In today's interview, we talked with Mr. Ing. Václav Benedikt, chairman of the board of directors of Alžbětina Lázně, a.s. What problems did he face after his election to the position of chairman, what is the result of the audit of Alžbětina Lázně, and how does he see its future? "Everything related to projects, contracts, timesheets and the like, which was approved directly by the general part, was recapitulated former mayor Ing. Petr Kulhanek. The whole matter was taken over by the law enforcement authorities," said Václav Benedikt, among others, in our interview.
How did you find yourself in the story of Elizabeth's Spa?
After the 2018 elections, the new city management nominated me for the position of the statutory body of the business company Alžbětiny Lázně, as. At the first meeting of the board of directors in January 2019, I was elected its chairman. The task before me was to prepare the future of Alžbětina Spa (hereinafter AL). After the 2018 elections, I was the only elected representative who was interested in the future of AL as an operating city spa with comprehensive spa care. Unfortunately, many politicians still saw AL only as a problem that could ideally be disposed of by selling it.
What were the initial plans?
The first thing I did was the basic outline of our future activity. I divided it into cognitive activities, recapitulation and necessary changes, and planning activities. As part of the educational activity, the most difficult task was the recapitulation of the concession procedure, which was led by the previous city management, led by Ing. Petr Kulhánek and, of course, the state of the organization and the state of the building. The planning activity was then based on the cognitive activity and prepared the company's plans and goals.
What task did you receive from the city administration?
As the first thing, the city management assumed that we would present a clear vision of how AL should be approached in general. This vision had three possibilities. The first option was to sell the spa, the second was to secure the entry of a strategic investor who will operate AL, and in the third model the city will own and operate Alžbětiny Lázně, so the city's public spa operation will continue to be maintained.
Which of the routes did you recommend to the city management and why??
We recommended the third way, which is to maintain the municipal spa operation in the ownership of the city and maintain the continuous public spa operation.
And why?
We rejected the first two possibilities. The possibility of sale from a fundamental point of view - from the possibility of losing the last public spa operation in the capital of the spa region, i.e. before joining UNESCO as part of the Great Spas of Europe, when the city would lose all possibilities of preserving spa traditions and developing them independently of the business sector. Of course, another artifact was the loss of the opportunity to provide public service to the residents of the city, the region and the Czech Republic, and the third reason was the loss of historical value in the AL building. We rejected the second option, i.e. the entry of an investor, first, after the experience with the concession procedure, which showed us that the clash of the worlds of business and trade, oriented only on earnings, and the world of the public sector and public services, cannot be completely connected. The city management decided that we should develop a plan to stick to the third god, and that is to keep the city spa operation in the city's property. This route was confirmed by a resolution of the city council from September 2019.
How did you cope with the past and with the concession procedure?
We still deal with the past today, and we don't just deal with it. The past is equal to limiting the operation of AL, especially in terms of personnel security and undersizing any investments and deterioration of property and loss of its value. I spent the end of 2019 thoroughly recapitulating the concession procedure, from an administrative and financial point of view and from the point of view of the outputs that arose from it. Everything related to projects, contracts, timesheets and the like was recapitulated, which were approved by the general assembly directly by the former mayor Ing. Petr Kulhanek. Everything was checked. How much, what it cost and what entities were involved. Furthermore, I recapitulated how individual contracts were awarded and how they progressed. Who, what, for what reason and where he entered and what was the result. I was thus able to give the city management a thorough recapitulation at the end of 2019, stating that dozens of entities entered the concession procedure and the complete bill was less than 16 million CZK, and that contracts were awarded in a special way.
What did you do with that information?
We asked the city management for the possibility of conducting an audit of the entire concession procedure. A group made up of the internal control and audit department and the legal MMKV department prepared the control report of the concession procedure. The main and essential message of this report was the suspicion in several points of wasteful handling of public funds and circumvention of the Public Competition Act. As this communication was essential for us, we undertook to supplement additional information in connection with the result of the control report. For the next months, we worked on obtaining documents. We contacted the participants in the concession procedure, the members of the previous board of directors with questions regarding the outputs of the inspection report so that we could subsequently provide the shareholders with a comprehensive package of information. We subsequently passed this information on to the city council, which, however, decided not to interfere in the business affairs of the company and therefore not to decide on its own what to do next. The information was clear. The board of directors of Alžbětiny Lázně, a.s. approved the way of a criminal complaint for concession proceedings – filing a general criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator suspected of committing a criminal offense of wasteful use of public funds and circumvention of the law on public competition.
