Excellent choice, in my opinion.

Excellent.

Tall dude, eh? You sure city hall isn't putting together a basketball team so hizzoner might have another chance or two to visit his travel agent? Could happen.

I was hoping for someone from outside the community with fresh ideas. But not having seen the list of applicants, nor having knowledge of what Derek Bates has managed to accomplish during his tenure as RDFFG Administrator, I cannot say how good the choice was.

I suspect he is relatively young, gung-ho, and ready to address challenges ahead for this City.

He also has experience in working with our Mayor. Good or bad?!?! Who knows .....

Timex will tell

;-)

I was hoping for someone from outside the community with fresh ideas. But not having seen the list of applicants, nor having knowledge of what Derek Bates has managed to accomplish during his tenure as RDFFG Administrator, I cannot say how good the choice was.

I suspect he is relatively young, gung-ho, and ready to address challenges ahead for this City.

He also has experience in working with our Mayor. Good or bad?!?! Who knows .....

Timex will tell

;-)

Not me I was hoping for someone local to get the job. That hasn't happened for a high profile public job in PG for living memory. The outsiders do not know the region, or it, potential, and always leave town when their loot bag is full. This sounds like a guy who might be committed to the region and I think that is the biggest plus of all.

How quickly we forget ..... or you have not lived that long .... ;-)

http://www.milltowndowntown.com/image.php?lang=en&tid=58&results=6&catalog_ID=P991.09.08.1317.4

Treasurer and later City Manager, prior to George Paul ......

If I recall correctly, Derek is from the US, Colorado I believe......

Here by choice by the way ... same as me, and more than half the population of PG .... I came because of the pontential of the community which I saw when I arrived here in 73 .... worked for a great firm of forward thinkers ..... but at some time in the past, and I really cannot put my fingers on exactly when or why, things changed slowly ...... I think it has to do with things coming too easily with the coming of the pulp mills ..... when the bubble burst, many people were not able to overcome the challenges they faced ...

I still have hope .... but some of the signs are not good ... or maybe I have just grown more mature and less optimistic ...

As far as the latest person I know who left town .. he left because he was recently diagnosed with a health condition which he was afraid would get progressively worse with the air quality here ... he left to a lesser paying job and more expensive housing in the southern interior .....

He preferred life over lifestyle .....

That photographer has a pretty good camera, but lousy timing for taking a shot. They are not shaking hands, and I hope Colin is just shaking at the mere thought of losing his counterpart and being forced to deal with an industrious sober individual!!!!
Just what we need, another U S citizen. Just like we could not find a suitable leader for the animals, (S P C A). We are certainly fortunate to be neighbors with the country capable of bestowing another learned individual to show the brain dead Canadians how to handle affairs!
We are truly blessed, and poor Colin is going to develop neck strain if he tries to look this fella in the eye. He might even develop a complex when he realizes the man will always be forced?? to look down on him.
Oh my, that is a sobering thought.

Take a closer look at George Paul if you have never stood beside him. Colin has been used to looking up at tall people both as Mayor of PG and as Chairman of the RDFFG Board.

Leader for the animals? That would be the Pied Piper.

Actually the leader of the animals in BC is from South Africa. And the leader of California is from Austria. And the Queen's Representative is from Haiti. And our mayor is from England, the same as the previous one.

Its called multiculturalism.

;-)

Take a closer look at George Paul if you have never stood beside him. Colin has been used to looking up at tall people both as Mayor of PG and as Chairman of the RDFFG Board.

Leader for the animals? That would be the Pied Piper.

Actually the leader of the animals in BC is from South Africa. And the leader of California is from Austria. And the Queen's Representative is from Haiti. And our mayor is from England, the same as the previous one.

Its called multiculturalism.

;-)

Take a closer look at George Paul if you have never stood beside him. Colin has been used to looking up at tall people both as Mayor of PG and as Chairman of the RDFFG Board.

Leader for the animals? That would be the Pied Piper.

Actually the leader of the animals in BC is from South Africa. And the leader of California is from Austria. And the Queen's Representative is from Haiti. And our mayor is from England, the same as the previous one.

Its called multiculturalism.

;-)

Sorry about that. Downloaded the darn Explorer 7 tht people warned me against and I am having trouble with the Active X control. .....

:-(

Seems Mr. Bates is a local boy after all. Rumours are typically not reliable. Sorry for passing that along without verifying it first.

:-(

Owl,

What are you doiong using Internet Explorer? Get Firefox (and stay far away from Vista!)

As for the topic, I hope Mr. Bates figures out how to get a performing arts centre into downtown in the near future. It was dissappointing to attend the PGSO concert (Handel's Messiah) and have to deal with a Volleyball tournament next door in the PGSS gym. There's nothing like paying $30 to hear great music with the sound of high school girls yelling at the top of their lungs and officials blowing their wistle every 20 seconds.

And then, of course, there is the fact that at intermission one is shoehorned (along with 900 others; audience plus choir) into a school hallway with very few bathroom facilities.

And where does the choir go to prepare and warm up and wait when there are no green rooms or proper dressing rooms?

Of course, what no one saw in preperation for the show was the pain-in-the-ass load in of the risers. Vanier hall has a nice set of reular ground-level double doors instead of a proper load-in bay. Brutal.

The biggest gap in this town is the one between the performing arts talent and the facilities they are made to make the best of. It's time to address that gap, finally.

