The May meeting of Committee of the Whole will bring you a variety of stuff to chew on, some of it you might have already chewed on this year if you’ve been following council business closely. A climate call to action, the year-end financials, new terms of reference for committee, an update to the update of the Code of Conduct, and much, much more is on the agenda for this first council meeting 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 May 2. 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:
Potential Disposition: Part of Grange Road – What part of Grange Road and for what? We can’t say because this will be discussed in-camera under Section 239(2)(c) of the Municipal Act for matters “regarding a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board.”
STAFF RECOGNITIONS:
Lauren Short, Road Safety Technologist II, has secured their Road Safety Professional Designation.
Addressing Gaps in Daytime Sheltering Options for Persons Experiencing Homelessness – It’s been over a year since temporary funding for daytime shelter services through Royal City Mission expired. Work was supposedly started out of last year’s Health and Housing Symposium, and staff are presently awaiting a formal recommendation from the Wellington-Guelph Health and Housing Community Planning Table for a long-term approach, but in the mid-term staff are seeking leave from committee for a interim plan. Staff want to have a formal procurement process to look for a provider of daytime shelter services like showers, laundry, storage, 24/7 washrooms, food, activities, and warming and cooling.
Committee of the Whole Terms of Reference Update – At issue is the recent move of the Finance department from Corporate Services to the CAOs Office, which has increased the workload in the Governance agenda and severely decreased the workload for Corporate. To restore balance, staff are recommending that Corporate Services be renamed “Corporate Services and Office of the CAO” in the Terms of Reference, which has to be approved by committee.
2024 Year-end Operating Budget Monitoring Report and Surplus Allocation and Deficit Funding – There was a 0.01 per cent total deficit in 2024, which includes a net operating deficit of $397,000. What was driving that? While there were surpluses thanks to use fees and difficulty in filling staff positions in a timely manner, increases in purchased services for repair and maintenance was way up at around 16 per cent over budget. There were also some surpluses for the Guelph Public Library and the Guelph Police Service which will be deposited into the contingency reserve for both agencies.
2024 Year-end Capital Budget Monitoring Report – Total capital spending in 2024 was $181.5 million, which was an increase over the amount spent last year while at the same time the City was able to capitalise on a “significant” increase in the number of available grants offered by both the federal and provincial government. Some proposed changes on the capital side includes moving the purchase of new bunkes gear for the Fire Department ahead a year, along with money for the Affordable Housing Demonstration project, and money for the Parkland Dedication Bylaw update.
2024 Long-term Financial Statement: Reserves and Debt – The City’s reserve and reserve funds decreased by $10.6 million last year with a finishing balance of $508.6 million. Not helping the financial outlook is that a total of just $12 million in development charges were collected in 2024, with the City handing out more in exemptions, which totalled $15.3 million, including $10.4 million for ARDUs. Year-end debt totalled $102.3 million with principle payments of $9.6 million. The City issued no new debt in 2024.
Code of Conduct for Council and Local Boards – Back in March, Committee of the Whole heard about proposed changes to the Code of Conduct pertaining to social media, especially in elections. They didn’t like them. Section 8 was referred back to staff and the integrity commissioner for refinement, and this is the result: While restrictions about making political endorsements or promotions of local businesses has been lifted, and so have prohibitions about discussing their political role in social media posts during elections, restrictions on using their title in account handles and usernames remain, and so do the original rules for blocking users, and the original suggestion that councillors should have separate election accounts.
Guelph’s Community Call to Climate Action – According to this report, the City of Guelph has made “moderate” progress in its greenhouse gas goals, which is another way of saying “not very much”. So in the hopes of getting the City back on track, staff will lay out this plan to reduce community emissions across all sectors including more energy efficient low carbon buildings, more sustainable transportation, preservation of the natural environment, and supporting the development of the circular economy.
Guelph Politico 