And at what stage is it now, do you already know who was at fault and how?
Not at this time, he cannot prejudge this matter, as it has been taken over by law enforcement authorities.
So what did you do next?
Based on the path we set out, i.e. maintaining the city's spa operation with the possibility of providing a public service, we prepared and proposed to the city management that it would be necessary to create updates to the general complex use of the AL facility to create a "fahr" plan of what would it was supposed to be in AL, for what time and for how much money. With the fact that if this plan were to be approved by the city council, it is a clear outline of where AL should go. We assume that it will be available by the end of 2021. It has not been processed until now, because it took us a long time to discuss with the city management in the sense that the council itself recognized the necessary need for this material, which we consider essential.
Who is working on the update of the general study entitled general complex use of the Alžbětina Lázně facility?
The client is, of course, the board of directors of the business company Alžbětiny Lázně, a.s. headed by me. In order to formulate what AL should perform comprehensively in the entire facility, during 2019, when I visited various institutions, ministries and universities in order to obtain information about possible subsidies and financial support, I established many collaborations with experts from the tourism industry, spas, architecture of public buildings and healing natural resources. Together with these experts, we have put together an advisory group that helps us formulate the contents of the building from the point of view of long-term sustainability and the essential contribution of the spa industry and tourism of the city of Karlovy Vary.
What do you do outside of general or studying the use of the building?
First of all, I perform the function of the chairman of the board, that is, the statutory body of the management of the volcano, and I also perform the activities of the company's crisis manager. This means that I am dedicated to running the organization as part of my daily work. This means that I am partially replacing the vacant position of the director and I am devoting myself fully to the responsibility of the statutory body of the management of the company. In parallel, I am preparing projects for the revitalization of AL, with partial repairs and projects for individual realizations of a larger scale. At the end of 2019, a budget of 4.9 million CZK was approved by the city administration for partial repairs, which we used for the replacement of the elevator, repair of the common areas of the corridors, cabins for individual procedures, such as the repair of the Sissi thermal bath. We are preparing the reconstruction of the pool complex and the repair of the hall. As part of larger projects, we are preparing and will currently implement a project to replace the windows of the building as part of subsidy support for the 5th energy saving challenge of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. A complete reconstruction of the roof sheathing and truss is being planned and prepared, as the entire building is more or less in the condition of its construction in 1906 with partial repairs from the 1970s, which in the long run rather damaged the building.
How do you get financial support?
First of all, we are trying to bring the city of Karlovy Vary to maximum responsibility. We are trying to establish something that has never been here, and that is for the city to treat its last spa facility like a good steward, develop its value, improve it and expand its operation. We see this as precedential and essential because AL is the only last historic spa site in the city. The first thing we aim for is for AL to receive the kind of financial support that other organizations such as DPKV, KSO, KV arena and others have been receiving for a long time. To receive at least the same support as those receiving subsidy support and to invest in the spa industry at least adequately in proportion to other investments, such as investments in the repair of sidewalks, roads, and public space. Another person we are asking for long-term support is the Karlovy Vary Region, from whom we unfortunately receive more or less the same answers, namely that ALs are urban and not interested in the region. As I already mentioned, I investigated other options for subsidy support on my travels in 2019. I went through national subsidy titles, European and other through ministries, or for example through RE:START for structurally affected regions.
What kind of political support do you receive for this activity?
As a coalition representative for the ANO 2011 movement, I strive for support within the coalition, which we receive in a reasonable measure. Many politicians are enemies of our actions. Oppositional due to the nature of their existence and many coalitional by insisting that they want to privatize AL.
What does cooperation with AL bring to you personally?
