Didn`t they say originally the trip would cost about 35 grand?
Sounds a little steep. That would be about 12 grand each.

or 7 grand each…sorry

They should have been guests of the city abd just pay for travel costs …. bet you they flew first/business class. normal seats are not all that expensive … under $2,000 … hotel rooms can be had for around $100/night for a 4 star hotel.

The FOI worked with Tim McEwan’s severance. Why wouldn’t it work on IPG’s travel expenses? I say give it try!

Thanks ben. If you were to run any kind of business even remotely as disfunctional as city hall, your lights would be out in the first year! Sending several people that far away that aren’t even the ultimate decision maker is embarrassing to say the least. I would have set up a big screen conference, and thats it.

Shanghai $37.13 a night 4star, hotels available

Like you said Gus, If the Mayor and other tag alongs of our sister city came all that way to visit, by all means, it`s on us. Eat drink and be merry.
Something`s wrong if that`s the price tag. Just a thought.

Maybe they should have asked Quesnel how the Twinning with a city in Japan about 20 years ago went.

Im sure Quesnel would give us a list of all the benefits to that city from the twinning arrangments. Of course it wouldnt amount to diddly squat, but it could have given the Mayor and Council an indication of how successful these types of trips are.

Seems to me that I read somewhere that a study was done on Twinning Citys, and it was determined that the whole process was nothing more than a way for city councils, and mayors to get some free travel and expense money at tax payers expense Hmmmmmmmm.

Remuneration and termination packages at IPG are supposed to be confidential. In the case of the last CEO, they were only released because he agreed to their release, keeping in mind that the Mayor had suggested that he should return the money he received on being fired because he found another job, and she had referred to his salary and package before he agreed to their release.

When are we going to see an audited financial statement for the complete cost of operating the City of Prince George? What is our total debt and which is the cost of servicing that debt.
There’s far too much secrecy surrounding the activities and operations of the City of Prince George. This is not democratic.

If you want to know what the citie’s operating cost are try the City website.
Cheers

We have 3 other ‘sister cities’ already. Did they sign the MOI this time or do they have to go back?

“When are we going to see an audited financial statement for the complete cost of operating the City of Prince George?”

Do some reserach. This information is readily available with only a few seconds of searching.

I have no issues with complaints against the City but try and at least make an effort before jumping to conclusions….yeesh!

An audited financial statement is a useless piece of information in my world of project and program cost accounting.

There is virtually nothing in an audited financial statement which goes into determining such things as comparing the unit cost of relocating snow from where it fell to the sides of the roads and to the snow dump by city forces and by contractors. That kind of information might be there if a department has bothered to look into it, but it will not get reported out unless it has been requested by Council or some other body which has asked the question.

Without such information we really cannot say whether some of the suggestions made by KPMG are reasonable or not.

Another for instance …. what is the unit cost, such as number of person hours, to provide swimming in the Aquatic Centre versus the Four Seasons pool.

We can figure out roughly how much it costs to operate PG per person of population or per household compared to some other city. But we have to do that calculation. It is typically not provided by the City.

For instance the Ontario Municipal Performance Measurement Program requires the reporting out of such metrics as the “Operating costs for paved roads per lane kilometre”

Thus, for northern communities of 20,000 and larger that cost varies from $1,700 to $5,300. Where would our costs fall? An financial auditor would not care. That is for a “quality control/value for money” auditor to determine.

Cost accounting is a tool which can be used to manage programs and projects judiciously. Financial auditing simply gives one a snapshot of whether an organization has good accounting practices, not good operating practices.

For instance the Ontario Municipal Performance Measurement Program requires the reporting out of such metrics as the “Operating costs for paved roads per lane kilometre”

Thus, for northern communities of 20,000 and larger that cost varies from $1,700 to $5,300. Where would our costs fall? An financial auditor would not care. That is for a “quality control/value for money” auditor to determine.

WELL it was reported that PG pays about 3 times as much for ashpalt as other communities in BC…that should tell you something, NO?

Yo, Jim13135. You got the 3 part right. It was reported that PG pays 30% more for asphalt than communities in the Okanagan are paying.

Posted by: happy12 on November 27 2012 7:28 AM

Mayors across Canada are running into all sorts of corruption allegations ranging from conflict of interest to fraud effecting more than 5.6 million Canadians. How long until Prince George hits the media? Not soon enough in my opinion.

Posted by: happy12 on November 27 2012 7:39 AM

In fact, even the judge acknowledged there was no evidence of corruption or that the mayor benefitted personally from the transaction. Nor was there a problem with transparency — there was no attempt at a coverup or any denial of the transaction.

But Mayor Ford, the judge ruled, displayed “wilful blindness” about the importance of rules and decorum that are intended to ensure voters the system has integrity and that public officials can be trusted to act appropriately.

The judge added that “the suggestion of a conflict runs to the core of the process of government decision-making. It challenges the integrity of the process.”

Mr. Ford’s actual offence was relatively minor, and his troubles could have been avoided if he had heeded the advice of the city’s ethics commissioner and repaid the money. He chose instead to be guided by hubris.

The worst part of the entire affair is the negative attention the mayor has generated for Toronto and the expense of holding an election over an issue that could easily have been avoided. It also means the democratic will of the people has been undermined by an act of reckless stupidity.

The Ford affair is a useful lesson for elected officials everywhere.