Council candidate Chris Stern wants to ‘get rid of the coasters’ at City Hall

Chris Stern has lived in Prince George for 45 years, spending 25 of those years working for the city in several positions.

He currently owns a civil works company.

“I want to make a difference in Prince George, I’m a do-er, I’m a go-getter,” he said.

“Part of the problem and issues when I was working with the city, even now I’ve talked to some of the crews, some of the upper management, they’re not vested in the city. When I was working,  they would tell me, as long as it holds together until they retire, they don’t care.”

Stern added they’re just coasting, and he wants to get rid of the  coasters.

“I want to make Prince George, a place where people want to move and make changes, think outside the box,” he explained.

“A lot of  people are saying ‘status quo’ and stuff like that, I’m going to be the total opposite. I’m going  to find a way to fix what needs to be fixed.”

Stern added that with his experience in working for the city, he knows what works and what doesn’t, and gave potholes as an example.

“If you look where the pothole starts, it always starts with crack in the road, why aren’t we crack sealing more?” he said.

Stern said when it comes to downtown, it’s a big issue, but it’s also a provincial issue as well.

“We’re out of our boat on this one, we really need to do what we can to address those issues, like the mental health care,” he explained.

“We need a healthcare nurse hired with the city to work with our bylaw team to identify these people that can’t take care of themselves either through addictions or mental health, and find them the right path to get into the system to get help.”

The municipal election will take place on October 15th.