Thread by @adamadonaldson

Coming up at 2 pm, it's this month's [leeeeeeeeengthy] Committee of the Whole meeting.
guelphpolitico.ca/2023/05/26/com…

Committee went into closed session at 1:30 pm on one item, Water Services’ Updated Operational Plan Endorsement. This is under Section239(2) (a) of the Municipal Act for matters “relating to the security of the property of the Municipality or Local Board.”

Five minutes late for the start of the meeting. Council is still in closed session.

11 minutes later, it seems that council is emerging from closed session.

Mayor Guthrie has called the open meeting to order. On the closed item, there was a discussion with staff and the receipt of information. No direction was given.

Motion out of closed session passed unanimously.

Staff recognitions this month:

First item up on the consent agenda for governance: Ontario Health – Multi-Sectoral Accountability Agreement, Declaration of Compliance.

The City has to submit a declaration of compliance to indicate that all terms of the Multi-Sectoral Accountability Agreement were met in the past year; this must be done for all City services that get Ministry of Health funding.

Right now, only one program at Guelph applies to this agreement and it’s the Community Paramedicine program.

This matter passes unanimously.

Next, the first presentation: 2022 Guelph. Future Ready Progress Report. DCAO Scott Stewart begins the presentation.

Here's a link to the interactive report: …turereadyprogressreport2022.guelph.ca Stewart is going to walk us though some of the information posted on the site.

This report doesn't reflect *every* report, some indicators are not reported because the data's not available, which is, apparently, "not a problem until it is." Another issue is data that comes from outside sources that doesn't always coincide with the City's schedule.

DCAO Jayne Holmes takes over. This is the Powering Our Future pillar, and the KPIs (key performance indicators) and the SIs (strategic indicators). The accomplishments are colour coded with green meaning mission: accomplished.

These are KPIs under Sustaining Our Future. Note that we don't have the data yet for the risk of exposure to climate change for City assets. Also, we didn't meet those net zero targets.

Lotta red here. This is because of lags on response time for ambulances and the availability of affordable housing. DCAO Colleen Clack-Bush notes that while the City is not meeting targets here, it shows their dedication to transparency as an organization.

Forgot to post the graphic for this:

https://twitter.com/adamadonaldson/status/1666154046133026816

Cllr O'Rourke says the level of transparency is so much better from four years ago, and appreciates that. She asks about how the City decides to collect data for itself and validate data sources?

Staff says that they will be developing a KPI information sheet with data providers that will look at how the data is gathered and from who. This information will also be provided to the public for all the "data nerds." Collecting data locally depends on the project.

Cllr Allt asks if there are financial considerations if a target is red, yellow or green. DCAO Trevor Lee says that he would be cautious about that determination, because sometimes there are problems that can't be solved by throwing money at them.

Cllr Klassen asks how often staff look at the targets. Staff note that they review the targets once a year, and try to determine if targets are reflecting the outcome that they're trying to achieve. Sometime that's not the same.

Klassen asks how the targets will transfer to the next version of the Strat Plan. GM of intergovernmental Jodie Sales says that work is being in done in tandem with the development of new SP. Some will carry over, others will might be different, new measures.

Cllr Downer asks about water and wastewater under sustaining our future, there's nothing in there. Holmes says on June 9, the City will be issuing Sustainability Report, there will be a lot of info about water and solid waste in that report. Will be coming back as 1 report in '24

Allt/Billings move the two recommendations:

Here's the overview of KPIs and SIs if you don't feel like thumbing through the site. Guthrie says there's some good commentary there that shouldn't be missed. pub-guelph.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…

Recommendations approved.

Next, County of Wellington Social Services: Report to Guelph City Council. This is a report that council/committee asked for last July, an overview of social services as administered by the county.

Luisa Artuso, Social Services Administrator for the County of Wellington will lead the presentation.

What does Social Services manage?

