Council business wrapped up for the month of February with a meeting that covered a variety of topics, and included some special guests. A follow-up delegation about transit in St. George’s Square led to a robust conversation about the subject from a variety of points of view, and then council made some appointments, and talked about pretty big re-organization for a major committee that will have more direct City involvement now. Here’s the recap…
Regular Meeting of Council – February 27
The last council meeting of the month was largely straightforward, but it did start with some special guests. Githmi Illamperuma, a University of Guelph student, sang “O Canada” and reminded us all that local artists and musicians are invited to apply to perform the national anthem as a way of promoting local music. After that, Charlie Hunt received a medal for representing Canada in a fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Tap Championship Under 12 Formation in Germany!
After that, council blazed through the ratification of the Committee of the Whole agenda, but the Payment-in-lieu of Parking Policy was pulled by Councillor Christine Billings so that she could vote against it. Mayor Cam Guthrie joined Billings’ protest vote saying that he struggled with voting in favour of this because he wanted wants zero parking minimums downtown and he can’t support something that he doesn’t agree with. Despite the two no votes, the recommendations passed 11-2.
After that, council approved two new appointments to the Committee of Adjustment (as pre-approved in closed session) and then they heard from the one delegate of the night, some guy that was concerned that transit users were not well represented by the Wyndham Street North Cross Section and St George’s Square Intersection plan.
Following up on those concerns, various councillors asked about community feedback and accommodation for transit vehicles in the redesign. DCAO Colleen Clack-Bush said that transit staff have been very involved with transportation and engineering staff to ensure that transit access is maintained with the new design. DCAO Jayne Holmes added that the City will be maintaining all the transit stops that are there right now, and that they will be taking care to keep transit in mind as they proceed to detailed design.
Clack-Bush later added that staff try and look at everything through the lens of improving transit, or at least not impacting transit negatively, and that she was confident that this design does not negatively impact transit. CAO Scott Stewart also weighed in saying that while the City can’t accommodate all the things that will happen every day on Wyndham Street, the City will be able to roll with the punches. There are a lot of questions that the City doesn’t have an answer to right now, but he added that there’s no way that transit’s on the bottom of list.
Eventually, the recommendations were approved unanimously.
Next, the 2023 Annual Report of the Integrity Commissioner. John Mascarin explained that he was pleased to report as the “ethical doctor” of city council that they get a clean bill of health! He also praised the quality of the questions from council and teased next year’s report by explaining that he had received two complaints at the end of last year about a member of council, and since there was a third reported last month it’s still an ongoing matter.
The last item was the report about the creation of the new Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee with Wellington County. This committee will be made up of four members from Guelph council and four members from the County council; the chair will rotate and though the meetings will be talking place at the County and following their house rules for the foreseeable future, any meetings taking place at Guelph City Hall will follow the procedural bylaws of the City.
There was one point of clarification on the make-up of the committee, the City chooses one rep to stand as the candidate for chair of the new committee and the County will pick a candidate of their own. When the committee sits, they’ll work out which one will be the chair and which one will be the vice-chair. Cam Guthrie, Cathy Downer, Dominique O’Rourke and Linda Busuttil are the City’s representatives to the joint committee, and Busuttil will stand as the City’s candidate for chair.
Guthrie touted this recommendation as a long simmering accomplishment of his mayoralty to restore the relationship between Guelph and Wellington County. He said that the citizens of Guelph write a $20 million-plus cheque to the County every year, and that the City needs to be at the table as a true and equal partner when it comes to things that Guelph’s money pays for. The new terms were unanimously approved, and the County will get their turn later today.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 