City council this week was a little more laid back, a little more informal. It’s been a while since council enjoyed some orientation, and last week they got some timely information about construction season. The requisite dad joke was made about how there are two seasons in Canada, winter and construction, and in the midst of one, council talked about the other, which was more interesting if you were an actual participant. Here’s the recap!
Orientation Meeting of City Council – February 19, 2025
This orientation meeting of council almost never happened. Six members of council, including Mayor Cam Guthrie, were there and ready to go at 6 pm sharp, but they were one short of a quorum. The procedural bylaw requires all meetings to be cancelled if quorum is not achieved within 15 minutes of the meeting’s start, but Councillor Ken Yee Chew arrived with seven minutes to spare and then Councillor Leanne Caron shortly after the meeting began.
Now let’s get to the meeting. The subject was a council orientation session about the construction improvement program, a new effort by the City of Guelph to better co-ordinate and communicate about “linear construction” projects, meaning the work of roads and pipes. With billions in infrastructure renewal and housing enabling servicing coming down the pipe over the next few years, there’s going to be a lot of building, and a lot of detours and other interruptions.
The goal of the workshop was to help educate council and the public, build trust, build relationships and hear feedback about what staff can change, improve or do more of when it comes to construction. There were four interactive stations set up around the council chambers and groups of councillors were given 20 minutes at each station to engage with staff. The topics covered were Capital Project Planning and Design, Construction Project Delivery, Traffic Management, and Customer Service, Communications and Relationship Building.
This is where things got unexciting as an observer. If you were watching from the press box, or on the live stream, you just saw the councillors move from one station to another for over an hour.
At the end, the main session was rejoined for some final thoughts. What stood out? How complex all the construction planning is and how there needs to be more alignment between corporate and council comms. In terms of surprises, apparently there’s an idea about using Have Your Say for feedback during construction, there’s a flaw in the system that notices are sent to landlords and not the tenants and there should be some traffic calming in advance of construction to prepare for detours. In terms or getting the best out of construction, council agreed that communication is key and the earlier the better. Plus, since they get most of the complaints, staff should be more proactive to make sure members of council can answer constituent concerns.
Look for some of these bright ideas to go into effect when construction season begins later this spring.
Click here to see the complete recap of the meeting.
Guelph Politico 