With the opening of the new Kin 1 Arena on Saturday and the one-year countdown to the start of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, it's time to give Dan Rogers his due.
Sadly, the contributions made by the previous mayor to this project weren't acknowledged during the speeches at the grand opening of the new Kin 1 on Saturday.
Back in June 2011, city council voted to build a new standalone arena to replace the aging Kin 1, a move Rogers vehemently opposed.
The budgeted cost for a Kin 1 rebuild was $16.5 million, while a new "Kin 4" would have cost more than $22 million. Furthermore, Kin 4 wouldn't have been ready until September 2014 at best, leaving little time and flexibility if the project had run into complications. Rogers wanted the facility done well in advance of the Games and for cheaper.
"Where do we get the money?" an exasperated Rogers asked in 2011 after council's decision. "Before we've even started, we've exhausted all the capital [budget]."
The irony is Rogers went on to lose a municipal election four months later to Shari Green, who campaigned against Rogers under a platform of saving money and reducing taxes. The irony is Green, then a city councillor, was the one who brought the motion forward to build Kin 4. She also wanted to form a committee to find ways to reduce construction costs. Such a committee would have extended the length of time to build the new facility, meaning that it would have been a race to have it ready for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Green, not wearing her fiscal responsibility hat at the time, made some hay at the expense of Rogers in June 2011, responding to the outcry from local hockey groups demanding more ice surfaces for the city and moaning about how they would have reduced ice time during the rebuild of Kin 1.
Thankfully, Rogers fought back.
Using his authority under the Community Charter, he brought a reconsideration motion back before council, arguing that council had approved Kin 4 construction without a business case for it.
He rarely flexed his muscles like that during his one term as mayor and it earned him a scolding from one councillor.
"Council has already reconsidered this. This will be the third time this has come before council," complained Coun. Cameron Stolz. "We've had this discussion and debate already."
The Prince George Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, backed the mayor.
"There has been no budget for this," then-president Gaurav Parmar said. "It's either coming from increasing our taxes or increasing our long-term debt. If they increase our taxes it's going to affect everyone."
Two city councillors - Murry Krause and Dave Wilbur - weren't at the meeting to approve Kin 4 but they were at the followup meeting and they sided with Rogers and Don Bassermann, who also opposed Kin 4.
Meanwhile, Coun. Garth Frizzell and Coun. Debora Munoz changed their minds and backed the mayor.
That left Green, Stolz and - believe it or not - Coun. Brian Skakun voting together in opposition.
Ironically, Green played the fiscal responsibility card this past Saturday at the opening celebrations.
"It's a beautiful building. The user group feedback has been tremendous," she said. "[And] it's been on time and on budget, which I know is important to our taxpayers."
Three years ago, she, as well as Stolz and Skakun, thought it was important to taxpayers to spend $6 million more for a facility that would have been ready just in time for the games, instead of a year earlier.
Meanwhile, it seems Rogers has been forgotten as the one who went toe-to-toe with Green to get Kin 1 built.
His foresight saved taxpayers millions and voters thanked him by throwing him out of office just a few months later in favour of someone who would have built a more expensive facility that still wouldn't be open.
It's not just residents who should appreciate what he did. The current mayor and council should publicly and respectfully give credit where credit is due.
