Unbelievable.

Well, so what was the big deal here that required an inquest? Because I don’t see any smoking guns here. All pretty much looks like City business to me.

I want to know what this waste of time cost? I certainly hope the City charged opinion 250 to put this together.

Yes, makes me wonder why they raked Skakun over the coals??

Yup…… I don’t see any smoking guns here either. So who at city hall has got an “attitude” toward Councilor Skakun?

Is it an effort to just try and annoy him because he’s looking out for the residents of PG?

Seems to me that there are people at city hall who may need a “pep-talk” of sorts.

Doesn’t anyone get it! We need transparency in or government. It’s not what we found, it was how they went about it.

Climate change report? What did they find out?

What did the city make off of the Kiss concert? The ticket prices here were almost double anywhere else.

@ Sine Nomine – I don’t think you ‘get it’.

The point of this is the unwillingness of the city to be transparent and forthcoming about spending OUR money. It’s not the City Council’s money, it belongs – every single dollar of it – to the taxpayers.

Is I’m paying for something I have the right to know what I am paying for, and so does every citizen.

And besides, these invoices do show something worth knowing; why is the city of P.G. spending a dime of public money on booking concerts? This is not city’s business. That is up to private business. I am totally against such a wasteful use of OUR money.

Good for Brian Skakun for asking for these invoices, and good for 250 for pushing to get them. If there is any cost to be born for providing this information it should be by the councilors and mayor who in their accumulated stupidity voted against providing them in the first place.

Councillor Skakun was with in his right like any of you and Opinion 250 to request this infomation and pay the staff time to retrieve it. The transparency is there but it’s a user pay system to deter any abuse. It’s a service over and above normal services so the user should pay. Most of you have already said it was a waste of time and that is what the other councillors were upset about. It’s the “thin edge of the wedge”. This was not a lot of info but it could have been and would waste even more city resources.

I find it strange that Queen Sherrie would be exposed wearing a pink non-bullying teeshirt in the paper when she and her council may be interpreted as being the greatest source of bullying in Prince George.

They just announced Montly Crew coming to town. I wonder how much we paid them…..

LOL…..who’s Montly Crew ?

“why is the city of P.G. spending a dime of public money on booking concerts? This is not city’s business. That is up to private business. I am totally against such a wasteful use of OUR money.”

I guess the big question is, what does the city MAKE off of a concert? I assume rental of the CN Centre. Do they get a part of concession? Something from ticketmaster? It would be interesting to know if this is a break even situation, a money maker or a straight taxpayer loss?

The other councillors made the point that this exercise would be a waste of the City’s time, and makes the City look like it’s hiding something. All it does, in my mind, is show how inefficient the City’s invoicing and record keeping systems are.

We live in the age of computers, anyone should be able to look up an invoice electronically in a matter of seconds.

Montly Crew rocks!

One of the biggest reason given by City Hall for not providing Skakun’s request for these invoices was the cost to the City to have employees retrieve these invoices. So who paid for them this time, and what was the actual cost to retrieve them and make copies?

Why did City Council gang up on Brian Skakun when all he was trying to do was find out who received payment of our tax dollars for invoices submitted?
November, 2014 cannot come too soon for me to vote for a new mayor and council, with the exception of Brian Skakun.
Thanks to Opinion 250 for obtaining the information that Council and City bureaucrats try to block from being provided to Brian Skakun.

It’s Motley Crue……….

I too am a little curious about these booking fee’s although I imagine it’s just a part of doing concerts these days.

I would bet the city does indeed make a few bucks during a concert. I seem to remember someone telling me that the only thing the venue doesn’t get a piece of is the merch sales.

Good for Brian and Ben! I hope City Council has learned a lesson – but that would be doubtful.
Now, how about some kind of financial breakdown on the CN Centre’s entertainment subsidy? I thought there would be promoters in the picture who would be spending $’s to promote and bring in entertainment. Is this a legitimate taxpayer expense? Absolutely NOT!

I got it. Lets start another budget to allocate the time and money necessary for City Council and Tax Payers to micro manage the City beaurocrats.

At first glance I thought the 85k for janiking services was out of line considering the city has a fleet of janitors, but on reflection, thier whole bill if probably on par with 1 city janitor supervisors salary. So maybe the whole janitor services should be contracted out and that should save huge bucks. Imagine the payroll of all the janitors in the city? It must be huge.

wonder why we had to pay $6,720. for peer review of OCP Oct 31,2011

when in July 2011

Dan Millburn Right now Prince George has the ability to accommodate at least 22,000 more people without rezoning any areas. Dan Millburn ocp review 2011‏

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pgfreepress.com/news/126360038.html%3Fmobile%3Dtrue&sa=U&ei=0z4lUafUIIG1iwKOsIGgCg&ved=0CBAQFjAD&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHCp28mU4il7JWvrZ-7AoKaKAAO8w

I wonder who did the mosquito control for 2012? Seems it didn’t work at all.

