LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for November 29, 2023

It’s time for the last word about the budget! You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for November 29, 2023”

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for November 28, 2023

The first of two big meeting this week1 You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for November 28, 2023”

MEETING PREVIEW: Committee of Adjustment Meeting for December 14, 2023

There’s no early holiday break for the Committee of Adjustment, they still have a pretty busy agenda of new applications this month, and they’re all asking for a variety of variances. A new balcony, a new front yard, some new additions, and a couple of new accessory units are among the items up for committee’s consideration, and the applicants are hoping that it’s a happy Christmas for their construction projects! Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Committee of Adjustment Meeting for December 14, 2023”

RECAP: Library Board Lays Out Its Fundraising Plans

In this final Guelph Public Library Board of Directors meeting of the year [shocked emoji face], we learned a lot about the planned fundraising efforts for the new main library and that project so far is looking pretty good! A special guest outlined the plans plus how and when all us regular folk might be able to join in the efforts. Also, the board looked ahead to all the other work that has to be done come the new year as we count down to the library’s opening. Here’s the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Library Board Lays Out Its Fundraising Plans”

This Week at Council: Planning is Easy, Budget is Hard

Two meetings at council this week; one was easy and the other was somewhat harder. The easy one was the planning meetings, some straightforward applications and designations, but the hard one had to do with the budget. The added workshop meeting about finding options to reduce the budget was predictably difficult, but there’s still a few more days until a final decision has to be made. For now, here’s the recap of this week’s meetings… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning is Easy, Budget is Hard”

POLICE NOTES: Downtown Assault, Drunk Tractor Driving and Mallrat Defrocked

There are 145,000 stories in the Royal City, and this is some of them. Looking at a week’s worth of media releases from the Guelph Police Service, there’s a lot going on in our little city crime-wise speaking, so let’s run down some of the charges, issues, and requests for information from the Guelph Police Service over the last seven days. Continue reading “POLICE NOTES: Downtown Assault, Drunk Tractor Driving and Mallrat Defrocked”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the November 29 Meeting?

After a solid month of hard work and preparation, the moment for hard decisions has arrived. At this special meeting of council, the horseshoe will walk though the minefields of affordability and need in order to reach a decision on the 2024-2027 multiyear budget that’s unlikely going to please anyone. Let’s lay it all out on the table with this preview of what may not actually be the final budget meeting (if a certain someone uses a “V” word). Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the November 29 Meeting?”

RECAP: Education Programs’ Fate Stymies GRCA Board Again

November’s Grand River Conservation Authority board meeting took a break from the immediate concern around next year’s budget. Sort of. The debate continued about the fate of select nature centres and the outdoor education program, and that’s a decision that was reserved another day to get more information. For everything else on the agenda, you can check out the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Education Programs’ Fate Stymies GRCA Board Again”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the December 5 Meetings?

Two big meetings back-to-back, united in the fact that there’s only one issue on each of their agendas. The final Committee of the Whole meeting of 2023 will actually look ahead to next year with a brief report, and after that, council will look to the past. Sort of. That Official Plan Amendment that was approved, sent to the Ontario government, rewritten, sent back to council and re-adapted… It’s back again! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the December 5 Meetings?”

RECAP: Ward 4 Residents Get the Last Word in Budget Town Halls

It was the sixth of six ward town halls about the 2024-2027 multiyear budget, and it happened in Ward 4, aka: The Quatro. Ward Councillors Linda Busuttil and Christine Billings were on hand, and so was Mayor Cam Guthrie, Guelph Police Chief Gord Cobey, CAO Scott Stewart, DCAO Trevor Lee and GM of Finance Tara Baker. You may also recognize some other special guests that put in an appearance, but know for sure, check out the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Ward 4 Residents Get the Last Word in Budget Town Halls”