As much as I hate surveys, they do serve a purpose and provide an opportunity to collect valuable input. However, they must be easy to complete, take less than 15 minutes, and be presented in such a fashion that they are precise, yet not difficult to complete with confidence.
After one-and-a-half hours, I gave up on the Core Review Survey. Sorry, KPMG. You have failed on this one. I will be submitting mine, but it will be minimalized based on my knowledge of the city.
I have spent my entire life here, and am proud of my City, so my answers are going to be brief and to the point. Reading the explanatory notes for each segment was exhausting and very time consuming.
Here is my input.
The city has highly qualified staff to analyze cost effectiveness of services and service delivery. Let them do their jobs. Investigate the savings available by "contracting in" versus contracting out. Remember that spending local should be a priority. A strong city workforce equates to a strong local economy.
Councilors need to get out of chambers, meet with local people and truly represent public opinion. They need to use this information to set prioritized goals, provide the prioritized goals to administration and let them do it.
Stay out of the city manager's office and let him and his team do their jobs. They are very well qualified.
We all know that the real costs of the core review are going to exceed more than half a million dollars if you factor in the administrative and staff time required to complete this process. This could have all been easily done from within and the half million plus dollars could have remained in the taxpayer bank.
Bob Bigelow
Prince George
