What was supposed to be a rather unexceptional week at council turned out to be very busy indeed, and it really had nothing to do with what city council was working on. Upset about the Ontario government’s decision to grant Strong Mayor powers to most heads of council in the province’s biggest cities, several delegates came out to let council know it, but it turned out even staff have problems with the implementation. Here’s the recap.
Regular Meet of City Council – June 27
What might have been (should have been?) a lazy late June meeting that merely ratified all the stuff discussed at Committee of the Whole earlier this month turned into a major deal thanks to three simple words: “Strong Mayor Powers”.
Technically, the topic was the 2023 Governance Review, which is tangentially connected to the Strong Mayor Powers by the Procedural Bylaw, but Mayor Cam Guthrie warned delegates beforehand to keep their comments to the Procedural Bylaw and not to the calamity and undermining of democracy caused by Bill 3.
Guthrie also announced that it’s his intention on July 1, when the Strong Mayor Powers go into effect, to delegate authority to hire/fire the CAO, manage the organizational structure of City Hall, and appoint chairs to local boards and shared services back to council or the appropriate staff.
As for the delegations, there were about 15 or 16 and many of them were familiar faces when it comes to council delegations. There were some common themes to their concerns: A request for the mayor to give notice in advance if he intends to use his veto, to codify in the Procedural Bylaw the delegation of powers back to staff and council, and a council-endorsed repudiation of Bill 3 and the Strong Mayor Powers. Some wanted the report deferred back to staff for a full accounting of the impacts from Bill 3, and others asked specifically to restore the 10-minute delegation for statutory planning meetings.
When it came time for council to make a motion, there was a change in the recommendation from Committee of the Whole. While the report itself and the new closed meeting protocol were to be approved, recommendations 3-6 were to be deferred and recommendations 7 and 8 became 4 and 5. See the differences below:
Original recommendations at CoW:
Recommendations at council on Tuesday:
Now there were many questions, and staff themselves still had some questions. It seemed that less than four days short of enacting Strong Mayor Powers on July 1 that the City of Guelph had to receive the provincial regulations for those powers. Staff reported that they’re working off the assumption that the regulations for Guelph will be similar, if not the same, as the regulations given to Ottawa last fall, but since council still has to have meetings in July, they had to prepare something for this meeting, which is why deferring the whole Governance Review till fall wouldn’t work.
A full report about the implementation of the changes in Bill 3 and the Strong Mayor Powers will come back to council in September though, and on Saturday, Guthrie said that he will sign the delegation of authority on the three matters mentioned above first thing in the morning. That declaration will be posted on the City’s website on a dedicated page that will record all decisions made using the new Strong Mayors authority. The City of Ottawa has a similar site.
There were some questions from council along the line of things mentioned in delegations, like can the City of Guelph develop a bylaw that refuses to enact Strong Mayor Powers? It cannot because provincial laws supersede municipal bylaws. The three municipalities that didn’t get Strong Mayor Powers didn’t pass a housing pledge, what happens if the City revokes the pledge it passed in February? That’s uncertain, but Guelph staff have a meeting with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s chief of staff next week to talk about this city’s pledge and how it can be accomplished.
CAO Scott Stewart was sympathetic to council’s concerns and the fact that there was no certainty to properly answer some of their questions. He said that staff in the planning department are feeling burnt out due to the pace of regulatory change coupled with the new fast-paced schedule for reviewing planning applications. In terms of those issues, and questions about budgeting, Stewart promised that council meetings over the next few weeks might shed some light.
In terms of additional motions, council returned the 10-minute delegation to the statutory planning meeting in a 9-3 vote. Another amendment requires all meetings of council to include “O Canada”, a moment of silent reflection and the First Nations acknowledgement, and now there’s also a requirement that any motion not included in the council agenda be read aloud for the benefit of meeting attendees who are visually impaired. Lastly, council approved an amendment that capped delegation of authority on culture and recreation contracts to five years instead of 10 by a vote of 8-5.
Before the final vote, councillors expressed their gratitude to staff and the delegates. Mayor Guthrie noted that he feels like he’s been put in a vice, having been given powers that not even the President of the Unites States has, the ability to pass laws with himself and minority of the legislature He then remarked that at least 72 per cent of Guelphites seem to like him, which is a reference to last fall’s election results. The five amended recommendations were passed by council unanimously.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 