Two meetings this week, one that took care of a lot of planning business in not a lot of time with the monthly planning meeting, and then council tried to absorb four years of Strategic Plan accomplishments in two hours with the annual report. Also, council said goodbye to a very prominent member of staff as he’s about to begin a new adventure as a retiree. Here’s the recap of this week at council… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning and a Future Ready Finale”
June began with a very busy meeting that discussed a trio of important topics. Do you like to talk about asset management and infrastructure? We’ve got you covered. Are you concerned about stopping the proliferation of single-use plastic? This is your meeting. Are you concerned about the fate of the Drill hall and/or interested in a new arts centre in Guelph? Then you’re definitely going to want to stay tuned! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Plastic Improvements and Dill Hall Direction”
It was an action-packed week at council, but it was also one of the most contentious weeks seen in the chambers in the last few months. The friction was all about exploring online voting methods for the 2026 municipal election, and whether or not council would proceed with the option reached at Committee of the Whole. Also, there was another question about whether or not too much was collected in development charges. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Internet Voting Remains an Option”
This week at city council, two was the magic number. There were two different meetings, we had the month’s second Committee of the Whole meeting, there were two heritage-related motions, and there were two major presents. Two was also reflective of the impact, because there are two different local governments and different powers between then, and that made the idea of proceeding with our own Better Tent City (see above) more difficult. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Money Talks, Tiny Homes Walk… to the County”
After a couple of weeks off, city council got back to business with the May edition of Committee of the Whole, and boy was there business! There was one big item on the agenda this week, and it was bound to be controversial, but it was the culmination of about 18 months of work and advocacy at one of Guelph’s local boards. Yes, internet voting is back on the menu, and this is how we got there… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Internet is Made an Option on Voting Again”
The last meeting of the month at council was mostly about the recap, but it also had some traps that could have lead to controversy. Yes, there was a report from the integrity commissioner regarding complaints about the mayor’s social media, but there were also some pointed critiques made to the mayor around the lobbyist registry too. In other unfinished business, council had more notes about the Municipal Accommodation Tax. Continue reading “This Week at Council: This Hour Has Lobbying, Tourism and Integrity”
This month’s planning meeting of city council was all about four, and despite what you’ve heard it’s actually the loneliness number. That was the impression you might have gotten watching what happened when staff deliver their draft report about allowing fourplexes and four units as-of-right in Guelph. It looks like this policy might have an uphill climb, but staff have until June to make a case, in the meantime, here’s the recap…. Continue reading “This Week at Council: The Four Unit Problem”
Delayed a day because of the Easter long weekend, Committee of the Whole sat on Wednesday and discussed progress on the development of key policy. On the one hand, there was the Municipal Accommodation Tax and the creation of a cohesive tourism strategy, and on the other there was a question of transparency and knowing who’s lobbying who at city hall and about what. Here’s the recap. Continue reading “This Week at Council: MAT Update and Registering Lobbyists”
It was just going to be a quick meeting, 10 minutes in and out max, but a funny thing happened between that time and when the agenda was released a few weeks ago. Mostly, a couple of councillors wanted to have their say about more provincial overreach, in this case when it comes to how Queen’s Park is looking to override the Ontario Energy Board. So did council lay the smack down, and how many of them wanted no part of it? Read on… Continue reading “This Week at Council: It Was a Gas!”
Don’t judge an agenda by its cover. The docket for this month’s planning meeting of city council looked kind of plain, but looks can b deceiving and at least one item on the agenda opened up an opportunity take a deeper dive on demolition policy, or demolition by neglect policy to be precise. There will be more about that coming this year, but for now here’s what was said on the matter at this past week’s council meeting. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Demolition Bylaw, Man.”
Guelph Politico 