RECAP: City Council Meeting for December 16, 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”

GUELPH POLITICAST #493 – They’re Coming for the Conservation Authorities… Again (feat. Phil Pothen)

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)”

This Week at Council: Planning and Strategic Planning Matters

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”

RECAP: City Council Meeting for July 16, 2025

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”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the July 16, 2025 Meeting?

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?”

MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for February 28, 2025

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”

This Week at Council: Six Minutes and Five Seconds

So it was a short city council meeting this week. Really short. Good thing then that we have some unfinished business from last week’s council business, the Local Boards and Shared Services budget for 2025. The actual business of passing the budget was, itself, brief, but there was a lot explaining about what the budget is paying for, especially in the case of social services, the library, and the police. So let’s dig into two meetings for the price of one. Continue reading “This Week at Council: Six Minutes and Five Seconds”

RECAP: City Council Meeting for January 22, 2025

It’s the last budget meeting of the year! Or the first. Depends on how you look at it! 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 this month’s Committee of the Whole meeting, follow the breakdown posted below, and you can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “RECAP: City Council Meeting for January 22, 2025”

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the January 22, 2025 Meeting?

Just when you thought it was safe to put your calculators away… The budget process for 2025 reaches its final phase with this meeting, the presentation and approval of the local boards and shared services budget. These are agencies that are important to Guelphites offering services and programs used everyday, but they are also the budgets that councillors have the least control over. So how much more will you have to pay? Let’s find out… Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the January 22, 2025 Meeting?”

MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for October 25, 2024

October’s meeting of the Grand River Conservation Authority is the usual mixed bag, and the bag will come with a price tag. Budget season is in full bloom (so to speak) with the presentation of the draft budget for 2025, plus there will be follow-ups on the Conservation Areas Strategy and ticketing processes for the Elora Quarry Conservation Area. And since winter is coming, let’s also talk about ice management. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Grand River Conservation Membership Meeting for October 25, 2024”