Committee of the Whole

16:38If I could just have my colleagues online turn their camera on for us just so we can maintain

16:43or and confirm quorum that would be great. Thank you. All right. Good afternoon everyone. It is one

16:56o'clock. It is Tuesday May the 5th 2026 and we are at our committee of the whole meeting.

17:03Right off the top we are looking to move into a closed session as described on the agenda.

17:10And we are going in for only two items. The first one titled Parkland Acquisitions

17:17as per section 239-2C of the Municipal Act regarding a proposed or pending acquisition

17:22or disposition of land by the municipality or local board. The second is update expression

17:28of interest on 170 Stephanie Drive as per section 239-2C of the municipal act regarding a proposed

17:34or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board.

17:40Is there any disclosure of pecuniary interest or general nature on any of those items from any

17:45member of council before we look to move into closed? I don't hear anything so other than drawing in

17:54the background. So with that I will ask to move into closed on those two items. We got alt and

18:00busatil moving and seconding for us and I will call the vote as anyone against that.

18:06That's nobody's that's unanimous so we'll move into closed on those two items and as usual once done

18:14we will look to have me do a high level summary and I will do that at the beginning of the scheduled

18:22open meeting at two o'clock. Okay thank you very much. Okay if I could have my colleagues

1:21:21colleagues online please turn their cameras on. Okay we have quorum so I'm going to call the meeting

1:21:39to order. Thank you very much everyone this is now the start of our open session for May the 5th

1:21:48Tuesday May the 5th 2026 just after two o'clock and it's our committee of the whole meeting. Now

1:21:56we did move into closed session earlier today under two items they were disclosed on the open

1:22:03agenda I'll just read them out to you as I give the high level summary okay. So the first one was

1:22:08under parkland acquisition and for that one we did give direction to staff on that and on the

1:22:17second one which was the update on the expression of interest for 170 Stephanie Drive. Council also

1:22:24did give direction on that item okay. So there is my high level summary for those two coming out

1:22:32of closed session and so with that would be great if you could join me in standing please if you're

1:22:39able as we recognize our national anthem thank you. Great thank you very much everyone as we

1:24:16continue just a moment of silent reflection before we go on with our agenda. Great thank you.

1:24:39Just before we go into our Indigenous territorial acknowledgement I just wanted to actually

1:24:45read something that I think is very valuable for today in regards to the fact that it is

1:24:51red dress day and we honour the red dress day today as a society as Canadians especially a day of

1:25:00remembrance for missing and murdered Indigenous women girls two-spirit people as well. It is both

1:25:08a time to remember the lives lost and a call to comfort the ongoing systemic violence and

1:25:12discrimination faced by our Indigenous communities. The empty red dress and you might have seen one

1:25:19maybe if you came in the front doors of City Hall today there's also one inside City Hall as well

1:25:24as a reminder. It's come to be a symbol representing those who are missing or have been killed and

1:25:31it's making it visible that is the absence that families and communities continue to live with

1:25:38in recognition of the day as I said there's been dresses hung out in Market Square that's an act of

1:25:44commemoration to remind us of the people that are that were lost that are behind those dresses

1:25:51and red dress day is not only about recognition but it is about responsibility something that we

1:25:56read here at every council meeting on the Indigenous territorial acknowledgments which I'll do just

1:26:00after this. It is about responsibility for us too and the final report on the National Inquiry into

1:26:07Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls outlines clear calls for justice that require

1:26:12ongoing commitment from all levels of government so as a municipality in Guelph we have a responsibility

1:26:19to listen to learn and to support Indigenous-led initiatives and to promote safety, dignity and

1:26:23justice. So today and every day let us recommit ourselves to being strong allies and honoring

1:26:30memories through meaningful sustained action so that these lives are never forgotten. Thank you

1:26:38and with that I am going to now read our territorial acknowledgement. As we gather let us take time to

1:26:42reflect on our privilege to live and work here in Guelph a city that's built over rich Indigenous

1:26:47histories. We're guests here we should reflect upon the responsibility to care for this land

1:26:52and the people who live here today and the generations to come. If our actions today can move

1:26:56us towards reconciliation we should take pause and make those decisions with intention and gratitude.

1:27:02This place we call Guelph has served as traditional lands and a place of refuge

1:27:06for many peoples over time but more specifically the Aniwaterok and the Honolashoni and this land

1:27:13is held as the treaty lands and the territory with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

1:27:18Guelph lies directly adjacent to the Haldeman track and is part of a long established traditional

1:27:23hunting grounds for the Six Nations of the Grand River. Many First Nations Inuit and Métis people

1:27:28who have come from across Turtle Island call Guelph home today. Thank you for giving me a little

1:27:36bit of extra time there and now I'm just going to ask my colleagues if there's any disclosure of

1:27:41pecuniary interest or any general nature there of for the items that are in front of us today.

1:27:47Don't hear or see any and just to put it on the record Councillor Gibson has given regrets

1:27:55and Councillor Chew I believe might be late so we'll see if he shows up okay.

1:28:01With that we're going to kick off some really good news stories here I'm going to turn it over to

1:28:11Chair Caron for a couple of staff recognitions so get your clapping hands ready everybody.

1:28:17Okay so over to you Leanne. Thank you Mr. Mayor and these are great news stories today it is my

1:28:22absolute honour to stand before you as we celebrate the City of Guelph's recognition as one of Waterloo

1:28:28areas and Southwestern Ontario's top employers. This achievement is a reflection of our city's

1:28:34commitment to excellence innovation and most importantly to our people. Being named a top

1:28:40employer is not just an award it's a testament to the culture we've built here as an organization.

1:28:45It highlights our commitment to fostering a workplace that prioritizes employee well-being,

1:28:50professional development and inclusivity and it reinforces what we already know the City of Guelph

1:28:55as an organization where talent thrives and where people feel valued and supported in their careers.

1:29:01This is the fifth year for being awarded the Waterloo Area Top Employer Award and our third

1:29:07year being named on the Southwestern Ontario Top Employer List and here are just a few of the reasons

1:29:14that we are being recognized for strong investment in our employees. Through learning and career

1:29:22opportunities, having modern and flexible workplaces that support collaboration and well-being,

1:29:28compassionate leave supports that help employees balance work, life and caregiving responsibilities.

1:29:35Also new this year the City of Guelph has been awarded the 2026 Canada's Greenest Employers

1:29:42Award. This is our first time on a national employer list and we are the only municipality

1:29:48in Ontario being recognized this year. Yeah, let's take a clap. That's worth clapping about.

1:30:00We are in good company on Canada's Greenest Employer List with the cities of Vancouver, Surrey, Calgary

1:30:07and Coquitlam as well as other local employers such as the cooperators and Sleiman Brewery.

1:30:13We're being recognized for our environmental leadership in the workplace and in the community

1:30:17including Green Building Features at City Hall, investments in renewable energy and electric

1:30:23vehicles, programs that support active and low-carbon transportation and community-focused

1:30:28initiatives, park and neighbourhood cleanups and efforts to support pollinators, all of which

1:30:34contribute on other levels not just environmental but economic as well. While this recognition is

1:30:40a very proud moment and our work is never done, we will continue striving to make the City of Guelph an

1:30:45even better place to work, to attract top talent and to set the standard for municipal excellence

1:30:52across Canada. So I encourage everyone to take a minute to visit the top employer websites where

1:30:57Guelph is featured. Once again, thank you to everyone who has played a role in earning this

1:31:01distinction. This award belongs to all of you. Let's continue to build a city that leads, inspires

1:31:08and thrives. That is a double applause announcement. Our second honour this afternoon is an achievement

1:31:21of payroll compliance, a professional designation with distinction to Alyssa LeBlanc in payroll and

1:31:27benefits as an associate. The payroll compliance professional, a PCP designation, is the gold

1:31:35standard for payroll professionals in Canada and it requires a significant commitment to learning

1:31:41and demonstrating a strong understanding of payroll legislation, compliance requirements and

1:31:48best practices that require and ensure employees are paid accurately and on time. Today we're pleased

1:31:54to recognize Alyssa LeBlanc for successfully completing her payroll compliance professional

1:31:58designation. This achievement reflects Alyssa's commitment to continuous learning and professional

1:32:04excellence and enhances Guelph's ability to support our workforce through accurate and

1:32:08compliant payroll practices. We congratulate Alyssa on this important professional milestone

1:32:14and thank her for her continued contributions to our organization and it's one of,

1:32:19it's people like Alyssa that help us with our top employer ranking as well. So thank you and

1:32:25congratulations. We're going to turn the mics off and take a quick pause and do a little bit of a

1:32:30photo op for these awards and recognitions. We'll be back with you in just one moment.

