Prince George, B.C. - The City of Prince George is giving itself a pat on the back having recently achieved the gold level of the Canada Award for Excellence by the National Quality Institute, which honours business excellence.

The City examined six areas of its performance:

City  Manager Derek Bates says notable highlights include that year after year, even as taxes and utility service calls increase, the complaint calls decreased "This can be directly attributed to our front line employees knowing what needed to be done and giving them the freedom to do it.”

Another effort that was employee initiated led and managed was the start of a corporate recycling program, “The amount of tonn3es recycled corporately doubled in only two years” says Bates.