The Ústí Council approved the establishment of the city's architect office department

Ústí nad Labem - The council of the city of Ústí nad Labem approved the establishment of a new department of the city's architect office (KAM) under the mayor's office. The selection process for the head of the department will take place next week, said Mayor Petr Nedvědický (ANO). The opposition movement PRO! Ústí, which sought the establishment of KAM as a contribution organization in the previous election period, views the step positively. However, the opposition believes that a clear concept will be important. Moreover, according to the group, it is a step back, as the city once had a city architect department. No one applied for the selection process at that time. This was stated by opposition councilor and architect Jan Hrouda (PRO! Ústí) to ČTK.

Due to the fact that in the previous election period some coalition councilors from ANO and ODS voted against the establishment of KAM as a contribution organization, PRO! Ústí terminated the coalition agreement with their partners. KAM was a fundamental point of the agreement for the movement. The mayor also opposed it at that time. Nedvědický has now stated that the ANO movement was ready to support the establishment of KAM, but not in the form of a contribution organization. "We said during the negotiations that we would support it either within the structures of the building office or, to ensure its independence, under the mayor's office. We have now realized that," he stated.

"We decided as part of organizational changes to establish the office of the city architect. In other words, it is more about a chief city architect under the mayor's office as a separate department. Based on this change, we will announce a selection process," the mayor said. The competition will be announced next week. The selected architect will then choose their own assistant and other staff.

According to Nedvědický, the architect should assist the building office and the planning office. However, their opinions will not be binding, only advisory. If interested, private individuals can also contact the head of the KAM department.

The opposition lacks a clear concept, that is, the job description of the architect and their degree of involvement in the operation of the city. The city did not provide a budget, for which PRO! Ústí was criticized more than a year ago when presenting their proposal to the councilors. "We are glad that they have hopefully listened to our long-term call for this institution to be needed and we hope they have come to the conclusion that it is important. We are a bit disappointed that the long-developed concept from the previous election period, aimed at creating a sovereign autonomous contribution organization, was not fulfilled," Hrouda said on behalf of the group. "The alpha and omega of success is a quality independent professional city architect," he added. According to him, the support of the city leadership will also be important.