Karlovy Vary took the final step for the referendum on the Hot Spring Colonnade

Karlovy Vary - The councilors of Karlovy Vary today approved the last necessary step to hold a referendum on the fate of the Hot Spring Colonnade during an extraordinary meeting. This step was the approval of rewards for members of the electoral commissions. The referendum will take place on January 12 and 13, in parallel with the election of the President of the Czech Republic.

The first local referendum in Karlovy Vary will decide on the question "Do you support the restoration of the historic Hot Spring Colonnade by architects F. Fellner and H. Helmer and the cessation of repairs to the current colonnade's emergency condition?". If people support the restoration of the colonnade, according to the organizers, the construction of a cast-iron replica would cost about 250 million crowns. However, this is just an estimate. In the event of the referendum's failure, the city would continue repairs on the current colonnade's emergency condition at tens of millions of crowns and would continue preparing an architectural competition for the whole area around the Hot Spring.

To validate the decision in the referendum, at least 35 percent of eligible voters must participate, which in Karlovy Vary represents about 13,650 people. For the referendum decision to be binding, at least 25 percent of eligible voters must vote for one of the options, which is about 9,750 voters.

Mayor Petr Kulhánek (KOA) stated that the rewards for members of the electoral commissions must be approved at least a month before the referendum takes place. Therefore, an extraordinary council meeting had to be convened for today, even though the regular term for the council meeting is not until a week later, on December 19. Today's meeting took place under provisional conditions in the city council's meeting room directly at the magistrate's office. Nevertheless, voting equipment and audiovisual recording of the meeting were present.

Because the local referendum and presidential elections are two different types of elections, there will need to be two electoral commissions in each district. According to today's council decision, a member of the referendum electoral commission will receive 1,100 crowns, while the chairperson will receive 1,400 crowns.