Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the June 2, 2026 Meeting?

If you’ve found council meetings a little to short lately, and without a lot of variety, then the June Committee of the Whole meeting will definitely need to be an appointment on your calendar. Is council doing an upstanding job when it comes to closed meetings? Can we save a valuable heritage bridge in the south end? Can we deliver energy equity for people in Guelph? Is there a way to better understand the situation when we’ve got water issues? All that and more in this preview!

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 Thursday May 29. 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:

Hanlon Creek Business Park: Disposition Update – The City of Guelph is trying to move the last few parcels of land in the Hanlon Creek Business Park, and because this has to do with the acquisition and disposition of land, it’s being discuss in-camera under Section 239(2)(c) of the Municipal Act.

STAFF RECOGNITIONS:

1) Scott Plante, Project Manager in Planning Development, has completed their PSB Professional Exam for MCIP, RPP Designation.

2) Stephaine Guy, Manager of Facility Design and Construction, has finished their Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Wilfrid Laurier University.

3) The City of Guelph’s Boathouse Retaining Wall Rehabilitation Project has been recognized for the 2026 Ontario Public Works Association (OPWA) Structures Award.

4) Edna Escalera, Paramedic Service Scheduler, will be recognized for attaining their Canadian citizenship.

Appointment of Closed Meeting Investigator – Since 2007, Local Authority Services has been providing closed meeting investigation services to the City of Guelph, but they are getting out of that business. Instead, the firm that provides the services of the Integrity Commissioner, Aird & Berlis, will take over those responsibilities starting in January (with one exception below) in order to ensure continuity in accountability and transparency.

Closed Meeting Investigation Report – You may recall that there was a last minute meeting of city council in January to address the daytime shelter issue. Most of that meeting was in-camera, and someone decided to file a complaint about, but an investigation by Aird & Berlis says that all the procedural requirements were followed and that no improper votes were taken in-camera.

Community Investment Strategy Update – This year, there was nearly $1 million in requests for community grants, and the City of Guelph was only able to fill half that, and because of that growing demand some changes need to be made. The report prepared by Collective Results shows that the program has some strong foundations, but there are also some significant gaps; smaller and grassroots organizations are often disadvantaged by competing in the same funding pool as larger nonprofits, funding caps have not kept pace with inflation, reporting requirements can be burdensome for small grants, and funding decisions often arrive too late for organizations to plan effectively. Equity-deserving communities also reported barriers to accessing funding and mainstream services. Staff are recommending that funds be allocated according to three separate designations: “Equity, Anti-Racism, and Reconciliation”, “Connection, Expression, and Belonging”, and “Community Resilience”. In terms of the funding itself, staff are recommending process improvements, and other measures including micro grants and a City Fee Program, which can be phased in over the next couple of years.

Procurement By-law Update – Because of evolving procurement practices, changing market conditions, and updated trade agreement thresholds, and new provincial legislation staff are recommending an update just eight years after the last one. One of the most significant changes is an increase in procurement thresholds. The low-value procurement threshold would rise from $35,000 to $50,000, while the medium-value threshold would increase from $100,000 to $139,000, matching the current threshold established under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. The changes will also give staff more flexibility in seeking bids and proposals, will strengthen documentation for non-competitive purchases, and introduce regular reviews of sole-source contracts every two years. There are also implications from the Buy Ontario Act where the successful bid may not be the lowest-priced one if domestic content requirements influence evaluation criteria, but the City is developing some internal guidance for these situations.

With Glowing Hearts Program: Employer Recognition of the City of Guelph – This refers to a federal initiative delivered in partnership with the Canadian Forces Liaison Council that recognizes employers who support members of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve Force. The City of Guelph has a military leave policy , which provides job-protected leave and reinstatement rights for employees undertaking military service, and based on those provisions city hall is eligible to be recognized by the program. Staff is being asked to review potential policy changes and financial impacts.

McQuillan’s Bridge Municipal Class Environmental Assessment – This bridge on the southside of Stone Road, across from the OR Lands, has been labelled unsafe for nearly two years now, a true example of demolition by neglect. Coming out of the EA, staff are recommending that their preferred option, or fate, for the bridge is to save it, repair the concrete, upgrade the safety features, and preserve most of the bridge features. It will cost almost $3 million to get that done.

Outside Water Use By-law Update – The City of Guelph has enjoyed a lot of success reducing water consumption, and that’s at least partially due to this program, but it seems that some of us find the current three-level system confusing. That’s why the old blue, yellow and red system will be replaced by two designations: “Standard Restricted Program Level” and “Elevated Restricted Program Level.” Under the standard level, residents would continue to be allowed to water lawns on designated odd/even address days, while gardens, trees, and recreational water uses would generally remain unrestricted. During elevated restrictions, lawn watering would be prohibited, but watering of food gardens, trees, and ornamental gardens would still be permitted within specified hours, which is up to four hours between midnight and 9 am and between 5 pm and midnight on permitted days. The transition will begin this year and be fully implemented in 2027.

Advancing Energy Equity in Guelph – This is courtesy of a partnership between the City, the University of Guelph, and the University of Toronto that’s meant to address the growing challenge of residents struggling to afford adequate heating, cooling, and electricity. It seems that there are over 4,500 households in Guelph – 1 in 10 – who are feeling the burden of high energy costs, and that number jumps to 12,000 when you include renters, so there are a number things that need to be addressed to ease that burden including improving outreach and navigation services to connect residents with support programs, expanding home energy retrofit initiatives, developing solutions for renters, and improving data collection and reporting on energy affordability. There’s no new spending in this report, but committee will be asked to direct staff to assess what resources they’ll need, financial and otherwise, to implement these initiatives.

Recommendation Report: New Fee Structure for Building Permit Applications – The funding model for the City’s Building Services department has been in a state of financial instability with the dearth of large scale projects in Guelph, so staff are recommending some changes. BMA Management Consulting is recommending targeted fee increases, particularly for renovation and alteration permits, which should generate an additional $205,000 to $470,000 in revenue in the second half of 2026 and between $510,000 and $1.15 million annually beginning in 2027. The report also recommends continuing automatic annual fee indexing tied to staff compensation increases, and exploring new administrative fees through the 2027 budget process because despite these changes, the department will not fully eliminate the deficit until construction picks up again.

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.