Committee of the Whole this May will have what’s expected to be one of the spiciest debates of the term, and it’s all about how the next city council will be elected. The staff from the clerks’ office will be presenting the options for voting in the 2026 municipal election, and one of them is *not* internet voting, which is where the results of a year-long debate at one of our provincially-mandated advisory groups come in. Let’s get into it…!
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 May 3. 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 MEETING:
Service Rationalization Review: Centralization of Back-Office Support Functions – Follow Up Review – One of the things that staff is working on is looking for ways to save money by combining the back end processes across departments and local boards, so it seems that this is part of that efforts. Having said that, because it involves “personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees; labour relations or employee negotiations; advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose”, it has to be discussed in closed.
1859 Victoria Road South: Ontario Land Tribunal Update – Since this is a matter before the OLT and involves the professional talent of lawyers, this subject must be discussed in-camera because it’s “litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board; or local board and advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose.”
STAFF RECOGNITIONS:
1) About 15 staff members making up cohort #3 have graduated from the Leadership Academy Managers Supervisors Program.
2) Also, about half-a-dozen staff members are among the latest graduates of the 2023 Lean Green Belt (Wave 2) program.
Ontario Health: Multi-Sector Service Accountability Agreement, Declaration of Compliance – Once a year, the City of Guelph has to submit a declaration of compliance to indicate that all terms of the Multi-Sectoral Accountability Agreement were met in the past year; this must be done for all City services that get Ministry of Health funding. Right now, only one program at Guelph applies to this agreement and it’s the Community Paramedicine program through the Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service.
2026 Municipal Election Alternative Voting Methods and Accessible Voting Service Enhancements – If you’ve been following the Accessibility Advisory Committee meetings for the last year-and-a-half then you know that it’s all been leading to this. Staff are recommending to make free transit service and free parking at Market Parkade part of the 2026 municipal election, and they also recommend vote by mail and vote from home as the two alternative voting methods in 2026. But the AAC did not endorse that plan, and they’re seeking more options, especially internet voting. The clerks’ office has their own concerns about cyber security with an internet option, and issues with bandwidth experienced by other municipalities using an internet option. Committee will be final arbiter.
Guelph Politico 