Winter hasn't materialized much in Prince George yet but feet are getting cold on city council.
Mayor Lyn Hall and city council charged out of the gate after they were sworn into office 12 months ago. Beth James was escorted out of the city manager's office in favour of the loyal and dependable Kathleen Soltis.
Initiatives Prince George was shut down and the economic development functions were folded into city hall. The name of Fort George Park was changed.
Flying high on the optimism generated by the Canada Winter Games, it was time to get moving. But now it's time to spend money.
Nothing ends the honeymoon for a newly-married couple faster than debating spending priorities. A city council is no different and there are no shortage of priorities.
A new downtown library entrance. An upgraded Darren Fitzpatrick Bravery Park in the Hart, featuring a skateboarding facility. A new picnic shelter at Lheidli T'enneh Memoral Park. New display equipment at CN Centre. More cops. More sidewalks. More bike lanes. More road and sewer upgrades.
There are three major city facilities in need of imminent retirement and replacement - Fire Hall No. 1, the Coliseum and Four Seasons Pool.
It can't be done all at once but it won't get done at all without getting started somewhere.
As this city council moves through the first full budget session of its mandate, however, the chilly air is blowing from several directions.
Soltis and her senior managers are urging their political masters to slow down, providing the sobering price tags to worthy expenditures.
Out in the community, the chorus declaring this the "CUPE council" and the "tax and spend" council is growing in volume.
Mayor and councillors alike are sensitive to that criticism and will avoid, at all costs, being seen as spending tax dollars without a clear and present benefit in return.
At the table, the elected nine are now taking turns dumping cold water on each other's goals. Jillian Merrick can't get support from her colleagues to increase the sidewalk budget. Terri McConnachie is left one vote short on keeping the dream of a long overdue entrance to the library alive. Nobody is willing to join Albert Koehler in a hard look for $850,000 to lower the tax levy.
Collectively, however, those cold feet are joining as one to press on the brakes.
The $3.74 million library entrance for safety and accessibility, not just beautification, has been dumped back on the unfunded capital plan. Even though that figure is half what the original projections were and this is now the fourth time money and time has been spent exploring this issue in the last 20 years, it appears nothing is to come from it.
Never mind million-dollar, feel-good projects like this. Now mayor and council are now sweating over relatively cheap expenditures that deliver nothing but benefit. Building a new picnic shelter in the city's main park is budgeted at $440,000. Spread out over a lifespan of 25 years, the cost is less than $20,000 per year, but suddenly more information is needed from staff before going ahead. The cost to replace the video cameras and score clock display at CN Centre is even less - $390,000 - but that decision has also been delayed.
Suddenly, the ability to make bold, optimistic decisions has evaporated, replaced by nervous caution.
"Get it done" is gone, "wait a minute" has taken over and "we can't do that" is waiting in the wings.
Political lives are no different than our regular lives. When it's all over, the regrets are the opportunities not seized, the lack of courage to stay strong in the face of adversity and the lack of resilience to finish the task in spite of the obstacles and the doubters.
Put in a more cynical and political light, this mayor and city council will be judged by voters in the fall of 2018 by the decisions made and the capital spending approved or rejected in this budget cycle, not the ones in 2016 or 2017. The major initiatives and projects given the green light now will be complete in three years, with the benefits being enjoyed by all residents.
The same fearless ambition Mayor Hall and this council brought to their first year together in office needs to be applied to this year's budget and to the approval of deserving capital projects on the table that will deliver a high return on their investment.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
