Today is Lyn Hall’s final day in office as the mayor of Prince George after eight years in the role.
In appreciation for that and his political and community service to the city over the past three decades, he is most deserving of the Freedom of the City, the highest award city council can bestow on a local resident for exceptional merit and contribution.
Recognizing Hall and former city councillor Murry Krause with this honour would be a great way for Mayor Simon Yu and the newly elected city council to get started, either at their first meeting on Monday night or at a meeting in the near future.
In Hall’s case, his community service started in the 1990s with extensive volunteer work. Along with Krause, he was on the founding committee that led to the creation of the Prince George Community Foundation.
His political career in Prince George lasted more than 20 years, starting in 2001, when he was elected to the School District 57 board of trustees. He was the school board chair for half of the 10 years he spent as a trustee and he led SD57 through the excruciating work of closing numerous city and regional schools due to declining enrolment.
In 2011, he successfully ran for city council, finishing second in the overall vote behind Brian Skakun. After three years on council, he announced he was running for mayor in the 2014 municipal election, where he defeated former city councillor Don Zurowski.
Hall’s accomplishments during his two terms in the mayor’s chair include hosting the 2015 Canada Winter Games, forging a new and much-improved relationship between the City of Prince George and the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, starting with the renaming of Fort George Park, and leading the effort to create the Nechako Riverside Park and the Hart Skateboard Park.
Extensive new housing development happened under Hall’s watch, from the supportive housing project on First Avenue, the Indigenous housing complex off 17th Avenue, and more seniors housing, along with numerous new single-family and multi-family homes built across the city. The new downtown pool and fire hall were approved by referendum and built during Hall’s tenure, along with several new hotels, from the Marriott and the Hyatt downtown, to the Sandman Signature, the Prestige and the Best Western on Highway 16.
The length and breadth of Hall’s community service over 30 years is extraordinary and Prince George is a better place as the result of his efforts.
Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
