UPDATE: The City of Prince George made changes to the webpage mentioned below after the publication of this opinion.
Open and transparent government is a phrase we have all heard but seldom seen locally.
It means that at any time anyone should be able to get information about projects, plans and committees run by the City of Prince George.
A website with a functional search engine would go a long way toward making that happen. However, the city’s website blocks searching posted data to find critical search phrases. Unless you know the Boolean phrases and file numbers, good luck accessing the information.
Freedom Of Information requests are one way of finding out what’s going on but this is a slow process which can take 30 days to fulfill once a request is made to the city. Again, our slow city data system needs to find the material, it needs to be redacted (personal information and names removed) and then finally sent to the requester.
This sometimes comes at a cost (which shouldn’t be as it’s collected and paid for by tax dollars in the first place).
Did you know the city’s website says that “informal channels” (mail and e-mail) with the mayor and city councillors are not a matter of public record?
Wow, that’s something new out of the rhubarb.
Under the FOIPPA legislation, e-mail and mail communications with not only mayor and council but all city staff between themselves and with the residents or anyone else are in fact a matter of public record. Of course the identifying markers are removed and names of private individuals redacted but the rest of the content is open for public scrutiny.
As it should be under an open and transparent government, unless the city says it’s “protected” as they claim on the website, which is just wrong according to the legislation.
Mayor and council are available or should be to anyone in the city. This includes city employees, as they are taxpayers as well.
There are lots of stories floating around about people being “spoken to” by administration for speaking to councillors. We need to get over this us-versus-them mentality within the walls of City Hall. City councillors and the mayor should be available to every member of the public, not just a select few.
We need to start with the basics and rebuild a system we the public can trust with our best interests.
It’s a long road to get to that point, but some of us will keep pushing for that day.
John Zukowski
Prince George