Artuso notes that funding for all three of these services is complicated. Funding in the childcare sector is changing because of the increase in federal funding in order to reduce the costs to get to $10/day childcare.

Issues of access, and equal assess across the county to licensed childcare was an issue that came up a couple of months ago at the social services committee meeting.

Here's where we talk about the issue that brought us here today.

The division of services offered in housing.

The number of units and variety of housing, plus where they're located in the region.

You'll notice the change in funding from upper levels of government. Artuso notes that the hope is that there might be announcements of new funding as we enter the second half of the year.

The future?

Finally, Ontario Works.

Questions start with Goller. He asks about the $18 million invested in new building. Director of Housing Poste says those were in the county, 2 large projects in Fergus, in M. Forest, 1 in Palmerston and the rest are in reserve waiting for new projects.

The projects are 80% of market, with some rent-geared-to-income.

Goller is trying to understand how the County is building housing with their affordable housing reserve, and wants the City to do the same. Clack-Bush does concur that the City's funds have been used on third projects lately, but doesn't want to leave the impression that...

...there's no social housing here in Guelph. Artuso notes this is true, there are county owned projects in the City, and there's nothing stopping the City from being a funder it's just that the third parties have the expertise to get going on a project. No one simple solution.

Goller asks how county council decides on the number of how much to contribute to affordable reserve funds. Artuso says that they have to defer that one because they need the treasurer's input.

Goller asks about how some of his constituents have been on the wait list for 13 years in some cases, wants to know how to close the gap. Artuso says there will be a plan coming in the fall and notes that they need funding for all parts of continuum...

...With mental health and addictions, the shelter system is hitting its peak and is under stress, and it could be five years before those effects from the pandemic start to abate. The Transitional housing coming on line next year, and new supportive housing should help too.

Goller asks if there will be a request for money to build more social housing in Guelph at budget time. Artuso says it will be more like a report about where the need is. There's won't be a specific funding request, exception for the shelter system.

Goller says that he would like to see numbers about how much money the City should be putting aside to start tackling the housing crisis and moving to take names off the list.

O'Rourke says she's not getting a sense of what's specifically need in terms of housing in Guelph. Are there recommendations? Artuso says they can put that together, but the plan coming in the fall was going to bring some KPIs and other more high level things.

O'Rourke asks about the future of childcare in Guelph with $10/day? There will be about 1,700 new spaces out to 2026, and they're awaiting guidelines from Ontario about how that might be done. There will be some concentration of growth in Guelph, but exact numbers pending.

O'Rourke asks how housing and childcare targets meeting population growth? County staff say that those numbers come from the Province, they're anticipating "significant" growth in some areas, and they're looking at how to meeting.

On housing, Poste says the update to Guelph's affordable housing strategy will inform the County's approach to when it comes back later this year. Also says that all levels of government have to come to the table.

Allt asks if addressing the concerns of housing will require more than the present $18 million budget. Artuso says yes.

Cllr Caton asks about the wait list for full accessible social housing. Poste says they have the number in the centralised wait list, but doesn't have it on hand. They can share it with council though.

Caton asks about plans for people with environmental sensibilities. Poste says they don't have anything now, but they do look at what materials they're using as they're building.

Cllr Busuttil asks affordable housing for larger families. Poste says this is something they've noticed, and have looked at full detached homes they own in the community to look at possible expansion.

Guthrie thanks the county staff for the work that they do, and appreciates that they came to the meeting today to answer all these long simmering questions.

Guthrie asks if the update of the affordable housing strategy is being done with input from the county. Guelph staff nod yes.

Busuttil/Goller move to receive report and it passes unanimously.

Cllr Allt has left the meeting.

Next, 2023 Governance Review with City Clerk Stephen O'Brien presenting.

The clerks' office does a review of governance review every two years, one after the start of the new term and the other about halfway through. Most of these are routine, admin changes, fixing typos, or putting in writing the reflection of current practices.