1:35:13Okay thanks Chair Caron and thanks again everyone that was recognized that's great work

1:35:20and so as we look through the rest of our agenda for the committee of the whole

1:35:26we're going to be starting, we were going to start right away with Chair Goller but there is a

1:35:32presentation attached to that one. After that one was going to be governance which was me

1:35:38but it's only a consent item for mine while I'm sitting here. I'm hoping, I'm hoping that perhaps

1:35:46my colleagues are okay with maybe just taking care of the consent item for governance so that

1:35:55I just have to move once. Does that look good with everybody? Councillor Goller is going to

1:36:00move it and Boussatil will second consent for governance? Okay and just so everyone knows,

1:36:07just slow it down for a moment because I know I went fast there. This is the only item which is the

1:36:122026 to 2030 municipal election compliance audit committee and there's the three motions there

1:36:20that the joint municipal election compliance audit committee be established for the 2026-2030

1:36:26term of council in accordance with the draft terms of reference as set out in the attachment

1:36:30to the report titled joint municipal election compliance audit committee

1:36:34and the second that the city clerk be delegated the authority to select and appoint the committee

1:36:38members and that council be advised of the appointments by way of an information report

1:36:43once those members have been selected and the third being that the city clerk be delegated

1:36:47authority to review and revise the terms of reference throughout the term of the committee

1:36:51in accordance with and in consultation with other participating municipalities. Okay so that's

1:36:57what we're talking about here just so it's not like just completely off the stage so quick and

1:37:01people don't know what's happening. So with that again it's been moved and seconded am I good to call

1:37:06the vote on that? Okay is anyone against that consent item? That's nobody so that's unanimous so

1:37:13thanks for letting me jump the agenda there. Chair Goller I'm going to have you come and sit here

1:37:18now as we jump into the service area for audit okay. Well hello everyone we are on to item eight

1:37:59on the agenda under items for discussion the building permits approvals and inspections

1:38:04value for money audit and I will turn things over to Mr. Robert Jellisek our general manager of

1:38:11internal audit please go ahead Robert. Thank you Councillor Goller I'm going to give you a quick

1:38:20verbal summary of the audit report building permit approvals and inspections value for money audit

1:38:29golf's building permit building permitting and inspection system is functioning very well

1:38:34from a development enablement perspective sorry I should stand in front of the mic with strong

1:38:40compliance predictable timelines and no evidence that building services are a bottleneck to housing

1:38:45delivery building services plays a critical role in the housing pipeline while it does not set

1:38:53planning policy or zoning permissions it does control how quickly approved housing can move

1:39:00from drawings to construction and ultimately to occupancy in 2025 the city issued 1,757 permits

1:39:09with a total construction value of 450 million dollars 29,700 inspections were completed across

1:39:18residential and non-residential projects given housing supply pressures the audit specifically

1:39:24examined whether building approvals and inspections are timely predictable and reliable because any

1:39:32delays here would directly undermine housing enabling enablement goals the audit confirmed

1:39:39that all tested permits met or exceeded Ontario building code legislative review timelines

1:39:46there were no deviations from mandated service standards inspection requests were completed

1:39:52on the dates requested by applicants with same-day inspection reports issued from a housing perspective

1:40:00this is critical it means that developers can reliably schedule construction activities

1:40:05builders are not experiencing unpredictable downtime waiting for inspections there is no

1:40:15systemic delay being introduced at the building permit stage in short building services is not

1:40:21slowing housing down secondly capacity workload management and continuity inspections are

1:40:28automatically routed by permit type manually balanced daily to ensure fair workload distribution

1:40:36typically assigned geographically so the same inspector follows a project end to end

1:40:42this continuity reduces rework misinterpretation and inconsistent application of code requirements

1:40:48all of which are key risks in large or multiple phase housing projects the audit also found all

1:40:56inspections and plan examiners are fully credentialed and compliant with provincial requirements

1:41:02deficiencies are clearly tied to building code provisions and tracked until resolution

1:41:08from an enabling standpoint this supports faster resolution of issues fewer disputes and predictable

1:41:15correction cycles for builders third digital systems and client experience

1:41:21Guelph's fully digital permitting system GPAS is functioning effectively all permit applications

1:41:28and inspection bookings are online automatic status updates keep applicants informed

1:41:36in-person and virtual support is available for applicants who need assistance for housing

1:41:42delivery this reduces friction particularly for small and mid-scale builders home builders adding

1:41:50secondary units or accessory dwelling units and repeat applicants navigating multiple permits

1:41:57the audit found that customer service practices to be strong and responsive

1:42:01with no systemic complaints about access or responsiveness importantly the audit did not

1:42:09identify failures to service delivery but it did flag two governance level opportunities that matter

1:42:15indirectly to housing enablement one complaint tracking while staff respond to concerns quickly

1:42:22there is no centralized way to track complaints or escalations limited ability to analyze trends

1:42:28such as recurring pain points for applicants for housing strategy this matters because without

1:42:33trend data it's harder to pinpoint systemic barriers experienced by builders issues may

1:42:39be resolved case by case but not structurally addressed the recommendation is to do is to

1:42:45introduce a risk-based centralized complaint tracking approach starting simply and potentially

1:42:51scaling citywide this would improve insight without adding red tape second performance

1:42:57reporting to council and leadership building services generate strong performance data but

1:43:03it is not regularly reported to council or the executive team housing relevant metrics like

1:43:09turnaround times and inspection performance are largely invisible at a strategic level

1:43:15the audit recommends regular kpi reporting to the executive team and council

1:43:20and annual public reporting to reinforce transparency and confidence in the housing pipeline

1:43:31for a housing enabling strategy it allows leadership to confidently say permitting is not

1:43:35the constraint or it if pressures emerge to identify them early and respond proactively

1:43:44the audit also highlights a structural revenue challenge in building services

1:43:49declines in large ici and high-rise permits are reducing fee revenue

1:43:54reserve balances have dropped significantly and a full fee study is underway to stabilize the

1:44:00program long-term again from a housing standpoint there is no evidence this has affected service

1:44:06levels to date but long-term sustainability matters to ensure consistent capacity as housing

1:44:13activity ramps up to summarize building permits and inspections are not a bottleneck to housing

1:44:18delivery and golf timeliness timelines are predictable compliant and consistently met

1:44:25inspections are timely coordinated and professionally executed digital systems

1:44:31and client supports reduce friction for builders the two improvement areas

1:44:36complaint tracking and performance reporting are about visibility and maturity not failure

1:44:41and can actually strengthen housing enablement by surfacing systemic issues earlier

1:44:47building services is a strong and reliable partner in enabling housing

1:44:50and the audit provides confidence that the regulatory back end of the housing pipeline is

1:44:56functioning as intended thank you so much for the report both yourself mr. jones i can't use

1:45:04yourself mr. kenn for for drafting this i really appreciate it i'll turn it over to my council

1:45:09colleagues for questions uh seeing a counselor kate and first and then i have a few others okay

1:45:18thank you okay so sorry i've had a request here to have the report on the table and i i saw councillor

1:45:24all signed up for that and a seconder from councillor clasic so it is on the floor and then

1:45:30i'll turn it back to councillor kate and for your comments and questions thank you um through you

