June at Committee of the Whole brings a little bit of almost everything. Members of the committee will chew on more changes to single-use plastics policy, an updated look at the City of Guelph’s asset management work, and a report coming from a direction last fall at the budget meeting. If that’s not enough for you, the fate of a certain heritage building downtown is back on the front burner.
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 31. 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.
STAFF RECOGNITIONS:
1) The City of Guelph’s Household Hazardous Waste Depot have received the Call2Recycle Canada Inc.’s Leadership Sustainability Award for 2023 in recognition of outstanding collection results in 2023.
2) A baker’s dozen of staff won the OPWA Project of the Year for Environmental Sustainability and Biodiversity in recognition of the Public Park Buried Drum Remediation project.
2024 Corporate Asset Management Plan and Levels of Service Study – This report doesn’t have any direct budget impacts, but it does inform the budget. This is a report that the City has to file under the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, and it outlines the total replacement value of over 200,000 City-owned infrastructure assets. In 2024, that value is now $7.7 billion, which is an increase from $4.4 billion just four years ago in 2020. The 2024 backlog of renewal work is estimated at $354.3 million, and the increases are being driven by inflationary factors and updated asset inventories.
Single-Use Items Strategy Phase 2 – According to the staff report, the federal regulations remains in effect while its in litigation, and since Guelph’s Single-Use Items Bylaw falls under different legal premises, it also remains in effect. Having said that, this latest phase of the mission to phase out single-use plastics will focus on sustainable behaviours for residents and businesses. After doing some additional surveying, staff are looking to recommend that business must accept a customer’s clean reusable drink cup for beverage
orders made in-store, only offer offer single-use accessory food-ware items like utensils and trays by request only or through self-serve stations, and that paper shopping bags must contain 40 per cent post-consumer recycled content. This next phase will go into effect in March.
Drill Hall Responses to Expressions of Interest and Planned Future Use – City staff are recommending that council put the Drill Hall up for sale. This despite the fact that a 2021 market findings report concluded that “there was no private market interest to acquire and re-purpose the building.” Out of the Request for Expression of Interest there were two, one from the Business Centre Guelph-Wellington, which was withdrawn, and one from the Guelph Centre for Visual Arts which apparently came with a request for “significant financial capital and operating support.” Staff also recommends to make no further investment into the Drill Hall other than general maintenance and security.
Financial needs-based: Property Tax Program – Back at last fall’s budget vote, a motion was passed to spend $10,000 to explore the creation of a financial needs-based application program that would waive penalties and suspend interest on the unpaid amounts of income taxes for struggling homeowners. According to the staff report, they already have a number of options to help people smooth out any wrinkles with making their property tax payments, and such a program would be one-of-a-kind compared to other Ontario municipalities. Staff also foresee some unexpected consequences like a higher risk of collections.
Guelph Politico 