The City of Guelph puts out a lot of information on a weekly basis, and while it all ends up on the City website somewhere, wouldn’t it be easier to just scroll through it all in one place? This is the intent with the City Page, a chance for you to see all the notices and announcements from the Corporation of the City of Guelph in one place, and at one time.

City Names New Internal Auditor

Karl Hutchinson has been hired as the new Internal Auditor for the City of Guelph. Hutchinson has previously served as the Senior Internal Auditor with Waterloo Region District School Board, and as Audit Manager at London Life Insurance, and he comes to the City because the previous Internal Auditor, Katherine Gray, announced her retirement earlier this year. “Karl’s experience in audit and risk management will ensure we continue to be transparent and accountable to the citizens of this city,” said Scott Stewart, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Guelph, a media statement.

Direction Needed for Signs

The City of Guelph is looking for feedback for an update to the sign bylaw, which sets down the guidelines for all exterior signs that are posted throughout Guelph. The purpose of the update is to make the bylaw more user friendly, to promote safety by creating fewer distractions for pedestrians and motorists, to reduce the number of exemptions that have to be made, and to align it with the Official Plan and Strategic Plan. If you have any thoughts about the sign bylaw update, you have until January 10 to share your share them on the Have Your Say section of the City website.

Kicking Ash and Taking Trees

Starting on January 13, the City of Guelph is going to take its strategic to rid our town of the Emerald Ash Borer to Preservation Park. For about two week until January 20 (weather permitting), City crews will be removing ash and hazard trees from the park, approximately 864 of them; the ones being removed have already been marked off with an orange X. Some portions of the trail will unavailable as crews complete the work, but the wood chips, logs and branches will be left behind to prevent damage to the soil and replenish nutrients. For more about the City’s efforts to eliminate the Emerald Ash Borer click here.

Permit to Go Paperless

If you are planning on doing any building in the new year, the City of Guelph is going paperless for all permit applications and inspections, and yes, that’s mandatory. “As of January 1, 2020, electronic submission will become mandatory for all building permit applications, regardless of whether the project is residential, industrial, institutional or commercial,” said a City press release, which added that building inspections will also have the be requested through the City’s online porthole as opposed to using phone or email. The new requirements are listed here, and if you need any help working with the tech, the City has some video tutorials you can watch.

Keep Up with the Code

When you’re filing those building permits, you should do a double check of the Building Code because there will be some changes that go into effect in 2020, specifically there have been a number of changes to the Supplementary Standards and Appendix A. The changes are meant to better align the Building Code with the 2015 national construction codes, and they’re the first of two updates based on that alignment with the next one coming in January 2022. The Ontario Building Officials Association (OBOA) has prepared a full summery of the changes, and you can find them here.

Free Rides with Transit on New Year’s

For the fourth year in a row, Sleeman Breweries is sponsoring free bus rides on Guelph Transit all night long. Free rides will start on all routes at 7 pm and run till 1 am; after 1 am, six temporary routes southwest, southeast, Downtown University shuttle, midwest, northeast and northwest will run until 2:57 am when the last buses leave Guelph Central Station. (You can see the routes here.)