The mayor is recommending an independent citizen serve as the city's voice around the 2015 Canada Winter Games planning table.
During tonight's meeting, Mayor Shari Green is asking council to back the appointment of Les Waldie to serve as the city's representative on the Canada Winter Games Host Society.
Last year, council chose Coun. Lyn Hall to sit on the board, but a recent B.C. Court of Appeal decision put a different lens on the practice of allowing elected officials to sit as directors of not-for-profit societies.
The Jan. 11 ruling overturned a B.C. Supreme Court decision dismissing allegations that members of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee had a pecuniary conflict of interest because of their participation on the board of newly incorporated societies.
In order to avoid a perceived conflict of interest, Hall stepped down from his role as a director Jan. 25. Hall's continued participation on the host society board could mean he would have to excuse himself from any decisions made around the council table regarding the 2015 Winter Games - even though he sits there at council's request.
As a former co-chair of the bid committee, Green calls Waldie "an outstanding champion of our city" and claims he will be "an excellent fit" with the board.
Waldie was recently tapped to fill the position of chair of the Prince George Airport Authority board.
"He is prepared to make this time commitment and I appreciate his passion for a successful event in Prince George in 2015," Green said in her report to council.
The mayor also wants the city to back a funding application that could yield money for a crime prevention program for at-risk youth.
The Strengthening Families program is for parents and youth aged 10 to 14 that focuses on a variety of family-building and substance use prevention activities.
Through seven weeks of two-hour sessions, young people and their parents cover topics such as setting limits, using consequences, asking for help, improving family communication and dealing with peer pressure.
Following a successful letter of intent to the National Crime Prevention Centre's Crime Prevention Action Fund, Green is recommending city staff proceed with a full development proposal to the Public Safety Canada branch to bring the program to Prince George with funding for five years. That proposal would then be referred to the newly created Mayor's Task Force on Crime for inclusion the city's crime reduction strategy.
Strengthening Families was identified as an appropriate next step by the group in charge of facilitating Communities That Care - a youth crime prevention through social development initiative piloted in Prince George since 2009.
The Communities That Care advisory committee - consisting of representatives from the city, the RCMP, School District 57, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Prince George Native Friendship Centre - selected this particular program because it is currently being implemented in an adapted form at Carrier-Sekani Family Services and because it addresses a priority risk factor of a family capacity to deal with related issues.
