldest in Russia – Borovichsky Novgorod. It is between Moscow and St Petersburg, and so it is a great destination for visitors to Russia.

Irina gave a power point presentation on Novgorod at her PSU presentation on Thursday, and her photographs showed the extreme beauty of her home town. She has been a very graceful and attentive delegate, and in the last few days we have really appreciated her thoughtful and perceptive ways.

At the Khabarovsk-Portland Sister City Celebration Thursday night, we were a part of the formal program and she was the spokesperson for the delegation. She is the head of information technology for her city and she has won awards for the website that she created. Her website has a section that is following her tour of Portland, and she has posted pictures, and also a link to our website with our reports and pictures. Her “job shadow” in Portland is Sherry Swakhamer, Chief Information Officer for Multnomah County.

As the trip draws to a close, she is concerned that we have not left enough time for shopping, so we have appointed her Captain of Shopping, and she and the shopping drivers, Mary McWilliams and Ann Mulroney, will draw up a plan for all day Saturday.

The LWV of the US is planning a trip for 10 League members to travel to Russia in July, 2010, and the main cities will be Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novgorod. So we may very well keep a relationship with Irina and there is a good possibility for a collaborative project.

Aleksandr Mefodyev

Legal Department Director for Municipal Technologies
Cheboksary, Chuvashia, 400 miles east of Moscow, on the Volga River. (Pop: 450,000).

Aleksandr is an attorney, and head of the legal department in his city, Cheboksary, Chuvashia. This is a separate republic within Russia with a unique history and democratic tradition. We have learned that in some provinces of Russia such as this one, historically, the appointment of the prince was not official until confirmed by a vote of the people.

Cheboksary is located 400 miles east of Moscow on the Volga River, and during earlier times river traffic and a river crossing there made it an important site.

Aleksandr has really appreciated our tour and has asked some incredibly perceptive questions at meetings that have been great for discussion. He is active in the United Russia Party, and is interested in legislative initiatives that address reforms regionally and/or nationally.

His particular interest is legislation to limit monopolies in the area of communal services (utilities). We have him meeting with a Lobbyist at the Portland Office of Governmental Affairs and have added a meeting with members of the Citizen Utility Board.

Aleksandr brought a book from his city entitled: Chuvash Republic; Invitation to Cooperate, and from reading it we have learned that his city has named 2009 Year of the Farmer, and that small farming operations are growing especially in the area of organic farming.

Andrey Tarasov

Director of Pskov Municipal Services
Pskov in the Pskov Oblast, on the western border of Russia near Latvia and Estonia. (Pop: 202,000)

Andrey is the biggest of the Russians, and if the Portland breeze is cool enough he dons a Russian hat. He is from Pskov on the western border of Russia near Latvia and Estonia.

When he called home early in the week it was snowing and his 8 year old son begged him to bring him…...(you’ll never guess) … an umbrella!

His English is good enough for profound statements that have been memorable in the course of the week. He is the head of municipal services in his city of over 200,000 but is an engineer by training and seems always to be drawn to tool or mechanical displays on our tours. He also has been active in the homeowners’ association movement in Russia as municipalities encourage the transition from public to private ownership of housing and all utilities.

Andrey has a great sense of humor and a big spirit that has reached all of us – really, an unforgettable character.

Veronika Trushkova

Director of the Department of City Management for Apatity, Murmansk Oblast, near Finland 700 mi N of St Petersburg. (Pop: 63,000)

Veronika is from Apatity which is far to the northeast, 700 miles north of St. Petersburg near Finland. Her city is only 40 years old and was founded for mining, and in fact Apatity means “mining” in Russian. The substance that is mined is a material used in fertilizer. 

This does not paint a beautiful picture, but in fact after seeing the slide show that Veronika presented at the PSU presentation on Thursday, we realize that Apatity is a beautiful place. Northern lights are viewed all winter, there is a long skiing season, and it is a popular site for research centers, technological startups and winter sports. The pictures showed a pristine countryside with buildings blending with the landscape. 

At the Portland-Khabarovsk Sister City celebration, the owner of the Russian Gallery was establishing a relationship with Veronika because Apatity has many of the old Russian craftspeople. 

Veronika is the director of city management and in the course of the tour she has had a particular interest in recycling and landfills, as her city is in the midst of building a new one. When the garbage truck came down our street this morning, she asked me to stop the car, and she got out to take pictures. She has had many questions on the financing of such services in the US. 

She is also interested in programs to help stray animals and will visit the Oregon Humane Society on Friday afternoon with Betsy Pratt and Pat Russell, League members who volunteer at OHS. At home Veronika has a Persian cat.

Sergey Yeger

General Director of Media Plus LLC of Orsk, Orenburg Oblast, over 1000 mi southeast of Moscow near the border of Kazakhstan in the South Ural Mountains. (Pop: 252,000)

Sergey is from Orsk, Orenburg which is in the southern part of the Ural Mountains which divide Europe from Asia. In fact this dividing point runs through his city and so it is very easy for Sergey to visit both continents within 5 minutes. Orsk is 1000 miles from Moscow, in the central south, near the border with Kasakhstan.

Sergey is the equivalent of the City Manager, one step below Mayor. His range of responsibility was apparent in our week of tours and meetings, as there were so many issues where he would ask delving questions – on housing, garbage and recycling, utilities, sewer systems, roads and transportation, financial management, performance auditing, elections etc. etc.

The transition from public to private ownership of housing and utilities is particularly challenging, as many of the housing structures (mostly multi-family) and much of the infrastructure is badly in need of rehabilitation. A financial mechanism to accomplish this is of much interest; also a way to attract private investment is needed. Sergey met with many staff from Bureau of Environmental Services including Dean Marriott, the director.

He learned about the big pipe project and, perhaps more than any other delegate, appreciated the unprecedented scale of this project, both in cost and construction design. We often noticed that Sergey appeared to be deeply considering all that he had seen and heard.

Facilitator

Andrey Yuryevich Fink

from Tolyatti, Samara Oblast 500 mi southeast of Moscow (Pop:718,000)

Every delegation in the Open World Program comes with a facilitator. The facilitator is a native of the country fluent in English who acts as a sort of cultural and language interpreter, also a mediator, advice-giver and problem-solver.

His name doesn’t sound Russian because his family is from Germany. Much of the trip we called him ‘Andy” because otherwise there were two Andreys. His full time profession is as a property manager, which involves selecting and managing construction rehabilitation projects both private and public. He also has a background in technology and software.

He takes vacation days from his job to act as a facilitator for Open World, and he has served 18 different Open World delegations.

As the local coordinator, I REALLY appreciated Andy, who has an extremely calm manner, and was often the subtle voice of reason in guiding the delegates forward. There is something very endearing about the manner in which he interacts. I have relied on his skills and experience greatly.

Another amazing fact about Andy – he taught himself English. 

Pat Osborn