City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the February 28 Meeting?

You might almost consider them some last minute decisions for this February, the last meeting on the last night of the month. Naturally, this means that there are some big moves to make along with the ratification of this month’s committee agenda, which itself had some pretty big decisions. Long-term care, housing, the integrity commissioner and more are all on this agenda to close out the second month of 2023!

NOTE #1: Delegates will be able to appear at this meeting in-person or via tele-presense but you do have to register with the clerks office before 10 am on Friday February 24. You can also submit written delegations and correspondences for agenda items.

NOTE #2: In addition to meeting in-person, this meeting will also be live-streamed on the City of Guelph’s website here.

CLOSED SESSION:

Bargaining Mandate Report Guelph Professional Firefighters Association Local 467 – Because this is a matter regarding labour relations, it needs to be discussed in-camera under Section 239(2) (d) of the Municipal Act.

The Elliott Long-Term Care Residence Report: Long Term Care Home Redevelopment – Obviously, this will come up later in the meeting, but before that council will discuss the matter in closed session under Section 239(2) (b) and (k) of the Act relating to “personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees; and a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality or local board.”

RECOGNITION:

Waterloo Area’s Top Employers of 2023 – CAO Scott Stewart, DCAO Trevor Lee, and GM of Human Resources Mark Ellis will receive the accolade that the City of Guelph is one of the Waterloo area’s top employers for the year.

2022 Annual Report of the Integrity Commissioner – Following on John Mascarin’s presentation to city council last week a workshop, we will review annual report from the Integrity Commissioner’s office about the last year in oversight and advice. In the report, Mascarin describes that there were six complaints to his office in 2022, all of which were summarily dismissed. Five of the six complaints, the report says, were “identical”, and in the sixth case it was determined that the councillor in question was covered under the established scope of freedom of political expression as determined by the Supreme Court. The integrity commissioner’s office also responded to four requests for advice.

City of Guelph Housing Pledge: For Guelph, By Guelph – There’s no report for this item in the initial release of the agenda, but there are two recommended motions: “That the City of Guelph Housing Pledge to facilitate the construction of 18,000 units by 2031, attached as Appendix “A” be approved” and “That the Mayor be authorized to submit the final Municipal Housing Pledge to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on March 1, 2023.” The motion will be accompanied by a presentation by CAO Scott Stewart, DCAO Jayne Holmes, Planning GM Krista Walkey, Engineering GM Terry Gaymen, Treasurer Tara Baker, and Mike Moffat from the Smart Prosperity Institute.

The Elliott Long-Term Care Residence Report: Approval for Long Term Care Home Redevelopment – It was about this time last year that the Government of Ontario announced that it was giving out funds that would see the creation of nearly 200 new long-term care beds in Guelph including 29 at the Elliott Community, the City’s own facility.

Without getting too deep into the complicated funding considerations, it looks like if the project is to move forward then the City of Guelph needs to be borrower for need funds from Infrastructure Ontario to complete the expansion and not the Elliott itself. In a memo to council, staff are seeking delegated authority to essentially sort out the paperwork to fulfill the requirements of Infrastructure Ontario while making sure that the Elliott holds up their financial commitment and that the City doesn’t need to extend itself further on borrowing.

Timing is the big issue here because top-up funding from Construction Funding Subsidy Per Diem (CFS) is contingent on construction starting by August of this year. The shortfall over the term of the loan is a little over $3.4 million, so staff really wants that financing and wants to make the project contingent on receiving the CFS top-up or come back to council for further consideration.

Staff have prepared a five-part recommendation for council’s consideration:

That, as the license holder, City Council approves proceeding with Phases 1 and 2 of The Elliott Community’s 29-Bed Expansion project in accordance with the application submitted to the Ministry of Long-Term Care in December 2021, and that any impact for the City’s operating budget be referred to the 2024 – 2027 multi-year budget.
That City Council approves a one-time, in-year capital contribution for The Elliott Community’s 29-Bed Expansion project in the amount of $862,780 from the Tax Rate Operating Contingency reserve.
That, subject to the satisfaction of the City Treasurer and City Solicitor through a review of the financing options as described and contingent upon The Elliott Community qualifying for the Construction Funding Subsidy per diem top-up funding from the Ministry of Long-Term Care by August 31, 2023, that City staff be directed to execute the appropriate
agreements to provide interim construction line-of-credit financing of up to $6.2 million, and then convert a portion of this amount, estimated to be $1.9 million, to provide fixed-term financing aligned to the Ministry of Long-term Care’s 25-year Construction Fund Subsidy funding.
That, subject to the satisfaction of the Deputy CAO Public Services and the City Solicitor, City staff be directed to sign The Elliott LTC Development Agreement issued by the Ministry of Long-Term Care for The Elliott Community’s 29-Bed Expansion project.
That the Deputy CAO Public Services be directed to notify the Ministry of Long-Term Care regarding the details of The Elliott Community’s 29-Bed Expansion project approval, financing, and terms for signing of The Elliott LTC Development Agreement.

Consent Agenda items from the Committee of the Whole meeting on February 7. (Items can be pulled by a councillor seeking additional information, otherwise all items will be voted on as a slate without further debate.)