List of proposed changes:

On the task force governance, the was a court decision that is guiding the change on this. Essentially, any task force in the future will effectively be treated like a local board, and be subject to the same rules.

Busuttil/Chew put motion on the floor.

Busuttil asks about how admin changes to the motions will be noted. O'Brien says that this is not so much about doing changes in the moment, but when councillors submit their motions in advance. This might mean something like spelling out what AMO is in the motion.

O'Rourke asks if one of the changes means that council will no longer be discussion slates of appointees in closed session. O'Brien says this is specifically means information in application packages, names are not public information but some of that supplemental info is private.

On task forces, O'Rourke asks about the time line for determining if the mayor's task force might be absorbed as a local board. O'Brien said they will have a decision about that coming soon.

Cllr Downer asks if she sets up a Ward 5 tree task force, would that not be caring on municipal business? O'Brien says they're relying on a court case that uses that language "carrying on the work of a municipality." It's less about you call it but more about where the work goes.

Downer asks about subcommittees and working groups through local boards should be posted though those websites (not all of them under City website). O'Brien says yes, their default is to be always open and transparent.

Downer asks if all local boards have posted minutes right now. O'Brien says they should be, all committees and boards have a liaison to the clerks office for support, but they're also looking at how the clerks office and staff can me more engaged.

Busuttil asks if the clerks office will work with teams to determine if they're subject to being a local board. O'Brien says yes, they have to stay on top of this as they see where the limits are with the court ruling.

Cllr Caron asks about the recommendation to move the including recommendation first before considering amendments. O'Brien says that the goal is to show the providence & how the final motion and decision evolved from the staff recommendation incl. in the agenda. Its for history.

Caron says that she has concerns about that delegated authority about admin changes to the motion after an incident last year; the mover and seconder own the motion, not the clerk.

Caron proposes an amendment to suggest edits, not to have delegated authority. Leave it in the hands of mover and seconder. O'Rourke seconds.

Guthrie asks if this change will ask if this will require a pause for that changes are made and put it up on screen. O'Brien says the changes often happen in meeting through discussion in the moment.

Caron says she wants it clear that she highly values the clerks role in the meeting, but doesn't want to check every motion she makes to ensure it still matches the intent despite changes made delegated by clerks.

This is the wording for the motion. It passes unanimously.

An additional motion from Busuttil. Richardson seconds.

Guthrie says that any member of council can pull an info item to be be pulled without any consultation with area chair or CEO and that might throw a wrench into the agenda management. Guthrie said the best practice is Caron's motion later in the agenda. ⬇️

Goller says that he's concerned about the additional "filter"; what if he or a constituent wants to respond to a report and the chair doesn't agree. Guthrie said even without the report, council members still need to go though service area chair.

Cllr Billings asks about time sensitivity of an issue. Guthrie says that the councillor could made the request to suspend the procedural bylaw. Doesn't that have to be put on the agenda in advance? Actually, it doesn't. This happened in the case of the power substation at MGP.

Billings notes that she had come to Guthrie in advance to talk about suspending the bylaw. Guthrie says that's true, but she could have still risen on a matter of personal privilege and moved to suspend.

O'Rourke says that the role of the chair is to manage the agenda of the meeting, we're not really hardcore about that, but that is the essence. She says this is preventative, because cllrs could pull info reports and take over a meeting.

Busuttil also notes the efficiency of managing the agenda effectively is the goal, not to close a door. Motion approved with Goller, Caton and Billings against.

O'Rourke asks about her concerns about this portion, maybe giving too much authority. Clack-Bush says it's a matter of flexibility, especially when dealing with groups using City facilities for the long-term and providing them some sustainability. Not meant for every contract.

Clack-Bush says that they will take a look at the language and provide more information to council before the end of the month.

Vote on the main motion as amended. Passes unanimously.

Committee is taking a break for dinner until 5:50.

Mayor Guthrie calls the meeting back to order.

Next topic: Smart Cities Update.

