Start with no.
From a negotiating stance, no is the most powerful tool available (Jim Camp has written an entire book about it) but it's difficult to wield for earnest politicians, particularly at the local level, because of their unwillingness to disappoint their constituents. In reality, however, it will never be enough and someone will always be disappointed. Since that's the case, lowering the expectations to no gives elected officials a strong fallback position.
To leave the door open a crack both raises expectations and the likelihood of disappointment, as well as letting the funding applicants frame the discussion.
Supt. Warren, the officer in charge at the Prince George RCMP, has been exploiting that very opening.
Called to speak to city council for the third time in the last two months about his request for more staff, Brown is turning up the heat another notch each time.
On Monday, he simply dropped the pleasantries and got down to it. While there isn't a crime wave sweeping Prince George, the crime rate is significantly higher in this city than in other jurisdictions of similar size.
If mayor and council can live with "the way Prince George has been and... the way it continues to be," fine but if they want to see improvement, they need to devote more money to hire more staff.
In politics, displaying uncertainty is a sign of weakness. City council has made it loud and clear, both in words and in actions, that they will give Brown more but they are unsure how much more.
Needing to hear from the superintendent three times shows a council seriously entertaining Brown's request for a trio of new officers in 2016 and two officers more in both 2017 and 2018. "We have to do something," Coun. Terri McConnachie said, dropping her poker face. "Nothing is not an option."
Brown sees how close he is to a yes so he's pushing harder, making it easier for mayor and council to approve his request and feel good about how it will make the city safer. In the political arena, he's beating them at their own game, forcing them to justify their reluctance to put more cops on the streets.
Mayor and council have every right to say no to Brown and turn the conversation on its ear, demanding to know why the new detachment hasn't led to significant improvements in workflow efficiencies with the corresponding savings and why the superintendent isn't doing more to alter his internal practices and staff priorities to target problem areas, rather than just holding out his hand for more cash.
Council has the right and the authority to do this to every group that appears before them looking for money or debt forgiveness, as is the case with the B.C. Northern Exhibition. The BCNE has evolved from its Prince George Exhibition days under Prince George Agricultural and Historical Society president Alex Huber but it still struggles financially.
Although the bottom line was $200,000 better this year than in 2014, the fair is still carrying a $96,000 debt from previous years and a $32,500 IOU with the city. From a budgeting standpoint, it costs nothing for the city to forgive that debt in recognition of the fair's historical significance to the city and the countless hours put in by Huber and his army of volunteers.
But that doesn't mean the city shouldn't ask for anything in return.
Huber opened the door with comments about how the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver has gone to a for-profit model. While the BCNE might not need to entirely shed its ties to agricultural and local history in favor of entertainment to the degree that the PNE has, the city would not be out of line to ask the BCNE to revisit its core mission and make operating adjustments to take better control of its fiscal affairs and to adapt to changing audiences.
Whether it's the RCMP or the BCNE, groups coming before council asking for more funding need to do more than say how wonderful they are. They need to demonstrate, in the same dollars and cents they are asking for, how they bring value to the city and the return they will deliver on that investment of tax dollars.
If they can't or won't offer that kind of cost-benefit rationale to their request, it should be a simple matter for mayor and council to not only start with no but stick with no. If they can, however, no becomes the best path to yes.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
