Key City Decisions Suddenly Before Depleted Council
Saturday, July 6, 2013 @ 4:34 AM
Prince George, B.C. – What is being termed a “marathon” meeting of Prince George City Council will be held this coming Monday, ostensibly to deal with a list of Core Service Review recommendations from Administration.
However, at least one, and possibly two members of Council will not be able to attend the meeting to consider serious questions and issues pertaining to the future of the City. And one member of council questions the apparent exclusion of the public from the process. Councillor Frank Everitt tells 250 News that he cannot attend Monday’s meeting. Everitt, President of United Steelworkers Local 1-424, says the local is currently involved in contract negotiations with Canfor. He adds for that reason he had "asked that the meeting be reset for a different day."
Fellow council member Brian Skakun says it is not yet clear whether he will be able to arrange with his employer to get the time off to attend the day-long council meeting. Skakun wants to make one thing clear. He says city administration mentioned several dates for the proposed meeting around the beginning of July and he replied that “the only day that might work for me was July 8th” but he didn’t know for certain if he could get the time off due to minimal vacation coverage. “So for me July 8th was the best day of a list of days that did not really work and there was no guarantee I would be there. I’m trying to get the time off but that can be difficult at the beginning of summer because there’s a limited number of people who can fill in.” Sakun is a Power Engineer at Intercon Pulp.
Skakun questions the timing of the meeting. “Having a meeting like this at the beginning of summer is very, very tough and I really feel that these are big decisions that are coming and the entire council should be there. I asked that the meeting be delayed, but that didn’t happen. I appreciate that they want to get this (Core Review decisions) done, but it’s almost as if we’re in a bit of a panic mode right now. I think strategically we could have given a number of dates to council over the next two or three months and say look, we want to have this done by the end of September, let’s all make sure we’re there, and what dates work for everybody. I’m sure we could have come up with some dates. It’s disappointing but I’m going to do my best to be there.”
Skakun says he doesn’t know why there is a sudden rush over this Core Review. “I get the feeling that administration wants to get this done. It’s a lot of work and I think (City Manager) Beth James, and I can appreciate where she’s coming from, she wants to get this done.” However he questions a change in how these review recommendations are being dealt with. “We’ve been having a Committee of the Whole discuss the Core Review items, having an informal and pretty exhaustive debate, and then we vote on those items, whether to bring them to a regular council meeting and then we debate them again. What it does is give the public an opportunity to see what we’re moving forward from a Committee of the Whole meeting to a regular council meeting, but in this case that isn’t happening. My understanding is it’s going to be, it’s on the table, are we going to do it or not and then that’s it. And I think it’s going to be a real challenge for the public to come and watch on a week day, and I think we should have been sticking to the process that we’ve followed all along.”
Besides the public, another group which could be directly affected by council’s decisions, city staff members, won’t be able to attend the meeting if they’re working on Monday. Councillor Skakun wonders why this meeting is being hurried along so soon after the list of recommendations was made available to the public. “This is too important to rush this through and if not all of us can make it, I took the firm position with the mayor and administration that we need to delay this meeting at least until we get the entire council there. I think it’s unfortunate how this has been driven, to come to us in the first week of summer when people are going on vacation, their minds are elsewhere, you know it’s unfortunate.”
First public notification of the marathon July 8th meeting of city council came June 28th.
Comments
Maybe the timing is not incidental. Maybe it suits other interests to not have Everitt and Skakun attend.
Just sayin’ . . .
My thoughts exactly Krusty.
I want to go, but with people on vacation at work there is no way I can get away even for a couple hours.
I assume that city staff members will indeed be working on Monday so unless they leave their usual work behind and attend it will be only the mayor and remaining council.
After spending all that money on the review shouldn’t a full crew get the opportunity to speak to it?
What is the sudden panic? It doesn’t add up.
I think some green beer is going to get served on a hot July day… :(
This sounds like it could be a key meeting.
I would think that a considerate and diligent Council would have polled members with some options. Maybe they did that. We do not know.
I am assuming it will be live streamed and deposited on the web site along with all the other council public meetings.
This is a classic case of **Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead**
I see the fine hand of the new City Manager at work. Council and the Mayor want to finish off this Core Review and they will do so on Monday with this marathon meeting.
Not having Everett or Skakun at the meeting will see it done faster. Even if they were present I suspect that the Mayor has the votes to push these items through. Otherwise, why have a marathon meeting.
The general public will get little or no say on these issues, and in fact I suspect council, the Mayor, and others will say that there have been lots of opportunities for the general public to speak out, and it is now time for action.
Those who are opposed to some of the issues on the table need to get organized, and make their case heard, if not at Council, then to the City at large. Their case has to be more than **save our jobs** because taxpayers are serious about no more increases in taxes.
Everyone needs to take some responsibility for reducing the costs of running this City.
In my opinion that includes the Police, Firemen, Transit, Library, Swimming Pools, Hockey facilities, Civic Centre, Art Centre, CN Centre, City staff, and Management.
There is no way in hell that the Management at City Hall should get a free ride on this Core Review issue. These are the people who get the big wages, and to some extent produce the least.
We need not sell our assets, however it goes without saying that we have to reduce the cost of running these facilities. Turning them over to be run by private business is a short term solution that over time will cost us more not less.
Once people see just what exactly the City is planning to do, they can then present a more unified response, with alternative suggestions, that would save the same amount of money or more.
To maintain the status quo in Prince George in regards to services, staffing, both Management and Union can not be done.
We have reached the wall and it is now time for our high paid help to produce some results.
Increasing taxes, and service fee’s is not a solution, what it is, is a thinly veiled ploy to get more tax dollars and continue on down the same road.
I see some interesting times ahead.
We need a Mayor like Rob Ford here in Prince George.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sVl9VezmeE
Another stunner, brought you by self serving Sheri Green.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of this meeting, considering most seem to be opposed to reduced services, increased service fees, contracting out, or selling assets. Oh yes, pay off the City debt and and lower my taxes please.
Gotta help Commenwealth.
So much for Greens promises of 10 10 and 10% cut in every department. Lie lie. Is there any integrity at city hall?
A 10% net budget cut in a department which does its job effectively and efficiently will mean that service will have to be cut.
Green never said that she would not be cutting service.
I think the implication was, or the notion that people understood was that she would be cutting excesses while keeping the amount of service.
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