1:45:37to mr. jones i just wanted to really tell you how much i appreciate this report we very often

1:45:43get claims that our permit system is not going quickly and i know that team has

1:45:52worked through a lot of churn in terms of the provincial legislation and increased timelines

1:45:58that they're expected to meet and it is really great to see that we are meeting those and i really

1:46:04appreciate the suggestion to have the complaint tracking because that will help us have more insight

1:46:10into the reality of the specifics that people are kind of running into but i'm glad to hear that it is

1:46:16in no way impacting our ability to push housing through and that we are meeting the new standards

1:46:25that the province has imposed on us thank you thank you for those comments councillor kate and i'll

1:46:34go over to councillor richardson sorry i jumped in for an a you and through you mr chair i just

1:46:44again wanted to mimic erin's comments and thank mr gelasek and mr con for the work that they've

1:46:49done i've learned so much about audit and the importance of audit over my my term here and

1:46:54i think that the the validation that you give as a almost an outside source really you're not

1:47:00embedded in the departments and the validation that you give to the service that we're providing

1:47:05in the in the areas that maybe can grow on is invaluable and i just want to thank you again

1:47:09for all of your work thank you for that councillor richardson although to councillor

1:47:14old and then i have councillor class enough to that and then councillor busatio thank you very

1:47:20much chair Goller um i can reiterate that indeed i i do love audit and the time that i spent working

1:47:27with you was great but i'm not here to give you kudos right now i i do have a serious question

1:47:34and that is in looking at the table one page six and seven i look at the discrepancy in the fees

1:47:42charged and i don't know whether you can answer this or whether it's better for another staff

1:47:46but in all the fees there there's a uniformity with the exception of kitchener where the fees for

1:47:53basement units are significantly lower and i know that we're not here to necessarily compare our

1:48:01colleagues or to look at what they're doing and try and understand it but is there any way that we

1:48:06can account for that discrepancy or is it likely a result of trying to encourage basement dwelling

1:48:14units thank you councillor old for the question through count that chair Goller i think terry

1:48:23you might be able to answer this for us please go ahead yeah through the chair to council also

1:48:26thank you for the question and certainly that's part of our review overall and building services

1:48:30and so we do have a building permit fee review coming forward to council uh in june and so the

1:48:37the answers to your questions are all going to be contained within that report i do have another

1:48:45question for you mr gelaskan again you might not answer it but because i consider this to be

1:48:50quite a positive report and this is one of the issues that i deal with incessantly anything

1:48:55related to building is slow how do we get the message out i'll let uh dc o game and handle that one

1:49:05as well thank you and and through the chair to councillor Allt and and so maybe i'll just take

1:49:11a moment um if i may to reflect on a few things i think what the audit is suggesting overall is that

1:49:16building services is one of the city's more mature um areas of our organization from a customer service

1:49:22perspective if you look in there 29 000 inspections 1500 permits you know a handful of of complaints

1:49:29and so when you really think about the sort of magnitude of how much is being processed on that

1:49:33team uh there's just a lot of really good work there and so getting that message out is part of

1:49:38the the audit sort of recommendations and so we're taking that away in in terms of different tactics

1:49:43we can use there's things that we can do online there's things we can do through social and so

1:49:48certainly as a takeaway from the audit it's about getting the message out or just around that performance

1:49:52and how we're helping everyone get through and get to their permits and and their construction quicker

1:49:58thank you for having a very mature building department

1:50:03thank you councillor Allt i'll go to councillor Klassen

1:50:07yes thank you through you mr chair um i i appreciate the report thank you and just to echo

1:50:14my colleagues katin and and ritchardson it is it is definitely good to hear um

1:50:20that some of the complaints that were that we here are not related to uh systemic issues so

1:50:25thank you so much for that i do have a question with regard to um i think this might be for staff

1:50:31with regard to tracking complaints and the centralization of of of that what what is our plan and

1:50:38i think maybe this one's for terry um what is our our plan moving forward to track complaints

1:50:50through you chair gallo thank you uh councillor Klassen for the question

1:50:53it's a great question it's one of the city's been turning its mind to we know that uh there's great

1:50:59complaint and compliment quite frankly reporting that happens through individual departments

1:51:03but a streamlined sort of city-wide broad-based approach to tracking complaints triaging those

1:51:09complaints responding to residents etc and and business partners and customers at large is important

1:51:15that work is something that we would look to weave into an eventual deployment of a crem or a customer

1:51:20relation management platform we're not here that sorry we're not there yet we're we're still

1:51:25continuing to work on very foundational platforms that we have our enterprise asset management

1:51:30platforms and such we'll also link into our ability to deliver on those um sort of full

1:51:36life cycle reporting back in terms of complaints and compliments in the interim we have good

1:51:40practices in place that support individual departments and bring a degree of standardization

1:51:45as much as possible to those individual departmental reporting mechanisms with the eye towards an

1:51:50eventual implementation of a more broad-based technologically supported platform that can

1:51:55handle those types of processes across the organization okay and thank you through you

1:52:03chair um back to mr o'brien is is there a timeline or a hoped for timeline for implementation of that

1:52:10broader system uh through you chair gallo a great question councillor Klassen it is some time out on

1:52:17the horizon uh i believe it's in the 2028 it capital forecast to begin working on uh that that

1:52:24crem system but it's something that our audit partners have identified in a handful of other

1:52:28audits and um we're uh we're we're looking towards doing that but it's again foundational work to be

1:52:34done in advance getting the the enterprise asset management platform up and running is sort of a

1:52:39step towards that all right thank you thank you councillor Klassen i'll go over to councillor

1:52:48busett hill thank you and through you councillor gallo taking a page from the mayor's book ditto

1:52:55on all the compliments and the acknowledgement thank you very much for all of that and my

1:52:59question was asked it was about table one so i am done thank you thank you and i'll just check

1:53:05did any other member of council have questions or comments uh yes go ahead councillor billings

1:53:12steer you mr chair okay so um city staff initiated the building permit fee study the

1:53:19comment was is going to come back i believe you said in in june so with respect to that study will

1:53:26it show like the cost recovery for all projects so that moving forward hopefully increasing fees

1:53:33that we're not relying on the larger projects to subsidize the others and then we won't have

1:53:41as much of a negative deficit for 2026 through the chair to council billings so certainly the

1:53:51intent overall is to look at um sort of that variance as you described it and the root cause be

1:53:57behind that variance in terms of some of those larger builds that drive the the revenues that

1:54:03the building department has and so that is exactly what we are looking at through that fee study to

1:54:08see if there's a more balanced approach so do you feel then through you mr chair that we could

1:54:14alleviate then for 2026 the forecasted deficit if we increase the fees

1:54:22through the mayor to councillor billings so certainly that's a that's a loaded question

1:54:26with a bit of a crystal balling in terms of the types of applications that come forward for the

1:54:30remainder of the year and when permits are going to be pulled but certainly the intent

1:54:34of the fee study is to get us into a um a better position going forward okay thanks jerry

1:54:43thank you for those questions councillor um billings i'll go over to mayor guthrie

1:54:49thank you chair and and through you just comments if you don't mind i i i do want to say ditto but

1:54:55i'm going to say a little bit more than that uh this is an excellent report and i just want to

1:55:05make it very clear to the public that this was unanimously voted on by council every single

1:55:13person here voted for this audit um it was spearheaded by many of my colleagues to have this

1:55:22included in the work plan what i'm trying to get at is that there's this united front here on these

1:55:30types of issues there's no daylight between anybody in trying to make sure that we're addressing some

1:55:38of the issues that might be percolating a little bit or we're hearing every now and then and it's

1:55:42by default we're the elected representatives so we're gonna we're gonna get that communication

1:55:47sometimes and this is what the report comes out saying that we're doing a very good job and um so

1:55:56you know we had we had uh you know some great awards and recognitions given out today you know

1:56:04i wish the whole building department and the inspection team was here and we would do the same