Climate Change report related to the myPG Community Sustainability Plan for services rendered…… blah, blah, blah. I should recieve a copy of that report. I live in the “myPG community”, don’t I? My and our tax dollars paid for that. $33 thousand dollars? If you have a way with words, access to enough paper and come across stupid people, stupid enough to pay you megabucks to then go for it. Next town? Where’s my map? Tell them in lotsa ten dollar words that it is warming out there. I betcha it was plagarized. Prove me wrong. Lotsa words that say “it’s getting warmer (insert community). What an outright scam. IMO. My eyes are starting to roll uncontrolaby over this. Must go.

Ipg and the peer review
$6,720. for peer review of OCP Oct ,2011

Is this where the $$ was spent???

http://princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/Agendas/2011/2011_10_03_430pm/documents/2011%20City%20of%20Prince%20George%20Economic%20Development%20Service%20(Revised%20Slide%2017).pdf

No, it was spent on the Official C ommunity plan review.

Climate change?In the winter it gets frickin cold,in the summer it gets frickin hot!Can I have my $33,000 NOW!

$32,979.40 climate change report, amazing. I would love to see that report, what a scam. Wonder if skirt chaser Suzuki got some of that?

Now what we need to see is did this work go to bid? L&M Engineering Ltd, BWP Consulting Inc. and Number 188 Holdings: doing business as “JaniKing of NBC? Anything over $50,000 needs to go to tender.

Bring on global warming.

So what was the problem with providing this information when it was first requested? Seems pretty straightforward. What are we paying City staff for, if not to keep track of expenditures and providing copies if needed? If I lose a copy of a bill or bank statement, it has never been a problem to request and receive an update. Does this information appear to need to be under the FOI Act? City business is Our business. I am not sure what the ultimate cure is for the “territorius protectus” disease that seems to have pervaded City Hall. It might require a backhoe to loosen up the dirt around those who are firmly entrenched in their little fiefdoms of perceived power.

“Climate change? In the winter it gets frickin cold,in the summer it gets frickin hot!”

Peer review ….

40 years ago, in the winter it got frickin cold, in the summer it got frickin hot!”

Last 10 years. In the winter it gets coldish, in the summer it gets warmish.”

The peaks and valleys have levelled off over time to come closer to a coastal rather than interior climate.

The climate is changing.

Note to bookkeeper, send out invoice for $6,000 …..

PS A literture review report of why the climate is changing will cost $60,000. Order by end of February and you will receive a 15% reduction. Wait a few months, and yu will not have to pay HST. ;-)

Interesting things one can pick up from invoices.

Looking at the mosquito control invoice. It is dated May 24, 2011. It is invoice number 1102.

Using a typical numbering system that would be the second invoice of the year. Not very busy, are they, seeing that the southern part of the province would have gotten such services done earlier than the northern half.

Again, what is the cahnge over a 5 year period? Also what is the evaluation of the success of the program?

Hey, did KPMG do the job people were expecting them to do?

Where is their evaluation by the citizens of this community and by those who attended one or more of the public sessions?

I am wondering when and if the mayor has viewed these invoices? (her thoughts?)
I wish to hear her reasoning as to why Brian Skakun was not able to view these invoices when requested and please keep cost out of the equation as we are certainly not a community that is into saving tax dollars!

Note to self, must be a consultant, a bookie or own an engineering firm coupled with one finance and audit person, in next life.

I cannot imagine the staff time spent on this BS. I am sure our staff and Mayor, council members have better things to do on the clock. This info could have been handed over in the first place. If the Hall cannot defend an expense then they should not be making it.

A pissing match with a “troublesome” Councillor at my expense is abhorrent.

Good point Walter@198, there are many that would like to know, and agree with your sentiments.

Gus said, “Interesting things one can pick up from invoices.

Looking at the mosquito control invoice. It is dated May 24, 2011. It is invoice number 1102.

Using a typical numbering system that would be the second invoice of the year. Not very busy, are they, seeing that the southern part of the province would have gotten such services done earlier than the northern half.”

To be fair, most businesses don’t start their invoices over each year. And many do actually start at 1000 some (I know this to be a fact) use the 4 digit system starting at 0001.

+When I go to pay my taxes in a few weeks at city hall I am gonna ask for a copy of the “Climate Change report relating to myPG Community Sustainability Plan”. To see what we paid for. Anyone at city hall reading this, ask one of the secretaries there to whip up a few hundred copies. Save one for me. I’d like to read it and show it to a few friends, too.

How many “washrooms in city parks” are there, and how long do they keep them open?

The only ones I can remember seeing are in South Fort George Park….85K is a lot of cleaning for seasonal washrooms…so there must be quite a few?

Good Grief.

I would like to know more about the concert bills. I want to know if that money is being recouped or if the city is paying that sort of money for a concert. I don’t goto many concerts and I sure as hell don’t want to be paying for it in taxes. I am glad that we get to see a small portion of what is being spent. If we are so tight that we need to cut spending on the police (after of course we built them a new building and all, and that nice refurb of Kal Tire for their drug enforcement building) and then raise taxes what 4%? I sure don’t condone the city paying a fee to bring concerts unless the fee’s are being covered somehow.