On Feb. 25, Neil Godbout wrote that under the current system, our city's mayor and council must sign off on all purchases over
$1 million. City management hopes to alleviate city council of the need to re-research and evaluate detailed information on future proposals over $1 million, when they meet the stated overall city financial plan. Management, it is suggested, thinks the plan could help to reduce the long hours and detailed knowledge expected of our mayor and council. Management advocates that this would reduce the need for businesses to lobby council for whatever proposals are being made and that no city councillor can be an expert on everything.
However, city council is not running a non-profit board that has to decide whether or not to work in a hands-on or hands-off governance style. Neither is city council running a for-profit business. The city management team is surely quite capable. In many ways, financially and systemically, city management is capably running the city, but that group does not hold the oversight of an elected body.
So why do we bother with our mayor and city council? Because, a million dollars in some circles is a tiny drop in the bucket, but a million dollars in other circles is a small fortune. Godbout writes, "While mayor and council have to trust in their city manager to oversee the municipal bureaucracy, that confidence must have limits."
The very job of city councils anywhere includes balancing governance with trust in their staff. Whether we agree with each decision or not, every city councillor we have is an elected representative tasked with reviewing important financial decisions on our behalf. A million dollars is not chump change for this city.
Staffs change.
Priorities change.
Business interests change.
Citizens trust and expect their city council to pay close attention to the scoring of any significant financial proposal which may cost the public money. Perhaps holding the purse strings is about more than assigning money to a given proposal and having to lobby nine individuals is a well-considered established procedure for many reasons.
Every week, nine individuals take their seats at the table in Prince George City Hall to assess the changing interests and needs of the people who pay taxes.
These nine people are charged with conducting city business with oversight and transparency.
Let them do their jobs.
Jan Manning, Prince George
