It's the last week of November and Shari Green is a scant few days away from relinquishing the title of mayor to incoming Prince George CEO Lyn Hall.
And as she sat down with The Citizen in a city hall conference room - the mayor's office was cleared out for a paint job - there's one thing that's absolutely clear: Green has no regrets.
As the second woman in the city's nearly 100-year history to wear the chain of office, Green dove in with a take-no-prisoners approach to government.
"I never assumed that it would be smooth sailing. I think I told people quite directly that change is hard and you're not going to like some of it," said Green, who promised from the outset of her 2011 mayoral campaign that she wanted to embark on a core services review if elected. "So I expected an uncomfortable conversation, but it was a necessary one and I would do it again."
Reflecting back on a platform that included emphasizing financial discipline, creating a more business-friendly environment and strengthening law enforcement, Green said she has achieved the majority of what she set out to do.
Early on in her term, the mayor said she was stretching to live up to a campaign commitment to have the mayor's office be more accessible, but was challenged by a lack of communications capacity. Communications manager Mike Davis left the city in the fall of 2011 to take a position with the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
"Some people don't believe that it's necessary to have a person on staff, but somebody has to craft the press release and somebody has to interact with the media on the technical side of an issue so there absolutely needs to be that logistical support and it just was not there the way that would most effectively deliver council's message," said Green.
The mayor said she found herself trying to get that message out, meeting with residents who came unannounced to the fifth floor and answering messages and emails.
"I spent a tremendous amount of time in that first year communicating with everyone and anyone about whatever their issue or concern or seeking of information was. So for me, I certainly felt we were incredibly accessible," said Green.
The proliferation of social media has also changed the way people communicate with elected officials, said Green, introducing the demand for an instant response.
"People don't always like their response, but they get one," she said. "It's difficult to have a conversation over email or have a debate or understand the other person's concern or have them interpret your words in another way."
Green contends a popular platform plank of hers that was misinterpreted and followed her three years in office was a statement made in October 2011. "We have to challenge our department heads to find up to 10 per cent savings in their departments," she told those in attendance at the opening of her mayoral campaign office.
"And I also said during a radio interview if they can show me why they can't do it, if they've done the best they can and it's not that number, I'm okay with that," Green recalled. "So those words get lost in the headline of a '10 per cent cut.' It was never intended to be an across-the-board slashing of 10 per cent of the entire city operations."
But the conversation never happened, as it wasn't something the rest of council was prepared to back her on, according to Green.
"I could have brought it to the council table and forced a vote and had it be an item that might become contentious right off the bat," she said. "So you have to choose when and how you're able to achieve some of the things you want to work on and that was something that it was clear to me by others at the table that they weren't prepared to go that far."
In addition to unanimously backing the plan for a core services review, city council also apparently backed a decision to take a hard stance during the collective bargaining with the city's unionized employees.
In an interview with The Citizen at the end of 2012 Green said she didn't "expect it to be an easy process," foreshadowing what would go on to be arguably the most contentious round of bargaining in city history.
"I'm well aware of how people might react to having to take a tough stand," Green said of the approach that lead to the first strike in half a century. "I think it was the right thing to do and the challenges that it resulted in were not a surprise to me and I didn't think they should be a surprise to anyone in the community either."
Few were taken off guard when Green formally declared her intentions to run as a candidate in the Prince George-Cariboo federal Conservative nomination race on Nov 5. The rumour mill had already kicked into high gear months earlier when she announced in May she wouldn't be seeking another term in the mayor's chair.
Green's bid was ultimately unsuccessful, losing out to Todd Doherty as the successor to longtime federal Conservative representative Dick Harris.
Though her name was almost never mentioned by the subsequent two mayoral candidates, Shari Green and her legacy was the subject of debate during the recent municipal campaign. The concept of leadership, and how both Lyn Hall and Don Zurowski would be different leaders than the mayor they were vying to replace, was a major talking point.
Green didn't involve herself in either campaign and remains guarded about the process post election, saying only "I thought the two mayoral candidates should have competed against each other and instead they both spent a lot of time focused on me when they should have been focused on each other."
Green also dismissed the notion that council, under her watch, was a dysfunctional group. Instead, she said it lived up to her answer in a 2011 candidate questionnaire, that said her leadership style was inclusive and where "the skills and abilities of everyone at the council table will be utilized and valued."
"I absolutely believe that and believe it to this day," said Green. "Those who might say otherwise have political reasons for thinking so."
A disagreement at the table or a 5-4 vote split doesn't indicate a divisive council, said Green, but rather a group with different opinions that are left at the door. "The change of heart someone might have on an issue is theirs to make; it's not mine to answer why they may or may not want to continue down a path," she said, adding she encouraged the formation of different relationships in part by rearranging the council table seating halfway through the term.
Being the subject of intense regard is something to which Green had to acclimate, on a much grander scale than she had faced as a councillor.
"I think the the scrutiny, the personal attacks and a few malicious bloggers with other agendas goes far beyond what a normal person should be expected to endure," said Green, who noted the need for a thick skin during her parting comments at the previous council's last meeting on Nov. 3.
Green endured by ignoring most of it, she said.
"No one said it would be easy and I certainly didn't come here with some rainbow and unicorn expectation," said Green. "I'm not the baby-kissing politician type. I don't think I'm what people perceive as a stereotypical politician and I think people weren't ready for that."
It's not something Green said she was willing to change.
"Some people might say that I'm too blunt or too direct - I'm honest. You're going to get the answer. You might not like the answer but I don't know how to be any other way," she said. "There's lots of people who appreciate that and there's those who don't. And I can't please everybody."