1:56:09clapping we'd do the same pictures for them because uh this report validates the good work

1:56:15that they do all the time and might i add a lot of times after hours because they're doing customer

1:56:23service work so thank you to you for the report thank you to the team thank you to the culture

1:56:32that's here that has this type of results this is what that's what's happening and finally i just

1:56:39want to say that i uh know a lot of this has to do with sort of the residential side of things and

1:56:44that's fair but every ribbon cutting that i've done for almost 12 years every single one after

1:56:53the ribbon is cut and everyone's celebrating i will pull either the owner of the business

1:57:00or the owner of the franchise or the general contractor and i will pull them aside and i

1:57:07will say it's just you and me tell me straight up how was it working with the city of Guelph

1:57:16and i can tell you it is always positive i was just at a medical place on gordon street just

1:57:26maybe a month ago for a ribbon cutting it was a completely out of town contractor that came in

1:57:35we did the ribbon cutting i pulled them aside how's it like working with the city of Guelph

1:57:42and that guy said to me i wish every single city would do it exactly like you guys do here in Guelph

1:57:49your inspection people were fantastic your uh the use of like iPads coming in and using technology

1:57:56to make things go faster is something that other communities don't do you guys should be showing

1:58:02these other communities how to do it so okay yeah your audit said we got to do a little bit better

1:58:09and maybe some of these little complaint things fair enough great but this systemic narrative

1:58:16that somehow our staff or somehow council is not up to par or punching above our weight our

1:58:24collective weight on getting things done and having excellence in customer service and adhering to

1:58:29the Ontario building code and going the extra mile is completely false and i'm going to call it out

1:58:37from here until the end of my term because it is wrong and for our my colleagues that are here

1:58:43and for anyone that might be joining later on there's always two sides to every story

1:58:50every complaint that you get you listen and you acknowledge but you go to staff and there's

1:58:58another side of the coin on all those things that are usually coming our way we're doing a good job

1:59:04our staff are great keep it up and i'm really glad that this was public so that people know

1:59:10that we're doing really great work here so thank you again to audit and to the entire building and

1:59:15inspection team doing a fantastic job thank you mayor Guthrie great words i will just echo my

1:59:23colleagues and and once again thank our audit team for their work and i really love those two

1:59:29recommendations and i look forward to seeing that reporting system thank you to my council

1:59:34colleagues for asking all those questions so it's great to know that there will be an interim

1:59:38measure in place before we get the the city-wide reporting complaint reporting built in and i look

1:59:47forward to seeing those reports that that will come forward to the executive team to council

1:59:51about the progress of our building team thank you once again i will call the vote anyone against

1:59:59receiving the report so that passes unanimously thank you and then that concludes this item thank you

2:00:48good afternoon we're now starting the uh cao and corporate services portion of our community the

2:00:55whole agenda on may the fifth and we're going to start this afternoon's reporting with financial

2:01:03reports where we've got some presentations and some delegations so i'm going to turn this portion

2:01:09of the agenda over to our manager of financial strategy justin and miss newland our manager

2:01:15budget services so floors all yours okay thank you and good afternoon mayor guthrie and members of

2:01:28council we are pleased to be before you today to present the 2025 year-end financial results

2:01:36the reports presented today are budget focused and in june we will be back before you to present

2:01:42the audited financial statements at that time you will hear from our auditor brendan hull of kpmg

2:01:53the presentation provides highlights from the three 2025 year-end financial reports included in

2:01:59your agenda package i'll be covering the capital and operating budget monitoring results and then

2:02:05passing it over to justin to talk about the reserves and debt beginning with the capital

2:02:14in 2025 the city had just over 500 capital projects with the total available budget of 663 million

2:02:22in 2025 207.9 million was spent as represented by the dark blue line on this chart the annual

2:02:31capital spend has been steadily increasing since 2021 a large contributor to this is three projects

2:02:41the south end community center the baker district redevelopment and the fm woods pumping station

2:02:48this trend is expected to continue in 2026 with several more large projects kicking off

2:02:53like windham street speedvale av tertiary treatment process facility and the gwaal transit

2:03:01and fleet services building at the end of the year the city also had 154.1 million of work

2:03:09committed to through open purchase orders capital closeouts of complete projects resulted in

2:03:16a surplus of 842 000 being returned to reserves in 2025 this leaves 300.2 million of the available

2:03:28budget uncommitted at the end of the year this is the orange line in the graph although spending

2:03:35has been increasing so has the capital budget and the uncommitted budget has increased over 2024

2:03:42budget has increased over 2024 and 25 the increase in the uncommitted budget is a concerning trend

2:03:50and combined with the 2026 budget approval of 371.2 million this will add additional pressure on 2026

2:04:00you will hear a bit more about this in a moment however staff will continue to track the trajectory

2:04:05of the capital program to ensure it does not become larger than can reasonably be delivered

2:04:11within organizational resources as usual any necessary adjustments will be recommended through

2:04:18the quarterly budget monitoring process and the budget confirmation process one key metric that

2:04:28we have been tracking for the last several years to maintain our focus on capacity to delivery

2:04:33is the percentage of life to date budget for open projects that is spent or committed as of year end

2:04:39at the end of 2025 the city was short of meeting its target of having at least 80 percent of the

2:04:45capital budget spent or committed through PO's the city reached 76.7 percent spent or committed

2:04:54a shortfall of 42.5 million against the 80 target the city budgets for capital in the year the

2:05:03procurement is anticipated to start and internal control processes are built around having a

2:05:09improved budget in place prior to going out to tender in 2025 the city had several complex

2:05:16projects to be procured where procurement timelines were extended compared to the average project

2:05:23in several cases the publishing of the request for bids was completed in year however due to the

2:05:31complex nature of these projects the PO issuance didn't occur in 2020 until early 2026 a commitment

2:05:39against a project is recognized when the purchase order is issued however this is very last step

2:05:47of a multi-step procurement process as the number of complex projects has been increasing this has

2:05:54been straining the procurement division and legal teams capacity this is certainly not the only

2:06:01factor but it is something to be aware of through a good portion of 2025 processing times for

2:06:09procurement transactions exceeded what would be considered reasonable while high priority projects

2:06:16were being processed promptly other more routine projects were subsequently delayed this was resolved

2:06:23by the end of the third quarter with normal turnaround of two to three weeks being achieved

2:06:29to very significant and complex complex procurements contributed to the shortfall in comparison with

2:06:35the target spent or committed amounts at your end the tertiary treatment process facility

2:06:41and speed veil avenue east reconstruction phase two as you know the speed veil work is now underway

2:06:49going into 2026 not having met the 80 target results in a carryover opening of the project

2:06:58results in a carryover opening budget of 456.9 million before commitments with an additional

2:07:062026 budget approval of 371.2 million for a total available budget of 828.1 million

2:07:17the wealth transit and fleet services building construction budget approved in 2026 accounts

2:07:23for just under half of the 2026 approval and is on track to begin construction in june with the

2:07:29po for construction issued in mid april. Actioning the remaining approved budget is a high priority

2:07:37given that the capital projects that remained in the budget after the deferrals through the 2025

2:07:42and 2026 confirmation processes are high priority projects for the community. There are two recommendations

2:07:56to approve for capital recommendation one is the approval of three funding adjustments you can find

2:08:02this in attachment to table four to the capital budget monitoring report we completed two budget

2:08:09reallocations of funding between projects where the funding split needed to be adjusted due to

2:08:14differences in the original funding sources the third adjustment was to align a project's funding

2:08:21split to the dc background study recommendation two is the approval of the eight adjustments on

2:08:28attachment three overall these adjustments will increase the 2026 budget by 1.7 million and the

2:08:37impacted projects are shown on the slide these are coming forward on the year-end report so that

2:08:43the projects will not be delayed it is important to note that staff have already undertaken a

2:08:50comprehensive review of the 2025 carry forward balances and reductions from this work will appear

2:08:56on the q1 budget monitoring report which comes to council through an information report may 22

