Prince George city council will vote on whether to approve proposed rules for the new citizen recognition medal program at its Monday, Jan. 13 meeting.
Last year, councillors Kyle Sampson, Tim Bennett and Cori Ramsay convinced their colleagues to add a new award program, arguing that the existing Freedom of the City Award is rarely bestowed.
Heading into the first council meeting of 2025, city administration are asking council to approve terms of reference for the select committee that will develop the program, nominate four council members to serve on the committee and allow staff to start soliciting applications for three members of the public to serve on the committee as well.
The proposed terms of reference have the committee’s term ending on Sept. 30, 2025.
Before that end date, the committee will develop a report suggesting the rules through which people are nominated for the program, how many annual nominees will be suggested, what the awards will look like, what the award ceremony will be like and more.
One of the discussions mentioned in the terms of reference is whether people can be given the award posthumously.
Like other city committees, all members of council would be entitled to attend all meetings even if they do not have voting rights.
Administration suggests it will recruit the non-council members of the committee from Jan. 16 through Feb. 20, with council voting on which nominations to approve at its closed meeting on March 10.
The committee’s chair would be nominated and approved at its first regular meeting, which is likely to take place in the last week of March. The committee would then meet once a month until its term ends.
Once that final report is presented, the program is expected to launch in 2026.
