City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on July 25?

This is the regular meeting for July, and you know what that means… Yes, this is the last meeting of city council before summer vacation but there’s a lot of work that has to be done before the break. Remember the patio program? E-scooters? Potential bylaw reviews? All this unfinished business from Committee of the Whole returns along with one additional item about future election business.

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 June 21. 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.

NOTE #3: This is the last meeting of council until September 6.

E-scooter By-law – There was a question about whether or not e-scooters could be allowed on multi-use paths at Committee of the Whole. In a memo, staff noted that they weren’t able to do a fulsome review of e-scooter operations off-road, but the motion can be adjusted to say that personal e-scooters can by used “on city street and designated multi-use paths and cycling tracks.”

By-law Review Update – At Committee of the Whole, Councillor Rodrigo Goller brought fourth a series of four motions concerning the schedule of bylaw reviews, plus requests for staff to look at moving up reviews of outdoor recreational fires, the sale of fireworks, and the use noise camera. In addition to the suggestion that council need a legal opinion about those noise cameras, staff have done some wordsmithing on the motions, and this is their suggested wording:

That staff report back by October 2023 with additional information on the current workplan of by-law reviews being undertaken by the Operations Department, so that Council can consider any potential deletions or deferrals from the workplan.
That staff report back by October 2023 on potential timelines and resources required to undertake a review of the existing noise by-law as it pertains to vehicle noise and the use of noise cameras.
That staff report back by October 2023 on potential timelines and resources required to undertake a review of a potential outdoor recreational fire by-law.
That staff report back by October 2023 on potential timelines and resources required to undertake a review of the existing by-law to regulate the display, sale, and setting off of fireworks.

Permanent Seasonal Patio Program – There were a number of homework questions that staff needed to answer about the permanent version of the patio program before it gets ratified at this meeting, some are easier than others. For instance, staff say that they can use the municipal accommodation tax (MAT) to help cover the costs, otherwise it will have to come out of the tax-based operating budget, but a formal legal opinion is coming.

In terms of a three season patio program as suggested by Councillor Erin Caton, staff are recommending that council stay the course with the current schedule due to increased costs and the chance that the patios will be used less in the early spring and later fall. As for phasing in the cost, staff proposes a possible three-year plan with $5 per square metre per month for 2024, $7.50 for 2025, and then $10 for 2026; that means that the City’s share next year would be $135,000 against $40,000 raised from fees.

At the end of the meeting, council have to make a final decision about what direction to take with the patio program after this year.

Municipal Elections Act: Publication of Home Address – Councillor Dominique O’Rourke has pulled this from an information report, a motion passed at Waterloo Region Council requesting that the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing remove the requirement for candidates and donors to provide their address and postal code on public forms. Instead, that information will be provided to the municipal clerk on a separate form that could be protected under the Municipal Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The basis for the motion in Waterloo was because the public provision of this information is exposing the people running for office, and the people they donate to them, to “unnecessary attention and excessive scrutiny.” O’Rourke would like Guelph council to consider a similar motion.

Consent Agenda items from the Committee of the Whole meeting on July 5. (Items can be pulled by a councillor seeking additional information, otherwise all items will be voted on as a slate without further debate.)