2:09:03to date the overall effect will be a net reduction in 2026 this slide provides some

2:09:14information about capital grants received during the year totaling approximately 45.5 million

2:09:21in 2025 the city received 12.4 million in sustainable grant funding streams these are predictable

2:09:29ongoing sources that support the city's long-term capital planning this includes 9.4 million from

2:09:37the canada community building fund which continues to be a key source of flexible infrastructure

2:09:43funding it also includes 3 million from the provincial gas tax which supports eligible transit

2:09:50and transportation investments multi-year grant funding our revenues tied to approved projects

2:09:58that flow over multiple years as milestones are achieved this includes 8.5 million receivable in

2:10:062025 through the isip program for program spending to date under the approved grants

2:10:14it also includes 5.4 million received under the federal housing accelerator fund which is the

2:10:20second of four installments and 3.7 million received through the province's building faster fund

2:10:27finally one time grant funding totaling 15.5 million was awarded this is time limited project

2:10:35specific funding these funds support projects including the south end community center

2:10:42lion outdoor pool rehabilitation york road phase four connecting links ng 911 phase three

2:10:50and automated speed camera replacement measures overall grants continue to play an important

2:10:57role in supporting capital delivery by reducing the city's reliance on levy and debt while advancing

2:11:03priority infrastructure projects aligned with council strategic objectives shifting gears to

2:11:14operating the city and local board's overall year-end operating position compared to budget

2:11:20is a deficit of 1.6 million or 0.28 percent of budgeted expenditures this overall deficit is

2:11:29split between tax and non-tax supported departments the net operating result for tax supported city

2:11:37departments and local boards local boards and shared services combined is a deficit of 20 000

2:11:44or 0.01 percent the tax supported deficit is further broken down between city departments

2:11:52which ended the year with an overall deficit of 1.37 million and local boards and shared services

2:11:59which overall had a surplus of 1.35 million the non-tax supported side ended the year in an

2:12:07overall deficit of 1.6 million or 0.3 percent of 2025 non-tax supported gross expenditures the

2:12:19chart on the right of the slide shows a nine-year history of overall consolidated operating position

2:12:25which includes both city services and local boards and shared services both tax and non-tax

2:12:31supported digging further into the city services deficit this slide highlights key city operating

2:12:43variance drivers impacting both tax and non-tax supported services throughout 2025 overall favorable

2:12:53revenue collections resulted in a revenue surplus of 14.2 million or 2.5 percent of total revenue

2:13:00budget key drivers of the revenue surplus are increased transit ridership unbudgeted land

2:13:08sales vehicle sales recycling carts and energy rebates and incentives which were all transferred

2:13:14to various reserves with a net zero impact revenues from user fees from a successful camp

2:13:22season performances at the river runs center committee of adjustment fees for log creation

2:13:28or boundary adjustments stormwater rate revenue increases due to equivalent residential units

2:13:34being higher than budget higher tonnage at solid waste sites higher rears related to fees and higher

2:13:42than budgeted investment income revenue surpluses were partially offset by revenue deficits in some

2:13:50areas most notably a 3.2 million revenue deficit in Ontario building code services due to the

2:13:58current economic conditions negatively impacting the rate of new construction this is also impacted

2:14:05by water and wastewater services as slower growth and development lead to fewer new connections

2:14:12parking also saw lower revenue due to decreased demand and the transition from gated access

2:14:18to the license plate recognition system on the expenditure side in 2025 employee compensation

2:14:28and benefits made up just under half of the city's operating costs and ended the year 3.1 million

2:14:36over budget which is about 1.5 percent of the total operating budget this amount includes a 1.3

2:14:44million budget adjustment made in year to help address staffing pressures and paramedic services

2:14:51even with this adjustment paramedic services still ended the year in a deficit due to higher than

2:14:57anticipated sick time vacation unplanned absences and wsib leaves resulting in significant overtime

2:15:05being required to maintain coverage labor market challenges drove higher reliance on temporary

2:15:13staff and overtime particularly across essential services such as transit and operations as well

2:15:20as facility facilities planning it and bylaw services across the organization overtime costs

2:15:29were significantly higher than estimated coming in 2.9 million over budget this was mainly due

2:15:37to staff vacancies covering required leaves and meeting minimum staffing levels needed to keep

2:15:43critical services running newly negotiated union agreements with kupi also increased costs in 2025

2:15:53updates to reflect these agreements added approximately 2.4 million in compensation expenses

2:16:01during the year additional staffing was approved to address downtown safety and encampment response

2:16:06and to improve support for employees on medical and disability leaves these pressures

2:16:15were partly offset by lower than expected benefit costs because of this a planned 1 million draw

2:16:22from the compensation contingency reserve was not required longer employee absences continue to

2:16:29affect costs especially those related to mental stress injuries which made up most of the city's

2:16:35lost work hours in 2025 and are a key factor in benefit and wage replacement costs staff continue

2:16:43to focus on supporting safe and timely return to work purchase services ended the year in a deficit

2:16:51of 2.2 percent mainly due to higher building repairs and maintenance costs due to several

2:16:57unexpected failures including the generator at city hall sprinkler system at the provincial

2:17:03offenses court as well as repairs at the gulf music center and the gulf youth shelter

2:17:11urgent hvac and mechanical repairs were needed at victoria road west end and river run

2:17:18vehicles also experienced higher repairs and maintenance due to general aging of the fleet

2:17:23rising parts costs proprietary replacement parts required for bus repairs and increased

2:17:30contracted services due to staffing shortages and fleet fuel ended the year with a favorable

2:17:37variance mainly due to the removal of the federal carbon tax on april 1st at the time of 2025 budget

2:17:45development staff anticipated higher fuel pricing and fazed the impact by you utilizing the environment

2:17:52and utility reserve this reserve transfer was not needed due to lower costs the landscape for fuel

2:18:01changed substantially in 2026 and we will be reporting to you on the potential impacts through

2:18:07the q1 budget monitoring report local boards and shared services finished the year with a surplus

2:18:14reflecting surpluses and gulf police services and gulf public library and partly offset by county

2:18:21social services deficit because of the county surplus 2.5 million of the 2.8 million in budget

2:18:30reserve support for the phase in of social services was not needed the year end operating

2:18:40budget monitoring report includes several recommendations this slide provides an overview

2:18:46of the tax supported recommendations which are to transfer the library's 123 000 surplus to the

2:18:54library operating contingency reserve as requested by the gulf public library board

2:19:00to transfer the police's 1.55 million surplus as follows with 5000 to the police operating

2:19:08contingency reserve 1.25 million to the police capital reserve fund and 300 000 to the city

2:19:17wsi b reserve in court in accordance with the expected request from the gulf police services

2:19:23board the board meets on may 21st and the formal request is expected following that meeting

2:19:31and to transfer 1.7 million from the tax rate operating contingency reserve

2:19:36to fund the overall remaining tax supported deficit for city services and local boards and

2:19:41shared services in accordance with the reserve and reserve fund policy there is one additional

2:19:49recommendation in the operating report requesting that council approves an increase in the 2026

2:19:55operating budget of 175 000 to advance the hr job evaluation system funded from the strategic

2:20:03initiatives reserve the current system has been in place since 2014 and is inefficient as it is

2:20:11being used without job descriptions this results in constant rebenching of jobs confusion for

2:20:17managers leading to distrust of the system and a very cumbersome process requiring significant

2:20:23administration for people leaders and human resources the job evaluation system implementation

2:20:29will begin with generic job descriptions which will allow job class information to be applied to

2:20:35roles and not individual roles on the non-tax supported side there are six recommendations

2:20:46two of the recommendations are made in accordance with the reserve and reserve fund policy these

2:20:52are a transfer of 2.3 million from the building services o bc stabilization reserve fund to fund

2:20:59the ontario building code deficit and a transfer of 790 000 from the water operating contingency

2:21:07reserve to fund the water services operating deficit the four remaining recommendations

