The city should be spending its money on its core services instead of telling people what its plan is, suggests mayoral candidate Don Zurowski.
Over the weekend, Zurowski criticized the city's recent blitz that placed ads in the Prince George Citizen and Prince George Free Press newspapers and on CKPG airtime to inform residents about the updated snow removal procedures.
"I would rather the city spend the money on plowing snow and repairing equipment," Zurowski said. "It seems we're pretty quick to spend money on things that don't directly get to service providers."
That sort of information would be better disseminated with the bi-annual utility bills sent to homeowners at the tail end of winter and in the summer, said Zurowski, who noted he didn't know how much the city had spent on the ads.
"It seems to me to be the time to send additional information at minimal additional cost," he said. "It comes to cost control and making certain you're spending the money on providing these specific services. I don't think the residents of the city of Prince George at this point in time want to hear a whole bunch about the plan - they just want to be confident that the job is going to be done."
City communications manager Todd Corrigall confirmed the advertising campaign cost $21,000, which comes out of the annual snow budget. According to publisher Colleen Sparrow, it worked out to $0.26 per household for the Citizen's portion of the campaign.
The spend was "based on recommendations in the Mercury Associates report to develop a communications strategy for the 2014/2015 snow season," Corrigall said.
Newspaper advertising ran Nov. 5-7 and the television ads that began on Nov. 5 have a two-week run, said Corrigall. The TV ads will pick up again in the new year.
The city chose to go this route instead of mailing out information because it reaches more residents, said Corrigall said.
"For example, there are renters who don't see inserts [in utility notices]," he said.
City council approved the new snow clearing procedures that includes timelines for completion and a new snow route bylaw last month.
But the changes made weren't drastic, said Zurowski, and the city could direct residents to its website.
Mayoral candidate Lyn Hall could not be reached as of press time.