David Messer, Executive Director of the Smart Cities Office, will present. As you may know, the core funding for the activities of the Smart Cities Office expires at the end of the year. This is the plan going forward.

Messer says all the goals of the office will be achieved by the end of the year, which, he notes, is two years ahead of schedule. These are some of the results:

Mark your calendar!

So what's next?
-The office is closing in Dec 2023
-Some programs will be taken over by community partners, and others will conclude.
-Summery report next year, celebration of accomplishments in October.

Innovation Guelph and 10C taking lead on keeping COIL going. There's a grant in progress to get 3 years of funding.

Solid Waste Resources is continuing some of the work at the Smart Cities office, Wellington will continue to support regenerative agriculture, and Public Health may take on the work done on food insecurity and access. There's a motion to encourage WDGPH in this regard coming.

Downer asks about the possibility of losing momentum on these projects after losing the main office. Stewart says this maybe something that committee has to spend more time with. Perhaps after delegations?

First delegate is Julia Grady from 10C. She would like to see a transition plan to continue the work of the office, and notes that council staff had dinner provided by Community Food, a company started under the model of the Circular Economy office.

Next delegate is Barb McPhee from the North End Harvest Market. She advocates for the continuation of the programs, which have been effective in finding ways to fight food insecurity and generate new partnerships.

Next is Kate Vestula from the Guelph Community Health Centre who talks about her org's success operating programs through the Smart Cities office, and then turning that success into new opportunities.

Goller asks Vestula about what she envisions for the transition. She says they're not going to ask for "millions of dollars" but there are a lot of models where municipalities work with community partners. We need to look at those, and decide what might work best.

Vestula says that the efforts need to be co-ordinated through one place, and finding additional funds is much easier with the a municipal partner at the table.

Back to council, and Downer says again that she's concerned about all this work going back into separate silos. Stewart says the goals were clear in 2019, and they've been accomplished, but this was always been a pilot for Infrastructure Canada, there's no more money coming.

Stewart says it's not about siloing the work, it's about making it park of the DNA. It's also been about growing the space and scope of this work through community partners. Many of these staffers are in contract positions too.

Busuttil says she's comfortable embedding the learning from the office, but would like to know what kind of transfer is going to happen so that they don't lose where the gaps are.

Klassen asks if the circular food economy is going to be dropped as a KPI in the Strat Plan. Stewart not everything that's important to the community will be in SP, but the solid waste work is something left over from Smart Cities that will be reflected going forward.

O'Rourke asks about the City's economic development office, and what they're going to do with this work. Holmes says EcDev has been working with Smart Cities and affiliated businesses, and will continue to do so.

Klassen asks if this is the last appearance of Smart Cities reps at council. Messer says yes, the final report will come to council through an information report.

The two recommendations pass unanimously.

Next, a motion from Cllr Caron from this motion at Municipality of Trent Lakes Resolution.
pub-guelph.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ash…

Caron says the timing for this perfect because it's #NationalIndigenousHistoryMonth. The Trent Lakes motion made her remember ideas she had about taking the oath to the (now) King of England, while mentioning nothing about the people originally on this land.

This is Caron's motion, which Klassen has seconded.

No questions or comments fro council and it passes unanimously.

Last item under governance, Components of the new Community Engagement Framework. There was a presentation but it was cancelled owing to a discussion about this just a few weeks ago. A couple of councillors have some questions though.

Busuttil asks if an operation plan about this is coming. Glen Lombard, Manager of Community Engagement, says yes, the operation plan is part of the larger strategic engagement plan with other corporate comms. Look for a plan to come forwarding Q3.

Goller asks if Lombard's team guides the framework, or if its done by individual departments. Lombard says it's a hub and spoke model, each department directs it's own engagement, but the team will provide support as needed.

Goller asks about engagement outside specific projects. Lombard says that comes from feedback, if they're to prioritise relationship building, that has to be about more than feedback about specific projects, which can feel more transactional.