Bohemian. Havent you heard the latest rumour. Once the New Police Station is Built, the old Station on 8th and Brunswick will be converted into a performing arts centre. This will have it located right next to Library, Civic Centre, Arts Centre, Swimming Pool. Seems like a good idea, however the downside is, we really dont need a new Police Station as the present one is only about 33 years old. About the same age as the CN Building on 1st Ave., that the City bought for Initiatives Pr Geo.

I suspect that it is much easier to get the funding through Council for a New Police Station approx 10/15 Million dollars than it would be to get that amount of money to build a performing arts centre. The P.A. Centre would probably have to go to a referendum, which Im sure they would like to avoid. Looks like an end run to me.

"The biggest gap in this town is the one between the performing arts talent and the facilities they are made to make the best of. It's time to address that gap, finally."

I very much agree with that. We have a lot of talent and no proper facility to let that talent excel to its fullest.

However, I cannot blame that on a city manager, unless the council is weak. From my point of view, I am old fashioned and feel Council sets the direction and strategic plan based on the wishes of the electorate. If they do not require the city staff to move on addressing the needs of the community in arts and culture, it is either that the electrorate does not want it, that Council is not addressing the will of one of the many special interest groups of "we the people" on an equitable basis, or staff is unable to enable the direction given to them.

We just saw how a sports centre of over $30 million came to be in this community. No one is complaining of how much this is going to cost taxpayers. If the users are going to be paying for that, I would like to see the figures of how that is going to be achieved. Maybe we will have to pay admission to see university level team sports now, or run on the indoor track.

I think we should be able to muster up a centre for the performing arts. We are the only community in BC of this size that still does not have one. And several that are smaller have been able to put one together. I especially like Vernon's when looking at what a smaller community can do.

[url]http://www.ticketseller.ca/images/other/inside/panphotoseats.jpg[url]

The Nanaimo facilty shows how small a footprint a centre can actually have and how to integrate it with the downtown.

Of course ours was to be part of the Civic plaza, in many ways similat to the Nanaimo situation, but past electorates and Councils and Administrations screwed that one up royally.

Instead we have a library still on stilts with a "temporary" entrance and three buildings vying for the "I am the best looking building here" title rather than a mix of buildings with a better sense of cohesion, such as can be seen at original part of UNBC.

Firefox, eh? I'll check it out. :-)

The PA has gone to a referendum at least once. I believe it was to be built before a gallery, or maybe before an arean. I forget.

The police station is being eyed by service groups such as the United Way and the arts group out on 15th.

The building is usable for those two purposes, but would have to be demolished for a performing arts centre. In addition, the property is too small. The playhouse just fits on there and there would be servicing difficulties.

The poroperty used for parking would be large enough and likely a good spot. It was the direction the library was to expand, I believe.

The parking lot is large enough to accommodate a theatre such as Nanaimo's which is more or less a circular footprint with a diameter of about 150 to 160 feet.

Personally, I think that is where it should go and the city should work with the Inn to see if they will build there proposed expansion on their south side and provide a podium with commercial space to support the activities of the plaza.

Maybe the City can even construct the parkade for them. ;-)

The City of Prince George has made an excellent choice in selecting Derek Bates as the new City Manager. He brings a wealth of experience dealing with the aspects of living in small rural communities, the problems they face are very real .... to select Derek from I am sure quite a list of qualified applicants will make the City of Prince George a better place for all who live, work and play in a medium sized northern city such as Prince George !

The Mayor, and a few of our city councellors sit on the board of the Regional District as well. I'm sure they know Derek Bates well and have made a good choice from all of the candidates who were short listed.

I don't know of the musical talents of Derek Bates, but you may recall the talents of his sister, Sandra Meister and her choir "Di Meister Singers" who received national acclaim for our community.

I believe his father, Eugene Bates was also a music teacher in this city for years. Chester

Owl, in addition to single-handedly running the forum by your lonesome, you have strayed furiously off track. Whatever county you ended up in, we're over here talking about Derek Bates being the new City Manager. Feel free to join the group after you take a breath.

I met with Derek Bates on a few occasions regarding RD issues and interests. He is a likeable fellow, very easy to speak to and very easy to deal with. He was also seriously overburdened and still hacking it out every day trying to keep everything attended to properly.
In my limited experience, I think a good candidate was chosen. I know this guy is a worker.
Good Luck Mr. Bates.

We are discussing a new person in the role of city manager. The City Manager is a powerful person.

Even though the mayor and council set direction, how well that direction is followed and the various components to meet goals are implemented is in the hands of the City Manager and the administrative team he or she has available.

I did not say that Derek Bates will be good or bad at his new job. I will leave that judgement till I have some indication of how well he is doing. He has some challenges. I newcomer to the community would not have had the same challenges.

At this time all I can do is hope for the best which, in my mind, would be a change to the way things have been done. I wish him the best in his efforts because if he does succeed the City will improve.

How will he advise council with respect to debt?

How will he advise council with respect to how to promote economic opportunities to residents as well as outsiders?

How will he advise council with respect to environmental issues?

How will he advise council with respect to infrastructure maintenance?

How well will he manage his administrative staff? Will he re-arrange the deck chairs?

How well will he work with city council?

How well will he deal with special interest groups in the city?

Time will tell. I sure can't tell from what has transpired at the RDFFG since I have not kept tabs on what goes on there.

How will he take his coffee ?
Will he show up for work on time ?
Will he take the best parking spot ?

Oh bother........

You sound like a professional automaton - evaluating on input rather than output ... a throwback to the 1960s ....