City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 28 Meeting?

Once again, we’ve come to the end of the month after a very busy slate of meetings. At this regular meeting, council will be asked to have a last word about internet voting, the 2023 financials, the plan to send the tiny home community concept to Wellington County’s Joint Social Service Committee, and a couple of other administrative items. And, in new business, new board appointments for civilians and councillors! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 28 Meeting?”

This Week at Council: Internet is Made an Option on Voting Again

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”

LIVE BLOG: Committee of the Whole Meeting for May 7, 2024

This month’s committee meeting will look at voting methods. You can click here for the amended agenda 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: Committee of the Whole Meeting for May 7, 2024”

Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 7, 2024 Meeting?

Committee of the Whole this May will have what’s expected to be one of the spiciest debates of the term, and it’s all about how the next city council will be elected. The staff from the clerks’ office will be presenting the options for voting in the 2026 municipal election, and one of them is *not* internet voting, which is where the results of a year-long debate at one of our provincially-mandated advisory groups come in. Let’s get into it…! Continue reading “Committee of the Whole Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the May 7, 2024 Meeting?”

This Week at Council: This Hour Has Lobbying, Tourism and Integrity

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”

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for April 16, 2024

Strangely, we’re getting the regular meeting at mid-month. 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 April 16, 2024”

This Week at Council: MAT Update and Registering Lobbyists

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”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 16 Meeting?

We’re wrapping up the month at council pretty early all things considered. Our first meeting post-Ramadan brings council back to a later start time around the dinner hour, and it also brings back all the items discussed last week at Committee of the Whole. Plus, there’s a new topic in the form of a report from the Integrity Commissioner, and this one’s a little more spicy than the last one. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the April 16 Meeting?”

LIVE BLOG: Committee of the Whole Meeting for April 3, 2024

No April Fools, it’s time to get back to some council business! You can click here for the amended agenda 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: Committee of the Whole Meeting for April 3, 2024”

This Week at Council: It Was a Gas!

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!”