Prince George city council held its first meeting of the month on Monday, July 14.
Here’s a roundup of some of the items discussed at the meeting.
Moment of silence
At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Simon Yu led council chambers in a moment of silence for Shane Kelly.
Kelly was one of two cyclists training for the Cops for Cancer — Tour de North charity ride who were victims of a hit-and-run on Monday, July 7.
On Friday, July 11, it was announced that Kelly had died from his injuries.
Council remuneration review
The City of Prince George is gearing up to review compensation received by its elected officials after city council approved the creations of an advisory committee at its Monday, July 14 meeting.
Every four years, the city is required to carry out a review of pay, benefits and expense reimburses for the mayor and councillors.
This review must be completed by June 30, 2026. However, since there is a municipal election on Oct. 17, 2026, city administration recommended that the review be carried out this fall and its finding be presented to council either this December or in January 2026.
As part of this effort, the formation of an independent committee and terms of reference for that committee were approved on July 14.
The terms of reference direct the committee to compare Prince George’s compensation for elected officials to other communities in BC like Chilliwack, Coquitlam, Kelowna, Saanich, Langley, Delta, Kamloops, the District of North Vancouver, Nanaimo and Victoria.
Beyond pay, the committee will also consider officials’ per diems, expenses, health benefits, technology allowance and other methods of council remuneration.
The committee will have five members “diverse backgrounds selected from the community.” As an advisory committee, it will be chaired by a member of the public.
Current city staff are ineligible to serve on the committee.
A timeline laid out in the staff report states that recruitment advertising will take place between July 15 and Aug. 12, with the application deadline set for Aug. 12 at 5 p.m.
Council will consider applicants and appoint committee members at its Monday, Aug. 18 meeting.
Garbage truck purchase approved
Prince George city council approved increasing this year’s solid waste budget by $750,000 to purchase a new garbage truck at its Monday, July 14 meeting.
A report from city staff said that on May 13, 2024, one of the city’s garbage trucks was involved in a serious accident that led to it being written off by ICBC.
While $375,000 was received from an insurance policy and deposited within the city’s solid waste reserve, “the funds from insurance do not cover the full cost of a new replacement collection unit so the remaining funds would need to come from the solid waste reserve. Fleet services would like to begin the replacement process as soon as possible.”
The report goes on to say that the estimated wait time between an order for a replacement truck and delivery is between 12 to 18 months.
An estimate from a supplier said that if a purchase is approved within three months, the new unit could arrive by January 2027.
Director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio said that some additional money can be recovered through insurance, but not until the new vehicle is actually purchased and the payment amount is known.
Council unanimously approved an amendment to the 2025-29 financial plan to make way for the purchase.
$2.5K in spending approved for social services connector event
Prince George city council approved spending $2,500 from its contingency fund at its Monday, July 14 meeting to host a social services connector event later this year.
The idea for the event came from councillors Kyle Sampson and Brian Skakun, who filed a notice of motion at the June 23 council meeting.
A report they wrote said that while Prince George is fortunately to have a significant number of non-governmental organizations, agencies, non-profits and other social service organizations, many of them operate in silos and don’t have many direct connections to each other.
By facilitating introductions and liaising an opportunity for these organizations to develop relationships among these groups, the city can play a key role in strengthening collaboration across the sector, and therefore better serving the folks who need their service and reside in the City of Prince George,” the report said.
Andy Beesley, the city's director of civic facilities and events, said staff would have to change their workplans to facilitate the event but said the amount of their time it would take was dependent on the complexity.
The report pitched a barbecue-style informal event that could coincide with Prince George-Valemount Conservative MLA Rosalyn Bird’s efforts to create a prescription drug takeback day to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day.
In a May 30 interview with the Citizen, Bird said many parts of the United States have a day where people are encouraged to return their expired or unused prescriptions to make sure they don’t end up in the wrong hands.
Sampson, participating in the meeting remotely, clarified that he wasn’t intending the city’s budget for the social services connector to help pay for Bird’s event, but instead look to find some synergies between them.
On top of authorizing the $2,500 in spending, the councillors’ motion also directs administration to look for partners to help host the event.
Indemnification bylaw
Prince George city council approved the first three readings of a bylaw amending the city’s indemnification bylaw at its Monday, July 14 meeting to clarify language within it.
The bylaw indemnifies “municipal officers, employees and elected officials acting reasonably and in good faith in performing the duties and functions of their positions with the city.”
Administration was looking to amend the bylaw to make it clear that members of council will not be indemnified for complaints made under the city’s council code of conduct bylaw.
The readings passed with Yu and councillors Skakun and Trudy Klassen and voting in opposition.
Meeting cancelled
Prince George city council will no longer meet as originally scheduled on Monday, Nov. 17 after voting to cancel the meeting at its Monday, July 14 meeting.
A report from city staff asked for the meeting to be cancelled as it is expected that the audio-visual system in council chambers will be getting renovated at that time.
“Administration proposes to cancel this meeting to allow for the requisite work to be undertaken,” the report said. “If there is need to deal with emerging or urgent issues with council, there are other options available that can be undertaken such as reviewing other spaces, use of electronic meetings, and others.”
During the July 14 meeting, Coun. Cori Ramsay asked whether the timeline on the renovations could be moved up. She cited issues at recent meetings with the livestream of proceedings as well as the speakers in chambers not working that night.
Director of finance and IT services Kris Dalio said there is a three-month lead time for the specialized equipment needed and it can’t be acquired any faster.
Manager of legislative services Ethan Anderson said he would try to move any items that would have been scheduled for that date to either prior or future meetings. City manager Walter Babicz said that if anything pressing comes up, a special meeting could be scheduled.
With the cancellation, the only regular council meeting currently scheduled that month is on Monday, Nov. 3.
Sustainable finance policy
Council voted unanimously to change section 8.3 of the sustainable finance policy.
Previously, it read: “each capital funding request will clearly indicate the initial cost, the future operating and replacement costs, and the estimated service life of the project and will identify the sources of sustainable funding for those costs.”
Now it reads: “Each capital funding request will clearly indicate the initial cost and will identify the sources of funding for those costs. For new projects over $1 million, the future operating and replacement costs, and the estimated service life of the project will also be provided.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay, the chair of the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit, said that staff had said the previous wording was aspirational and couldn’t always be followed.
Development variance permit
Council voted unanimously to grant a development variance permit to Suzanne and David Field of 6531 Olympia Place to increase the maximum total combined gross floor area of accessory buildings and structures on their property so they can build a detached carport for use as boat storage.
The applicants included 11 letters of support from 10 neighbouring properties.
Weekend roundup
The weekend prior to the meeting, the city had a busy weekend with its annual pride parade, community arts days and the 2025 Special Olympics BC Summer Games.
Yu thanked city staff and his fellow councillors for their work over the weekend. Yu held up a medal from the games to show the crowd what competitors earned from the event.
