Over the last few years, we have seen some pretty shady dealings coming out of and involving city hall administration.
We could go for a stroll down memory lane - Willow Cale bridge/culvert debacle, the library entrance renovation, the Massey Drive sinkhole to nowhere, the fire hall mystery square footage issue etc.. Then there’s the favorite of most P.G. residents: the $34 million underground “private parkade” (sold to us all at $12 million).
Then to top it off it’s the cost overrun for an “on budget” pool build that received lousy steel beams that were not properly coated by the manufacturer.
Heck, even Walmart will take back a crappy product in exchange for a good one, but the city needs to pay to recoat the beams at “our expense.”
Promotions, demotions and just walking away seems to be the rational with those who are “in the know” in the inner workings of city hall.
We have folks who are promoted to positions they are not qualified to hold by their lack of qualifications in the field. We have folks who are not responsible for any actions they take, based solely on their lack of qualifications, meaning they have no “professional trade responsibility” to be accountable. Who the hell dreams up this stuff?
Accountability is a phrase not used in city hall, because it doesn’t matter even when it’s pointed out in e-mail correspondence. Unionized staff are accountable under their agreement, with firm checks and balances in place to ensure they do their jobs as required.
However, inside non-union staff work under the wink, wink, nudge, nudge system. You cover my backside, and I will cover yours (maybe) seems to be the primary operating theory within city hall. What about those of us who have asked (repeatedly) for a clearing out and cleaning up of city hall? The business owners and homeowners who repeatedly see our taxes climb time and again and see nothing but scandal after scandal coming from our city administration.
Is this the issue of this city council? Well actually no, it’s been a method of operation for the city for a number of years and several city councils.
Can our current council make changes to fix the issues? Well, when you consider who’s sitting on council and how long their butts have been in chairs, it’s doubtful they have the energy or motivation to “rock the boat.”
Don’t get me wrong. We have a few good folks there that we need to keep in place, but we need to fill the other seats with folks motivated to fix issues and work problems, without defaulting to the “better judgent” of administration time and again, which has been the status quo for previous councils and mayor. We have a lot of wrong people, in wrong positions, doing lousy work, and passing it off as the best solution moving forward, once the lipstick and mascara is applied to the report.
The rubber stamping needs to stop, as does the costly bleeding of money by city hall.
John Zukowski
Prince George
