The Liberec City Hall has begun trial operations in the new building

Liberec - The Liberec City Council has moved the agenda of travel documents, identity cards, and the registration of residents to its building, which it acquired by renovating the old library. So far, 28 of the planned 140 officials have relocated to the new offices. City spokesman Martin Korych said this today to ČTK. The move of cash desks and the trade licensing office is now being prepared. Korych stated that the new counters are currently in trial operation, and the grand opening of the building is scheduled for September 30.
    The historically protected building of the old Liberec library is among the oldest structures in the central square. The object consists of three buildings that were constructed at the end of the 19th century. Two of the buildings are Neo-Renaissance, while the third is an Art Nouveau annex that did not have its own staircase. The heritage protectors initially wanted to preserve the houses in their original form, but due to fire regulations, that was not possible.
    In the historic building with a new green-gray facade, a modern barrier-free office with air conditioning has emerged. The entrance glass hall is triangular in shape, lined with 21 counters where civil registry documents, identity cards, passports, driver's licenses, taxes and fees, or trade licenses will be processed. The walls are glass, which is expected to improve the transparency of public administration performance. Even city hall employees appreciate it, as they do not have to fear aggressive individuals behind safety glass. At the entrance to the hall, there is information and a queue management system. The buildings originally served the district council, and one of them contains a large meeting room, which the city restored to its original form during the reconstruction. The buildings were last used by the Regional Scientific Library, which built a new modern building a few years ago.
    The reconstruction of another city council headquarters took 15 months, and its cost rose from the originally planned 275 million to 330 million crowns. Millions more will be needed for the building's furniture. The city will pay for its new headquarters in installments. For 16 years, it will pay 13 million crowns annually and then settle the remaining amount. People can now find 345 city council employees at six locations. One hundred will remain in the Neo-Renaissance town hall, while others will be in the adjacent building of the Works, in the Uran building near the train station, on Mariánská Street, and in the Liebieg Villa on Jablonecká Street.