2:21:14deviate from the reserve and reserve fund policy and will provide a bit more explanation on these

2:21:21three of the four deal with the disposition of surpluses and we are recommending the transfer

2:21:26of the surplus to the applicable capital reserve fund for each service instead of the contingency

2:21:31reserve this is because the balances in the contingency reserves are sufficient for these

2:21:37services those recommendations are to transfer the storm water surplus of 250 000 to the storm

2:21:47water capital reserve fund transfer of wastewater surplus of 1.7 million to the wastewater capital

2:21:54reserve fund and transfer of court surplus of 602 000 to the courts capital reserve fund

2:22:02the final recommendation is to transfer 1 million from parking capital reserve fund

2:22:07to park to fund the parking services deficit this too is outside the reserve and reserve fund

2:22:14policy as a deficit would normally be managed through the contingency reserve however the

2:22:20parking contingency reserve does not have sufficient funds to cover the deficit and we

2:22:26and we have therefore recommended it to be funded from capital

2:22:30I will now pass it over to Justin who will talk to you about the reserves and debt

2:22:45thanks Karen so looking at our reserves and reserve funds overall our total

2:22:50balance before factoring commitments grew by 74.2 million bring the total gross balance to 642.2

2:22:56million at the end of 2025 that looks significant but the main driver is the 92 million in debentures

2:23:02we issued in 2025 those debentures replaced temporary reserve funding that had been supporting

2:23:07projects while we arranged for longer-term financing via debt so this isn't new money it's the capital

2:23:13financing cycle completing itself the more important number is available balance after

2:23:18accounting for council approved commitments which are capital projects and operating items already

2:23:23included in the budget the available balance decreased by 28.8 million landing at 208.7 million

2:23:29now this decline is not a surprise it reflects deliberate capital investment decisions the

2:23:33city is spending on the approved priority projects and the reserve activity reflects that so starting

2:23:42with the left looking at the tax border contingency funds the available balance is 15.1 million

2:23:47which represents 36 percent of our target balance comparatively that is down from the 50 percent at

2:23:54the end of 2024 this group of reserves has been drawn down upon heavily throughout the

2:23:59multi-year budget to phase in large operating costs increases over time and that was an intentional

2:24:04strategy approved by council the reserves absorbed these costs gradually so residents didn't have

2:24:09to absorb the full impact in a single year however that phasing strategy is not the full story this

2:24:14year the biggest plan drawn on the contingency reserve was the 2024 social services increase

2:24:20in 2025 that was budgeted at 2.8 million however only 300 000 was actually needed because social

2:24:26services came in under budget overall leaving a surplus on the city's share on its own that would

2:24:32have been good news for these reserves but there are other pressures in 2025 that were managed with

2:24:37reserves 1.3 million budget adjustment made in september to support paramedics 1.9 million transfer

2:24:44from reserves to support the winter control deficit plus an overall city services tax supported deficit

2:24:50which you just heard from caren so even though some of these pressures on these reserves was

2:24:54relieved other pressures drew them down further the 15.1 million remaining does represent less

2:25:00flexibility than we would like if we face a significant shortfall or an extraordinary event

2:25:06our capacity to absorb it is reduced we have talked about this with council through the last two

2:25:11budget confirmations and this has been a priority to allocate year-end surpluses to rebuild these

2:25:16reserves however given that the overall budget has become tighter in the past few years these

2:25:21surpluses have not materialized staff will develop a rebuild strategy through the 2028 2032

2:25:27multi-year budgets and will continue to recommend that any year-end tax supported surpluses be

2:25:33directed here as a priority on the non-tax supported side the available balance is 4.5 million

2:25:39which is 94 percent of targets that is down 132 percent sorry from 132 percent in 2024

2:25:47largely due to the water deficit in year which was funded from the contingency reserve

2:25:52as well parking in particular has been under pressure with deficits in both 2024 and 25 and as

2:25:57you just heard from caren the parking contingency reserve was enough to cover the 2025 deficit

2:26:02the good news is the citywide parking strategy has kicked off including a review of the operating

2:26:07revenue model we'll be monitoring these balances closely throughout 2026 and we'll bring forward

2:26:11recommendations through the 27 budget update and next multi-year budget cycle so starting with

2:26:20the tax supported capital reserve funds these increased by 35.9 million during 2025 moving

2:26:26from a deficit position to a positive 14.6 million this is directly tied to the 53.3 million in

2:26:32tax-sport debt issued in 2025 noted earlier those debentures were paid temporary reserve borrowing

2:26:38from projects in execution restoring those funds to those these reserves and returning the after

2:26:43commitments positioned to positive based on the 2026 forecast these reserve funds are projected to

2:26:49remain in a positive position until 2029 the positive balance is also doing a double duty

2:26:55informally supporting the dc reserve funds which are in a much more constrained position

2:27:01moving to the second line the non-tax supported capital reserve funds decreased by 13.3 million

2:27:06the key driver was a change in debt strategy for the fm wood station upgrades during the 2026 budget

2:27:11confirmation council approved removing 51.3 million of planned debt from that project

2:27:17and instead committing a reserve fund given the strong position of the utility rate capital

2:27:21reserves that increased the commitments against the water capital reserve fund but it has been

2:27:26addressed through long-term rebalancing strategy built into the budget for the water and wastewater

2:27:30capital reserve funds moving down the bellicastory corporate reserve funds which includes the canada

2:27:37community canada community building fund ccbf and the parkland dedication reserve funds decreased

2:27:43by 4.9 million the primary driver of this was increased budget commitments against ccbf funding

2:27:49and then last but not least the dc reserve funds are the most significant story in this grouping

2:27:54the available balance moved from a positive 38.7 million in 2024 to a negative 12.3 million in 2025

2:28:01a swing of 51 million which we'll cover in more detail on the next slide so walking through the

2:28:09activity in the dc reserve funds over 2025 the chart on the rights dc collections total 13.7

2:28:16million in 2025 well below the 53.8 million projected in the 2023 dc background study

2:28:22investment income allocated to dc reserve funds total 4.8 million and outflows were just under

2:28:2744 million split between capital expenditures and debt servicing costs at the end of 2025 there was

2:28:33136.5 million of capital project commitments funded from the dc reserve funds leaving a

2:28:39remaining balance of a negative 12.3 million at year end in year we also made an accounting change

2:28:46so previously the city recognized dc revenue as soon as capital was spent even when projects were

2:28:51debt financed that meant dc that meant the dc reserve was reduced immediately despite costs

2:28:57being repaid over many years through debt principal repayments we've updated the policy so dc revenue

2:29:03is recognized as debt principles repaid this better reflects what funds are when funds are

2:29:08actually used it also removes the need to add back uh outstanding dc debt when reporting balances

2:29:15simplifying our reporting and better aligning it with our financial strategy as part of this

2:29:19updated approach we've also restated the 2024 dc reserve fund balances the largest adjustments were

2:29:24in growth parks and rec and police dc reserve funds which increased the 2024 restated balance

2:29:31you'll also notice there's no transfer in the dc reserve funds for exemption funding this year

2:29:36that's because we've updated the dc exemption policy and created a separate set of reserve funds

2:29:40to track exemption funding on its own more about that on the next slide so the updated dc

2:29:48exemptions policy is before you for approval today the city's current policy dates back to 2026 and

2:29:54was based on the assumption that municipalities are required by legislation to top up dc reserve

2:29:58funds for statutory exemptions recent correspondence between the province and the city of london has

2:30:03clarified that this is not a legislative requirement it is a municipal policy choice

2:30:08as long as municipalities are ensuring funding is still available to deliver growth related

2:30:12infrastructure for wealth context dc exemptions have grown substantially in the recent years

2:30:18in 2025 total exemptions were 12.2 million which is 107 percent of the 11.3 million we budgeted for

2:30:26that is an improvement over 2024 when exemptions hit 194 percent of budgets the improvement reflects

2:30:32both lower exemptions in 2025 and the long-term phasing approach we built into the budget and