The question of what he brings is very strange, rather he takes it, but that's probably how it should be. By deciding to dedicate myself to AL full-time, I left my previous activities. I have fundamentally changed my personal life to some extent. With a vision of complete uncertainty, but with the ambition to fundamentally influence something concrete for the future of our city without any clichés and without any catchy phrases. Even when formulating this answer and when I say how I really feel, I can anticipate what kind of reaction I will see from the ranks of opposition but coalition representatives. Holt is not the time for lofty thoughts and moral principles. It's probably a time for political proclamations and selfish things...
How much longer do you see your life connecting with AL?
According to the assumption, it can be concluded that the longest period of my term of office is my term of office as a representative, i.e. from autumn 2018 to autumn 2022, even though I heard from many people at the beginning of my tenure that it is assumed that I will last a maximum of half a year and since I he did not meet these expectations, so I assume that I could remain in office until autumn 2022.
And what do you want to accomplish by then?
Until then, I would like it if the entire project of the general study of the complex use of the AL building would be finished and for there to be a clear vision on the table, including a plan, where the Alžbětinky should go. So that AL will be the biggest benefit for the city's spa industry and tourism. So that the building is at least technically and structurally secured to the maximum extent, so that there is no danger of emergency situations. This is the biggest vision, where I would like to take the operation of AL. Of course, I am not opposed to the idea that even after 2022 I could be associated with the management of the organization and could thus continue to contribute to the implementation of the complex revitalization and revival of this Karlovy Vary jewel.
How has the coronavirus crisis affected you?
She influenced us in a fundamental way. Already at the beginning of 2020 – January and February, we recorded an increase in sales by an average of CZK 250,000 per month, an increase in the number of clients processed and thus an improvement in the financial balance of the company's management, which had been in deficit for many years and is still in deficit. March 2020 has put a strain on many of our efforts. At the beginning of 2020, I launched the "Easy way to the spa" strategy from the vision of connecting the city's organizations and pouring one capital over all organizations as part of the benefit provision of spa services to employees of the city's organizations. We started meetings with organizations and prepared repair projects and so on. Limiting the operation of AL and the impossibility of providing spa services to self-payers is essential. A situation with the name "you are not allowed to earn". In order to keep the operation alive, not have to lay off employees and not have to close, we are asking the city as well as other organizations to compensate for these losses.
Did the city management ever think of the need to close Elizabeth's spa?
Yes, at the end of 2020, when it was not certain how 2021 would go with the assumption of a huge loss on the income side for the city and Alžbětinky, we were forced by the shareholder to consider the option of temporarily or completely closing the spa, with the fact that from the very beginning I was not going to accept this path as possible option. However, I have prepared complete data for what it would mean to close AL completely and then reopen after a year with the assumption of possible loss of staff who would probably not wait a year to get their jobs back from us, which would be a really huge and I think irreplaceable loss for AL. We found out that the cost of resuming operations without any major repairs and reconstructions would come to almost 20 million CZK. Already from this point of view, this vision struck us as unrealistic and wasteful. During the entire crisis, we provided a public service continuously in the form of outpatient rehabilitation care and were thus often the only ones providing our services within the entire region.
What would you like for Elizabeth Spa in the future?
First of all, the unceasing and growing interest of the residents of the city of Karlovy Vary. So that it is not only foreigners who come here as a precaution, because Czech clientele often use the spa as a remedy after illnesses, injuries, or operations. I wish them that politicians stop enjoying buying with the last gold we have in the city. I wish them a far-sighted, well-managed politician who will value and improve public property. I wish them continued operation as they have never been closed since 1906. I wish that they will continue to flourish and that they will be a pearl on the necklace of the city of Karlovy Vary.
And what do you wish for yourself?
To be there for it all.
Is there anything you'd like to say to your naysayers?
I would recommend them more humility, work and less lying.
What supports you the most in your work?
It is mainly the AL employees who, through long cooperation and maximum professionalism and quality of services, ensure that the care provided by us is the best that our spa town can offer us.
Thank you for the interview!
Source: zpravykarlovarsko.cz