awilliams@pgcitizen.ca
Incumbent city councillor Garth Frizzell announced his intention to seek a second term in office on Thursday.
Frizzell was the only candidate to file his nomination papers on the second-to-last day of the nomination period. Entrepreneur and human resources consultant Myrt Turner is expected to announce her candidacy today.
Frizzell said if reelected he plans to advocate for more openness in government, embracing the proposal for a Municipal Auditor General and attracting new residents to Prince George.
“We’ve talked a lot about transparency this session. People feel their officials should be responsible to them,” Frizzell said. “We should be looking into participatory budgeting.”
He plans to adopt this approach with his campaign as well, hosting online town hall meetings.
The B.C. government has taken strong steps towards increasing public access to government documents and the City of Prince George should consider following suit, he said.
The proposed Municipal Auditor General would be an opportunity to develop municipal best practices around accountability and cost controls, he said.
“The final part is the city has to grow, and we haven’t figured out how to do that yet,” he said. “We’ve got to get the message out that this is a place a professionals don’t have to rent their whole life.”
Finding funding to invest in the roads, sewers and other city infrastructure is critical, he added.
“[But] it seems pretty clear that no one wants tax increases,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out what to do with that.”
New faces enter race
Brandon Lewis and Alex Huber are both hoping to be the mayoralty alternative to incumbent Mayor Dan Rogers or Coun. Shari Green.
“I’ve heard some grumbling about the style of leadership we have now. I think having some fresh blood on council will help,” Lewis said. “We need to try to get some new ideas on how to move forward.”
Lewis, 23, is a recent UNBC graduate and has worked in pulp mills, Statistics Canada and currently for AVF Home Improvements.
“I want to push more for Prince George as a business centre. We’re losing young people to major centres,” he said. “I am a young candidate, but I have quite a bit of life experience.”
Huber also believes he provides an alternative to the current leadership. “I think I would bring some enthusiasm, some fresh thinking, some new ideas,” he said. “Prince George is an exciting city that has got great potential and a great volunteer base. We just need to capture some of that.”
Huber was born and raised in Germany and has lived in Prince George since 1993.
He spent two years as a real estate agent, before his brother had a serious motor vehicle accident ,
He now acts as his brother’s full-time caretaker and runs a farm with his family.
“I’ve spent a great deal of the time talking to people. It seems like our downtown is dying,” he said.
“There is a little push around election time, then it goes by the wayside again.”
AVF Home Improvements owner Tony Ferreira is seeking a spot on city council to bring a voice for change to council.
“One voice is better than no voice at all,” Ferreira said. “My main concern is getting affordable housing in downtown Prince George for students. Once we get people living downtown, we’ll have more people going into shops and getting jobs downtown. I’m not saying it’ll happen overnight ... but we didn’t get where we are overnight either.”
People are upset about the state of the city’s roads, snow removal and continual tax increases, he said.
While only 24 years old, Ferreira, has operated his own business for over five years. He said he would bring that businesslike approach to council.
