The City of Prince George has taken multiple steps to improve public transparency since 2021, a city spokesperson said in an email on Tuesday.
The city was named the winner of the 2022 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy, presented annually by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (CFE) and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).
“The City responds to every media request. Every item noted in the (CAJ press release) was provided to the media either directly by communications staff or through public reports. Some of the finer details of who knew what when, was released through publication of staff emails following an FOI request,” the spokesperson said in an email. “A communications policy was adopted by Council in 2022. The purpose of this policy is to ensure information is provided in a timely, transparent, accurate, consistent and appropriate manner. A communications administrative procedure and a social media administrative procedure were also adopted.”
The city launched a new website in 2021 to provide greater access to information, and city council also adopted a whistleblower policy to protect city staff who raise concerns about misconduct. Also since 2021, the city launched a new social media strategy to engage with residents more frequently and in a timely manner.
City staff respond to resident questions both through the 311 phone line, 311 email, City app, social media and a Fact Check page on the city website, aimed at correcting misinformation circulating in the public sphere, the spokesperson said. The city also meets all legislated financial reporting requirements and adopted a new policy regarding writing letters of support in January.
“The City responds to all requests promptly and accurately. Citizens are also able to communicate directly with their elected representatives through their email and phone numbers which are published on the City’s website,” the spokesperson said. “Questions for the City that require a great deal of staff time to research are referred to the Freedom of Information (FOI) process which the City complies with. In 2022 the City responded to 90 FOI requests and so far this year there are 69 requests.”
The city implemented a series of changes in 2022, following the review of the George Street Parkade project, including: creating a new Capital Program Management Office; amending the city manager’s budget amendment authority to a maximum of $100,000 per project and reporting all amendments to council on a quarterly basis; and twice per year city staff report publicly to city council on the status of significant capital projects.
Twice a year, the status of significant capital projects are reported publicly to city council, and shared on social media.
“As noted in the corporate work plan, the city is developing a communications and engagement strategy. The drafting of this strategy will start with a public survey to determine how satisfied citizens are with the current levels of communication and engagement and how it can be improved,” the spokesperson said. “The City of Prince George operates under the same provincial regulations governing closed council meetings, privacy, and disclosure of financial information as other municipalities. We find our citizens are open and direct with their opinions and questions.”
