The council agendas were kind of light in March, so April is appropriately busy right off the bat with some pretty big technical updates and some pretty big matters of new policy development. In terms of the technical, there’s water, sewers, and the City’s program to make residential buildings more environmentally sustainable. In terms of new business, we get back to matters of tourism, and we talk about organizing our precious lobbyists.
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 Thursday March 28. 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 meeting takes place on the special date of Wednesday due to the Easter holiday weekend, and it also starts at 10 am as do all meetings scheduled during the Holy Month of Ramadan.
STAFF RECOGNITIONS:
1) Trista Di Lullo, Secretary-Treasurer from Committee of Adjustment/Council and Committee Co-ordinator, has achieved her Executive Diploma in Municipal Management from the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario (AMCTO).
2) The City of Guelph Waterworks Engine House/Pumping Station has received the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Water Landmarks Award.
3) The City of Guelph’s Household Hazardous Waste Depot, in recognition of outstanding collection results in 2023, has received the Call2Recycle Canada Inc.’s Leadership Sustainability Award for 2023.
Lobbyist Registry Review – The Municipal Act allows for the creation of a registry of people, companies and groups that lobby city hall on various policies and bylaws, and the City Clerks office think it’s a pretty good idea to start one. It requires the new role for an independent accountability officer appointed by city council called a ‘Registrar’, and they will operate in the same way as the integrity commissioner, but specifically about interactions between lobbyists and policy makers, which includes “all members of City Council, Advisory Committees of Council (ACOCs), the Executive Team, the Leadership Team and staff acting under delegated or statutory authority.” There will be penalties and enforcement, plus a Lobbyist Code of Conduct, but don’t look for this to go into effect until at least January 1, 2025. Another report on the matter will come back in the third quarter.
Municipal Accommodation Tax Update and Administration Policy – The Municipal Accommodation Tax, or the MAT, is a four per cent charge collected on every hotel room, bed & breakfast and short-term rental in Guelph and that money is being invested in building local tourist opportunities and developing promotions to bring visitors to the Royal City. Passed by council in September 2022, the annual revenue from the MAT is expected to be between $850,000 and $1 million, so this report covers the work done so far on how the “tourism entity” called Destination Marketing Guelph (DMG), a collaboration of the City of Guelph and the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, is working to spend that money.
So far, the DMG has done something called a destination assessment, meaning an analysis of who’s coming here and why. Those results show that it’s primarily visiting friends and relatives, half of whom are coming from the GTA, and two-fifths of them being between the ages of 18 and 34. They said that they like the “vibe” of Guelph, it was a good location with a historic downtown and cool food and festival experiences, and they’re looking for flexible planning tools, authentic experiences, and sustainable options for travel. For this meeting, council will be asked to approve three projects that constitute the first step in trying to leverage our tourism assets and start to formalize their promotion.
2023 Water Services’ Annual Report, Summary Report and Water Efficiency Strategy Progress Report – Fun fact: The City of Guelph has saved over 1,500 cubic metres of water per day since implementing the Water Efficiency Strategy in 2016. Average daily water use in Guelph remained the same year-over-year in 2023, and was well below the provincial and national averages, and even though Guelph was playing below the broader numbers, we ended up falling short of our own targets. The blame goes to staffing gaps and transitions and continuing to reestablish and adapt programs post-pandemic.
In regards to Adverse Water Quality Incidents, there were only two minor non-conformances identified, but no AWQIs in the Guelph Drinking Water System in 2023. Guelph’s Municipal Drinking Water Licence expires in July, but Water Services completed the comprehensive audit and review of the Operational Plan in October 2023 and achieved re-accreditation to the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard, version 2.0, so the license renewal is pretty straightforward at this point.
Guelph Greener Homes Loan Program By-law (2023)-20764 Update – This program to offer interest-free loans to Guelph homeowners to upgrade their house’s carbon foot, and since the program was launched last summer about 300 people have signed up. As the program has been underway for several months now, City staff have identified some places they can make improvements including some housekeeping and administrative changes. Bigger changes include removing the current value of the property reference and an increase to the initial disbursement limit for low-income households.
A By-law Authorizing a Special Charge under the Guelph Greener Homes Program in Accordance with O. Reg. 586-06 – Along with the changes to the program, staff need council approval to authorize a special charge on the properties participating in the Greener Homes program as it’s necessary to raise the repayable loan amount from the properties. It will also include additional listings of local improvement charges associated with the Guelph Greener Homes Program over time.
Sewer Use By-law Update – This bylaw “establishes limits for various substances and details requirements that must be met for users of the City’s sewer infrastructure.” The Sewer Use Bylaw was last updated in 2006, but it must be pretty solidly relevant because there are only two big changes being made. First, and most simply, there’s a change to some of the language to make it easier to read, and the second involves the Overstrength Agreements, which is about the administration of fees charged for additional water treatment when it comes to things like animal oil or suspended solids. In terms of the OSAs, the fee calculation will be changed on a per unit basis as opposed to charging only when a set limit is exceeded.
Water By-law Update – Also getting an update is the Water Bylaw, which is one of four different bylaws covering the use of water in Guelph. The new features of this bylaw includes a reinforcement of the City’s status as the only one authorized to operate the municipal drinking water system; a clear separation of what is public and private water systems; an update to the terms of a water system emergency; an update to regulatory fines; and new property and building code standards for servicing.
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