To reinforce the ban, a framed list of the banned expressions has been hanging on the wall next to Kuzmin's office for the past two weeks, Shestakova said.
Some of the other prohibited phrases are "What can we do?" "It's not my job," "It's impossible," "I'm having lunch," "There is no money," and "I was away/sick/on vacation."
Kuzmin, a businessman who was elected mayor 1 1/2 years ago, wants to "shake things up" in Megion, a town of 54,000 in the Khanty-Mansiisk region, the spokeswoman said.
The region, located some 1,500 miles northeast of
But construction has not kept pace, and the lack of adequate housing is one of the town's most serious problems, Shestakova said.
"Town authorities are there to make town residents' life comfortable and prosperous," Kuzmin, a trained oil engineer who studied business administration in
Officials who disobey the ban while in the mayor's office "will near the moment of their departure," the statement said.
Providing the mayor with wrong or incomplete information, or being late in reporting important information will be considered an attempt to undermine his work, it said.
Anna Borovikova, the mayor's chief of staff, said the novel approach has improved discipline."Before, it was so easy to say `I don't know.' Now before reporting to the mayor we prepare several proposals on how one or another problem can be solved," Borovikova said.At first it was hard to remember not to use the banned expressions, she said, and they "slipped in sometimes."
