The article presents the result of quantitative research on local government elections in Poland carried out on October 21 and November 4, 2018. Its goal is to examine the proportions of lists registered by political parties and nonpartisan electoral committees and the mandates they have obtained. This proportion shows the degree of presence of political parties in local governments of various levels and sizes. The data were selected so that all provinces in Poland were examined (16), a number of districts were randomly selected (in provinces with less than 20 districts, data from half districts were examined, in provinces with over 20 districts, from one third). Within the selected districts, all communes were examined. The quantitative research shows that local governments elected in 2018 are not political only in small and medium-sized communes, in which the councils are made up mostly of councilors who were candidates from nonpartisan committees.

The essence of staffing of local governments is clarified in the work. It is substantiated that this is a system of principles, forms and methods of forming the necessary qualitative and quantitative composition of local governments, aimed at improving human resources and their effective use. The mechanism of staffing of local authorities effective functioning is offered, the feature of which is the inclusion of the processes of formation and realization. As a target orientation of the mechanism of staffing of local governments, their effective functioning is defined by achieving a certain goal to increase the level of life of the territorial community. The use of the qualimetric approach for construction of the optimum scenario of staffing of effective functioning of local governments is substantiated.
Th e scheme of construction of qualimetric model of an estimation of quality of staffi ng of eff ective functioning of local governments is developed. It is determined that the quality of staffi ng of local governments is determined by analyzing the factors that have the greatest impact on of local governments staffi ng. As part of the study of the Merefa city united territorial community (Kharkiv region) the proposed qualimetric model was tested. Visualization of the level of quality of staffing of Merefa UTC in terms of functional processes allowed to determine that such functional processes as staff motivation and incentives, as well as staff development, professional development are the most important areas for improving the staffing process. The results of the sociological survey confirmed the important role of the level of competence of employees of executive bodies and the level of remuneration in the context of improving the efficiency of UTC.
The proposed qualimetric model for assessing the quality of staffing allows not only to determine the effectiveness of local governments staffing, but also to identify those functional processes that require the most attention in terms of improving the functioning efficiency.

The essence of staffing of local governments is clarified in the work. It is substantiated that this is a system of principles, forms and methods of forming the necessary qualitative and quantitative composition of local governments, aimed at improving human resources and their effective use. The mechanism of staffing of local authorities effective functioning is offered, the feature of which is the inclusion of the processes of formation and realization. As a target orientation of the mechanism of staffing of local governments, their effective functioning is defined by achieving a certain goal to increase the level of life of the territorial community. The use of the qualimetric approach for construction of the optimum scenario of staffing of effective functioning of local governments is substantiated

Decentralization of power in Ukraine as a means of creating and maintaining a full-term living environment of territorial communities

The article researched the process of decentralization of power in Ukraine since 2014 and its legal regulation, highlights the stages of reform, systematizes its main achievements within the first stage (from 2014 to 2019) and the second (from 2020 to present), outlines and summarizes the key problems of community development and possible ways to solve them. Based on the analysis of the publications in which the solution of the problem was initiated, the author found that the attempts to improve the administrative- territorial structure of Ukraine, made at the national level before 2014, did not bring the expected results, and therefore the focus is on the process of subsequent reforms. With this in mind, the purpose of the study, its main research objectives and methodological tools are determined. The author emphasizes that the reform of the state policy of Ukraine in the field of local government is based on the best world achievements in this direction, on the basis of the analysis confirms the general correspondence between the number of persons living in a particular region of Ukraine and the number of established communities, and that community development problems are more pronounced within rural areas away from administrative centers. The proposed ways to solve the outlined problems will contribute to the creation and maintenance of a full-fledged living environment of communities.

The article focuses on the role and importance of the activity of local governments in the economic development process of the Council of Europe member states, taking into account the specific role of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. In the context of contemporary economic and social challenges, the effectiveness of actions taken by local governments is analysed, taking into account the specific impact of the Congress on shaping regional policy. The article is based on case studies and an analysis of the practices of local governments from selected member states of the Council of Europe, with particular emphasis on the role of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. In the context of global trends, the article points to the importance of the Congress as a platform to exchange experiences, coordinate activities and represent the interests of local governments at the European level. It also presents tools and instruments that the Congress can use to support and stimulate the activity of local governments, such as initiating inter-sectoral dialogue, promoting international cooperation and promoting standards of good practice in local management. In addition, it analyses the challenges faced by the Congress in the context of increasing the effectiveness of its activities.