Emergency management, social and economic balance, and opportunities emerging from the provincial government's CleanBC initiative were the topics tackled when more than 30 mayors from across the province converged on Prince George on Monday and Tuesday.
Along with meeting every September at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention, mayors also hold a caucus at about this time every year.
"I was very interested in hosting it here so I put up my hand and said we'd be more than prepared," Mayor Lyn Hall said Tuesday following the gathering at the Civic Centre.
The discussion on emergency management was not limited solely to wildfires, Hall said, and noted communities in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island are concerned with earthquakes and tsunamis.
On social and economic prosperity, Hall said the city has more than $70 million worth of development downtown "yet we still have social issues that we're dealing with - mental illness, drug addiction."
"On that dichotomy, we had a great conversation because every municipality is facing it. How do we, as municipalities, deal with it. And that involves the province, it involves the feds, it involves BC Housing, it involves social service agencies across each municipality."
On CleanBC, mayors talked about ways to make the most of the provincial government's strategy to deal with climate change.
On that note, mayors were given tours of the city's downtown energy system, the Wood Innovation and Design Centre and the Wood Innovation Research Lab.
Hall said the talks were part of an overall strategy to develop positions mayors can take as a group to the provincial and federal governments.
