There were back-to-back meetings at Guelph City Council this week, and the topic at hand was money. At Committee of the Whole, council had to deal with their own money, or at least the money that the councillors in the next couple will be paid as remuneration came up for debate. Then, at the other meeting, the 2026 budget process came to a close with the seven shared services and local boards. Let’s dig into the recap! Continue reading “This Week at Council: No Raise, Except For Taxes”
Coming to you more than two months later, it’s the rest of the budget! 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 during the meeting on Blue Sky or recap the complete thread after the meeting below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “RECAP: City Council Meeting for February 4, 2026”
At the end of November when council finished the 2026 City of Guelph budget, it came with a big “To be continued…” sign. (Not literally.) This is the conclusion. At this special meeting of council, they will tackle the third of the budget that is generated, and in part controlled, by the seven local boards and shared services, but will there be the same wheeling and dealing that happened in November with the City portion? Here’s the preview! Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the February 4, 2026 Meeting?”
It was the last council meeting of the year, and it’s been a wild ride, but there were at least a couple of surprises left for civic policy nerds before Christmas Break. Yes, as expected, council discussed the final, final design for St. George’s Square as council sought the ever nebulous “wow” factor. In addition to that there was some push back from council about changes to conservation authorities and a twist ending for fans of bike lanes. For the last time in 2025, here’s the recap… Continue reading “This Week at Council: Squares, Downloading, and Bike Lanes End 2025”
Let us wrap up a very busy, and a very difficult 2025 in the council chambers. 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 with the thread below, or you can watch the whole meeting for yourself by watching it on the City’s website here. Continue reading “RECAP: City Council Meeting for December 16, 2025”
Since they resumed sitting the week after Thanksgiving, the Government of Ontario has been throwing a lot at us, and then on Halloween they proposed sweeping changes to conservation authorities in Ontario. If it feels like we’ve been here before we kind of have, and while conservation authorities have weathered provincial meddling before, can they survive it again? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #493 – They’re Coming for the Conservation Authorities… Again (feat. Phil Pothen)”
It was a week of back-to-back meetings at Guelph City Council, and for scheduling reasons we’ve even squeezed in a third that was technically last week. First, we will catch up on a mostly in-camera meeting, and then get into the latest planning matters that came up for council consideration. Last, we catch-up on the report to council about the progress of the City’s Strategic Planning initiatives. Let’s recap…. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Planning and Strategic Planning Matters”
Future Ready? I guess we’re going to find out! 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 during the meeting on Blue Sky or recap the complete thread after the meeting below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “RECAP: City Council Meeting for July 16, 2025”
Remember the Strategic Plan? You should because every report that comes to council details how it aligns with the Strategic Plan, but since you sometimes can’t see the forest for the trees, council meets once a year to get an update about how well (or how poorly) the City is meeting its goals when it comes to the four pillars of the Strategic Plan. This is that meeting, the real State of the City if you will… Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the July 16, 2025 Meeting?”
This month, the Grand River Conservation Membership meeting falls on the last day of the month, so what have they saved the best for last? Well they’ve certainly saved their budget for last out of all the area shared services, so we will get that final vote at this meeting. In other news, there will be some new tenders award and a vey wintery report about the current conditions in the watershed. Let’s see what all’s on the agenda. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for February 28, 2025”
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