Coun. Susan Scott was unanimously elected as the new Select Committee on Citizen Recognition Program while Coun. Kyle Sampson was unanimously appointed as vice-chair at its first meeting at city hall on Thursday, March 27.
The creation of the citizen recognition medal program was approved last November.
The idea came from councillors who suggested in a letter that while council can bestow the Freedom of the City Award, it is rarely awarded.
Councillors Scott, Sampson, Brian Skakun and Garth Frizzell were chosen as the council representatives for the citizen recognition committee at the Jan. 13 council meeting.
At that time, city administration said it would look for members of the public to join the committee as well.
Heading into the first meeting, Chantelle Grafton, Pamela McInroy and Judy Mitchell were tapped to fill those roles. Grafton was unable to attend the meeting.
Before proceedings into discussions, information and records co-ordinator Elisha Leclair gave the new committee members a quick rundown on policies and procedures before running the elections for chair and vice-chair.
Director of civic facilities and events Andy Beesley told the committee that administration works at council’s direction, adding that there’s a wide range of directions the committee could choose to take in developing their awards program.
Manager of event services Debbie Haywood, who will serve as the committee’s staff liaison, gave a history of citizen recognition programs in Prince George.
She recommended that the committee set the objectives of the program, the number of annual award recipients, the manner in which nominations are made, whether nominations can be made posthumously, the criteria and scoring matrix for the award, the physical attributes of the award, options for the long-term recognition of the award, how the award will be presented and the budget and resources implications of the program.
Frizzell said a rigorous system is needed for handing out the awards because if people feel like someone is putting their thumb on the scale when deciding the recipients, they won’t be valued.
He added that it could be a good idea to have a youth category for the award, saying that it could change the trajectory for a young person’s life to have them be recognized.
Skakun said the committee should be careful as there’s a municipal election next year and the awards shouldn’t be seen as political considerations.
Coun. Cori Ramsay connected to the meeting remotely via Zoom as an ex-officio, non-voting member. She said she’s been reading a book discussing the impact that gratitude can have on a community and said this program could help reduce local polarization.
Sampson said he didn’t want the program to be too narrowed, instead advocating for a broad definition of celebrating excellence in everything from arts and sports to heroism and philanthropy.
Scott said there’s been a desire for something like this program to be reinvigorated. She said she felt that this effort would be a “game changer.”
Mitchell warned that a too-limiting definition of excellence might eliminate some worthy recipients like those working with kinds or administering doses of naloxone to people going through overdoses.
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 24 at 10 a.m.