2:30:37the largest component by far is the additional residential dwelling unit exemptions ardu used

2:30:42which totaled 7.6 million in 2025 going back to the clarification uh even though it's a policy

2:30:49choice staff strongly recommend continuing to fund dc exemptions for two key reasons first

2:30:55exemptions do not reduce the cost of infrastructure they create a funding gap that still needs to be

2:30:59addressed secondly funding exemptions avoids cross subsidization where develop or future

2:31:05development would otherwise face higher dc rates to make up for past shortfalls the past

2:31:10approach has also created a reporting transparency issue uh noted on the chart on the left in orange

2:31:17approximately half of the recent dc recent contributions to dc reserve funds have come

2:31:22from tax and ratepayers not from development charges paid by developers and builders so the

2:31:27reported dc balances have included a significant municipal contribution which can give a misleading

2:31:32picture of how developers how much developers have actually paid and how much the city has on hand

2:31:37from that source our updated policy introduces an identified funding requirement balancing impacts

2:31:43on tax and ratepayers by netting out grant funding that reduces the draw on dc reserve funds from

2:31:48exemptions which are to be funded from property taxes and utility rates to support this staff are

2:31:54recommending that council approve 16 new dc exemption reserve funds one for each dc class

2:31:59these funds will hold the tax and rate funded exemption contributions separately from the

2:32:03developer funded dc collections when the dc reserve funds have an insufficient insufficient

2:32:08balance to support the capital program the exemption reserve funds will cover the shortfall

2:32:13ultimately this change improves transparency aligns with the updated legislative interpretation

2:32:18and gives council clear visibility into which portion of dc reserve balances reflect developer

2:32:23contributions versus municipal support for growth moving on to debt 2025 was a significant year for

2:32:33the city's debt program we had issued 92 million in two-dementia offerings our first issuance

2:32:38since 2021 and also in an uncertain bond markets completing two successful issuances is a credit

2:32:45to both our timing and the city's strong financial standing the first issuance was 58 million in June

2:32:50for the south end community center and baker district infrastructure the second was 34 million

2:32:55in december for the baker district library and parkade after principal repayments or after principal

2:33:01payments of 9.7 million total debt outstanding at december 31st 2025 was just over 184 million

2:33:09so in terms of how that measures against our policy and legislative benchmarks you'll see on the left

2:33:14our debt our debt servicing cost as a percentage of own revenue own source revenue is 2.6

2:33:20the legislative maximum is 25 we are well within that limit and that ratio has been stable throughout

2:33:262025 our direct debt to operating revenue ratio is 30.1 against a policy maximum of 55 this is

2:33:34notable 30 is a threshold where s and p global considers municipal debt to be the lowest risk

2:33:39category we've just crossed that threshold with the new debentures and this will be factored into

2:33:44our upcoming credit review in summer 2026 both ratios will increase in 2026 as new debt comes

2:33:51into full servicing we expect them to rise through capital forecast period but based on

2:33:55current projections we will remain within all policy and legislative limits throughout the

2:34:00forecast and then looking ahead to 2026 activity staff have the authority to refinance balloon

2:34:06payments on dc debt for the handland expressway interchange and police headquarters as those

2:34:12mature this year and as a reminder council approved our debt authority in april 2025

2:34:20so to close 2025 was a complex year fiscally the results reflected deliberate strategy and one

2:34:26that held up well under unexpected pressures on the operating side we ended the year with a

2:34:31consolidated 1.6 million operating deficit or 0.3 of growth expenditures on the capital side we spent

2:34:38207.9 million and committed another 154.1 million representing 76 percent of budgets

2:34:46that's slightly below our 80 percent execution target but this is the largest capital program

2:34:50the city has undertaken in recent history we've also secured 20 million in grants in 2025 with

2:34:55another 45 million still under review the grant strategy is a critical tool for managing affordability

2:35:01and keeping the capital program moving while dc collections are lagging looking at reserves

2:35:06their available balance is 208.7 million at year end down 12.1 percent from 2024 we're watching

2:35:12this closely particularly the contingency reserves dc reserve funds as noted earlier staff will

2:35:18continue bringing forward updates through the budget process and will develop a contingency

2:35:22rebuild strategy as part of the next multi-year budget cycle on debt 184.5 million is outstanding

2:35:29with 92 million issued strategically in 2025 to unlock projects and up reserve funds these are

2:35:36all well within the policy and legislative limits but with a caution on the potential

2:35:40crediting impact as as we have been discussing for the past few years in summary we are stable

2:35:46we are managing within our frameworks but we do have less flexibility than we would like in the

2:35:50contingency reserves that is the intended outcome of the multi-year budget strategy and we're building

2:35:55those reserves as part of the next chapter thank you thank you and thank you miss newland as well

2:36:03the year in financial reporting is always one of our most robust presentations and rightfully so

2:36:10the layers of complexity and the drivers of the various components capital operating and

2:36:16debt and reserves are all important for the public to understand so thank you so much for the

2:36:21comprehensive presentation before we open it to questions from members of council we do have one

2:36:27delegation i'm assuming you're queued up virtually phone call okay our delegation is martin collier

2:36:34i'm mr. collier you're aware of the time limitations you'll hear a beep at the 32nd mark and uh we'll

2:36:42move the audio over to your delegation reminder to unmute star six can you hear me now we can hear you

2:37:01can you hear me now yep we can hear you thanks your time starts now okay thank you almost never

2:37:09current i am speaking on behalf of the residents for safety veal avenue we support sustainable

2:37:14transportation infrastructure our needs some mobility needs are the most people the lowest cost

2:37:19this has not been the case with the m rl bridge and speed veal avenue fiascos which have exacerbated

2:37:24issues related to public safety our environment as we've heard city finances especially in the

2:37:30covid and tariff altered world we are now living in i'd like to focus on capital which is having

2:37:35major challenges indeed one reason i was i'm here today is to have my two counselors gall down

2:37:41class and answer m rl bridge and speed veal class since i posed to them at award two town hall meeting

2:37:47on february 26 i followed up by phone with councillor Goller on martin chenine teeth that have yet to

2:37:52get answered i asked what are final what are the final m rl bridge costs of planning design

2:37:58construction and communications councillor causton says she would ask engineering staff and get back

2:38:03to me i also asked what is the speed veal phase two cost which is not included on the city website

2:38:10councillor Goller told me he would find info and get back to me and councillor causton agreed that all

2:38:15costs info should be on the public record and would request that it be published according to staff

2:38:20report reconstruction from flenwood to manhattan is 18 million dollars i'm wondering is that the total

2:38:27cost of phase one two and three seems impossible when phase one was nine million according to reg

2:38:32russellor throughout the eeva and opa staff and politicians said the eeva must be built to get

2:38:38drivers out of their cars i suggested to my councillors that prominent signs be erected on

2:38:44speed veal where it's totally congested right now uh to direct drivers to get out of their cars

2:38:50and use the m rl bridge rigo said he would follow up with the traffic department i hope they'll

2:38:56respond when i finish this after eight months of heavy m rl bridge construction that increased

2:39:01wealth emissions destroyed speed river ecology disrupted citizens lives and spend at least six

2:39:07million to non-wealth companies the m rl bridge opened on november 24th our group has called for

2:39:14a public inquiry into this unethical theory infrastructure we should begin with a post

2:39:18project evaluation according to former mto transportation economics officer manager bill

2:39:24denning post project evaluation has not been system systematically developed and has not used

2:39:29in ontario and i must admit i've not seen any post project evaluation hearing well the world

2:39:35bank however has decades and thousands of projects experience in developing and evolve

2:39:40involving its evaluation practices can't go into detail here but i think the goal is to learn

2:39:48and to do things better not doing the same thing again and expecting different results

2:39:53in resources required for evaluation are trivial compared to the value of the investment the cost

2:39:59of operation the social impact but there has to be political acceptance and the benefits of learning

2:40:05and of having excellent projects which feeds the cost of embarrassment of poor projects but it has

2:40:10to be done in a timely manner the metrics that i think should be considered is how concerns with

2:40:17indigenous treaty holders were considered and incorporated into projects as you know they were

2:40:22not consulted at first but only after we submitted our dump up request and local indigenous communities

2:40:29were never consulted reasons number two is reasons for 85 increase in the eb cost since

2:40:36july 2015 council meeting that approved the a f when staffs of the project would be 1.1 million

2:40:43and triple 2.3 million when province approved the a in 2022 and i'm assuming the cost of one

2:40:50kilometer of on-street separated bike lines is 70 000 dollars if you assume that we could have

2:40:56dealt under kilometers of bike lines to create a real network i've also asked and what we should

2:41:01look at is what the number of mro bridge users is per day and what the net new users are i.e.