Lombard says that part of the development of a plan is to looking at engagement across a variety of circumstances: There are people that want to be engaged sooner in the process, and there are people that only want to engage if something's happening in their backyard.

O'Rourke asks about applying the community engagement principles when councillors are doing their own engagement. Lombard says it's about understanding the limitations of something like a Twitter poll. It's about understanding the limitations.

Downer asks about the differences in engaging on a project, or something like a planning application. Lombard says that they want to set standards for all levels of engagement even while appreciating there's difference.

Recommendations pass unanimously.

Next up, Chair O'Rourke takes over for the Infrastructure, Development and Enterprise Services agenda.

O'Rourke begins by asking for a motion to go past 8 pm, which is passed unanimously.

The next and final item is Downtown Renewal: Status Update. Terry Gayman, GM of Engineering and Transportation Services and Stacey Laughlin, Downtown Revitalization Advisor are presenting.

Sorry, suffering some technical difficulties, but Laughlin is now taking us through the presentation:

A lot going on downtown over the next 10 years changing how the core looks, feels and functions. Its being called a generational transformation, but the presentation tonight focuses on infrastructure.

What downtown might look like according to the Streetscape Manual.

Gayman takes over to talk about the Downtown Infrastructure Renewal Program. No decision has to be made tonight, this is an information report meant to keep council in the loop. First, there's a lot of underground infrastructure downtown near the end of this life.

Gayman says this goal is to replace this infrastructure so that it can continue to serve the present population and to make downtown Guelph... future ready.

What's going on?

Gayman notes that there are still some clay pipes under downtown and sink holes have occurred (although not pictured in this slide).

A short list of options for each EA have been developed for St. George's Square, and Allans Dam/Macdonell Bridge. There will be public engagement on that later this summer.

Options for Wyndham, from #1 which is something similar to now to various options (2,3,4) that reflect complete street options. Gayman says they all have advantages and disadvantages.

Options for St. George's Square, up to and including a roundabout.

Macdonell Bridge is deteriorating so some work will have to be done to save it. It's connected to other features here including the Allan Dam Bridge, which has a heritage designation, and the dam itself, which doesn't.

Next steps after community engagement this summer on the EA options:

Other stuff happening downtown:

Also

Cllr Carly Klassen has volunteered to be a downtown champion on council, which makes sense that this is her ward and she's a downtown business owner.

Guthrie asks if staff are thinking about "pain for gain", doing more construction at once just to get it done as quickly as possible? Gayman says impact on business is top of mind, and that's driving the engagement with stakeholders: How much pain can they take?

Guthrie feels like there's an opportunity to embed the arts in some of these projects, are staff seeking that input? Gayman says they're doing that through stakeholder groups, and working with economic development and tourism offices too.

Goller asks how constituents can participate in this? Laughlin says later this month, there will be some cross promo with Art on the Street to help people visualise the changes. "Tactical urbanism". Plus the usual online engagement.

Goller asks if the Ward-to-Downtown pedestrian bridge will be built by the time work is getting started on Allan's Dam/Macdonell? The tender for the W2DT bridge is out now, construction should start next year.

Klassen asks about other examples of the traffic circle in a core being a good option. Gayman says they're just looking at all options, but the traffic circle is a tighter version of a roundabout, which, apparently, two different things.

Billings asks if there will be more detail in the visuals provided in public engagement. Gayman says that there will be some general information about the potential costs for each option, exact costing is hard to determine before the technical study.

Cllr Gibson asks about how the size on consultation about the potential removal of the spillway. Staff says they're consulting with all regulatory agencies, because re-naturalizing the area would be a consideration.

O'Rourke asks about balancing spending public space with private space. Laughlin says when the permanent seasonal program comes to council for approval that's definitely going to be a consideration.

O'Rourke notes that there are some massive transformations coming to Guelph by 2027, and it's a very exciting time.

The report is received unanimously.

No staff or chair announcements, so you know what that means...

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