Monday night's inauguration of the new mayor and city council for the City of Prince George bore a striking similarity to a wedding ceremony. A judge was on hand to take formal oaths in front of a crowd of loved ones and well-wishers. Short, happy speeches were made and joyful tears were shed. A reception was held afterward for congratulatory hugs and handshakes.
Now comes the honeymoon period for Lyn Hall and his council. The incumbents will build alliances with the three new councillors, while also helping them with the steep learning curve. Hall will get used to life in his new office on the fifth floor at City Hall and the demands that come with that job.
This honeymoon, like all honeymoons, will end too quickly. The reality of this forced political marriage between nine individuals will take hold and the difficult choices will start piling up.
Hall is fortunate to have six like-minded moderates with him at the table - Frank Everitt, Garth Frizzell, Murry Krause, Terri McConnachie, Jillian Merrick and Brian Skakun. Certainly, Everitt, Krause and Merrick run left of centre on most issues but not in a hard-nosed partisan way. Although Susan Scott and Albert Koehler are the only bona fide right of centre councillors at the table, they are both known for the kind-and-gentle approach to politics in general and personal relationships in particular.
The challenge for Hall is going to be to manage the high expectations, not just in the community but among his councillors, incumbents and newcomers alike.
Skakun has been a thorn in the side of all three mayors he has worked with and it's not if, but when, he will clash with Hall. Skakun has earned the adoration of the voting public with his willingness to take on city management and council. Skakun and Hall share many concerns but, like Skakun, Hall has his own ideas and is no pushover.
McConnachie, seated right next to Skakun at the council table, is also known for straight talk. Like Skakun, she will not be afraid to speak up the moment she feels council and/or administration are off-track.
Koehler and Scott will become frustrated, sooner rather than later, with the political bent and priorities of their colleagues. They will voice those frustrations with passionate speeches at the table and cast dissenting votes.
In Krause, Frizzell and Everitt, Hall has hardworking, experienced and reliable councillors who require little managing and will iron out their issues behind the scenes, rather than at the council table.
The wild card is Merrick. As her knowledge grows as a rookie councillor, so will her confidence to push back on matters that run counter to her beliefs. It could take her a little while to warm up but she could start making some noise in the second half of her mandate if she finds Hall's leadership too conservative for her liking.
The first difficult decision for the group is already on their plate.
City council only has one employee to direct and that is the city manager. Beth James has been in her job less than two years. While she was a unanimous choice by the previous council, meaning Hall and the five incumbents all gave her their blessing, a new council may decide it needs a new top administrator, too. James has thinned the herd in senior administration, made other staff cuts, hired a two-person communications team and led the city through a gruelling bargaining session with its unionized workers, culminating in a strike last Christmas.
Some people might not like how she did those things but those were the chores she was assigned by the previous mayor and council. While Hall and his colleagues might want a fresh start, a gentler hand in the top chair to mend fences with staff before those union contracts come up again in 2016, that would be a mistake right out of the gate.
Dismissing James would be challenging because it wouldn't be cheap (the buyout would be in the low six figures) and finding a replacement would take up to a year to find and put in place, followed by another year for the new person to get up to speed. If this council is serious about getting things done, they would benefit from the services of a tough, no-nonsense administrator like James, who already knows her way around the city bureaucracy, to implement policies and direct staff.
The decision to keep James or let her go will be an early signal from the new mayor and council of both the amount and the speed of change this group is willing to introduce at City Hall, as well as how they want to get there.
