At recent City Council meetings it has been discussed that an American based firm, Mercury Consultants, had been commissioned to advise on how to best manage our snow removal operations following the absolute 'Fiasco of Winter 2013'. It has been applauded by some and questioned by only a few.
There was a time, not that long ago, when the snow removal system at the City of Prince George was a well-oiled machine and the bar set was so high that it was the envy of other Canadian provinces and entire countries such as Japan and China and states in the U.S. In fact, front line workers from the City of Prince George streets division went overseas to share our model and entire delegations visited Prince George to fact find in the hopes that they too, could manage their respective snow removal services as well as we did ours.
So what has happened in the relatively short period of between ten to fifteen years ago? Surely there are front line staff, supervisors and foreman from that time, which are still around to reminisce about the 'good old days'? I know there are and it must be disheartening to witness the current state of affairs.
Yes, many of the suggestions from the report from Mercury Consultants are sound, but why the need for a middle man? What wall is so enormous that it must be circumvented to the tune of $130,000 plus dollars to rationalize bringing in an outside foreign based company as opposed to benefitting from knowledge that already exists and systems that had already been in place for many years? It must be said that the present council and administration is not solely responsible for the miserable state we found ourselves in this past winter. In my opinion it has been a slow strangulation of the goose that has laid the golden egg. However, it is equally responsible to state that the swiftest decline in snow removal delivery in our City has taken place in just these past few years.
Perhaps if citizens collectively tapped their heels together three times, City hall could realize that what we desire most, may well be found in our own back yard.
What is next? Procuring an outside multinational company to advise us on how to best manage our public dollars, services, assets and systems, to the tune of what likely amounts to the cost of a half a million dollars, all things considered?
Oh wait, we have already done that.
Terri McConnachie
Prince George
