April showers brings Committee of the Whole. No fooling, this meeting will have some pretty big financial implications, and some pretty small ones as well when the horseshoe tackles development debt, new development arrangements, and the final update to a tree bylaw, plus the future of the Drill Hall will be determined. Again. For the last time(?). Let’s dig into what to expect at your first council meeting on the first day of the month!
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 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.
CLOSED MEETING:
Bargaining Mandate Report Update Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 241 and 973 – Since this is a matter labour negotiations, it has to be discussed in-camera under Section 239(2)(d) for “labour relations or employee negotiations.”
STAFF RECOGNITIONS:
1) Acting GM of Human Resources Stephen O’Brien, DCAO Trevor Lee, and CAO Tara Baker will accept the recognition for the City of Guelph as one of Southwestern Ontario & Waterloo Area’s Top Employers of 2025.
2) Janet Gerrath, Project Manager for Information Technology, has received their Project Management Professional Designation.
3) Brad Kelloway, Program Manager for Parks Infrastructure and Construction, has received their Amusement Device Mechanic, Amusement Ride (ADM-AR) Certification.
Debenture Issue Authority – First, a lesson in financing: What is a debenture? “A debenture is a type of long-term debt instrument that is not backed by collateral. Debentures are backed only by the creditworthiness and reputation of the issuer. Both corporations and governments frequently issue debentures to raise capital or funds.” Given that the City of Guelph has a AAA credit rating, it should be relatively easy to secure the $92 million debenture over the next two years to finish the South End Community Centre and the Baker District; staff are also seeking leave to refinance a 2016 debenture too. This additional financing is within the City’s statutory and policy debt levels, and has already been accounted for in the City’s budget.
Municipal Service and Financing Agreements Policy – More lessons in high finance! Per council direction, staff have been looking at MSFAs as a way to accelerate residential infrastructure like roads and water pipes in order to make land ready to build homes faster. Essentially, the City will enter into agreements with developers to finance this type of infrastructure in the short term instead of waiting for the right moment fiscally since municipal financial resources are fairly limited in how much they can do at one time. Obviously, such a policy would require terms, authorities and procedures to make it work, so staff will lay all that out as well as a timeline for implementation.
Private Tree Protection By-law Update – In the new updated bylaw, all trees at least 50 centimetres in diameter will be protected on private property! That’s one of the changes that committee will look at in addition to improved clarity to definitions and exemptions, improved clarity to the removal process and the maximisation of the costs for permits and recovery. There’s also an increase in fees and new limits for tree injury and removal permits, plus new fees for cash-in-lieu of replacement, compliance inspections, and appeals. This represents a $222,000 annual increase to the budget, but that may be the ceiling as well as the floor because there was some pushback about increasing the budget too much in the area of managing the tree canopy.
Results of the Feasibility Study for Potential Future Arts and Culture Uses of the Drill Hall – Looks like it’s back to the original recommendation… After directing staff to look at using the Drill Hall as some kind of artistic or cultural centre last year, staff engaged 18 local cultural and community leaders to see what can be done with the space, plus an external consultant concluded that the Drill Hall is ripe for a potential visual arts centre. Despite that, and the interest in the community, the staff report notes that with the priorities right now are affordability and housing, so that means spending more on an arts centre is out of alignment. Once again, staff are recommending the sale of the Drill Hall where it could still possibly be used for an arts centre by the private or non-profit sector.
Guelph Politico 