2:41:09converted motorists we estimate maybe 30 people use that bridge each day so far over the last five

2:41:15months or so 90 of them are dog walkers and others who aren't using the bridge to go to a specific

2:41:22destination like downtown and none are converts i will go on to climate change targets and emissions

2:41:30which seems to be important to the city the emissions that were created by construction

2:41:35even though it was proposed to reduce emissions duty increased biking walking the mro bridge and

2:41:41steve must be analyzed for these embodied ghg's views during this construction operations from

2:41:47materials equipment and transportation also we have to look at things so we're talked about like

2:41:54net ecological gains i haven't heard a word about that since the opa happened in 2021 the documentation

2:42:01of staff reports stated that alternative to be what we ended up with supposedly would result in a

2:42:07positive impact to this nhs ecological benefit by using the existing hydro corridor to minimize

2:42:14free movement thank you you're at your one minute mark mr uh collier yeah or sorry five minute mark

2:42:22so the delegate the the audio has been been cut off um are there any questions by members of council

2:42:31to the delegate seeing none thank you mr collier for uh your commentary on our capital budget i do

2:42:38want to give an opportunity to our staff before we go into council questions to respond to any

2:42:45comments in the delegation that may have caused any question regarding uh how these capital projects

2:42:52are managed to you uh chair Caron so thank you for the opportunity i i think what i can say is you

2:43:01know the city's capital budget again is professionally managed through city staff the budgets are all

2:43:07very transparent and uh done through the city's budget processes you can find them at qualt.cd

2:43:11slash budget and looking at the capital um projects and doing the search and look up functions on there

2:43:18and certainly if members of the public are looking for um final accounting of city capital

2:43:22projects we are happy to provide that information thank you mr game and i appreciate that okay my

2:43:28colleagues around the horseshoe we've got a seven recommendations on three different uh items we have

2:43:34the uh capital uh the operating and the debt and reserves so if there's questions i suggest that we

2:43:42do all three since the presentation related to all three and then we'll go through each of those

2:43:47three sections when it comes to putting motions on the floor so uh questions of staff uh council

2:43:52alt thank you very much chair Caron just a point of order if you don't mind absolutely to the chair

2:43:58i was wondering if maybe it might be easier uh chair if you just asked all of council does anyone

2:44:03have a question on this one and if there's not we could just pass that one is there a question on

2:44:09this one then go back to you know what i mean that we don't have staff and everyone wondering if

2:44:14we're bouncing around to all three sure uh yep that's one way to do it i wasn't sure how interrelated

2:44:19the presentation was they were very distinct but let's uh let's let's follow the mayor's suggestion

2:44:24on uh on protocols um let's start with um the operating budget are there any questions on the

2:44:29operating budget councillor Allt you had your hand up uh yeah thank you very much i'm going to have to

2:44:34reframe this uh slightly um uh through you chair Caron to uh staff uh with regards to the operating

2:44:42budget i'm i'm looking at um employee expenses salaries etc you made statement that this is

2:44:49approximately or less than 50 percent of our of our total cost and i'm wondering if um this is higher

2:44:57or lower than similar um similar municipalities and are we seeing a trend whether this is increasing

2:45:04decreasing or static thank you there we go uh through the chair to councillor Allt so the

2:45:18overall that percentage of our operating budget the comprised capital was relatively close to our um

2:45:26sorry the actuals were relatively close to budget that's about 50 percent of our operating budget

2:45:30that is for staffing um a big part that's that's because our services are delivered by our staff

2:45:38and so the two biggest parts are transfers to capital uh for the capital work uh for the assets

2:45:44that deliver services and then the staffing complement and so in terms of finding uh detailed

2:45:50numbers about increases or decreases as a percentage of the overall budgeted expenditures i don't have

2:45:56that handy in front of me but would be happy to pull that together and get back to you sure thank you

2:46:01very much uh just ballpark are we able to assess whether we are uh similar to our comparator municipalities

2:46:12it's thanks uh through the chair i haven't got any uh detailed data on that in front of me but i think

2:46:19that that is a relatively um fair assessment i can get back to you again on that lovely thank you um

2:46:27i'll ask you the next one about that privately i believe that this is operating but it actually

2:46:38relates to a deficit and that's the on ontario building code deficit which uh i noted and uh

2:46:46it strikes me that this and the dc reserve fund are for all intents and purposes um concerns that

2:46:56in some senses are beyond our control because of changes to ontario legislation am i correct

2:47:05through the chair so they're they're both related to growth and development and the pace of that in

2:47:10the community and so that o bc deficit is is driven largely by revenue offset by some savings in the

2:47:18on the expending side um the development charge collections again driven by slow development

2:47:25economic environment um in our community and following up it's going to be the same that i

2:47:30asked with regards to uh costs of uh of labor employees um it strikes me that this is likely

2:47:38a trend that we are seeing right across the province with with slow building uh occurring

2:47:43would i be correct in that assumption through the chair yes you are thank you very much um

2:47:49then i'm going to make it really really quick a court surplus i i know that i thought that was kind

2:47:55of lovely with one exception i i uh i know that we were promised promise that uh that court services

2:48:03would be revenue neutral are we revenue neutral or um is this a blessing or is this just getting

2:48:10us up to neutral through the chair um i believe it is budgeted to be revenue neutral and so i

2:48:18think you could classify it as a blessing and if miss newland has anything to add about that um

2:48:24or dcao bryan would be happy to hear from them through the chair um i would just add that yes it is

2:48:39budgeted to be net neutral as uh miss oduyre had mentioned and through towards the end of the year

2:48:45we did receive some larger fine payments which was um not part of our year end forecast thank you

2:48:53and the last thing which uh relates to both the capital and to operating is the debt ratio and

2:49:00the standards and poor raising us from the low risk threshold um does that is that cause for

2:49:07alarm it's it's a fraction of a percentage but nonetheless uh these are things that uh

2:49:13carry a lot of weight publicly um are we going to hear more about this and do we have concern

2:49:19um through the chair i think that is something that we've been talking about this this uh strategic

2:49:25taking on of more debt to move forward our capital program and the potential associated impacts on

2:49:32the credit rating so that debt categorization is one element of a very broad credit rating

2:49:39it could have an impact on it it depends about all the other factors and how s and p is looking at

2:49:44them together um as a group of factors so it is certainly possible and we want to be up front

2:49:49with council about that possibility um it's something we've been talking about if you look at the

2:49:54other factor that 2.6 percent um of own source revenue um that is the legislative factor and the

2:50:01maximum's 25 percent so we have a lot of debt capacity from that perspective um but you're

2:50:07balancing that all the time with that ensuring that we get the best access to the best rates and that

2:50:13affordability of our debt program as well which is largely driven or contributed to from the s and p

2:50:20rating i'm just going to quickly follow up on that because when i was raising the question about our

2:50:26our development charges and uh the disappointment in in new bills within the city does that have an

2:50:33impact on our um credit rating because it increases our uh our our debt that we are carrying and is

2:50:42that directly related to changes in legislation and also the the climate for building through the

2:50:49chair so we haven't uh suggested taking on additional debt beyond that uh 50 million ish per year average

2:50:57um which might be issued at different times as you saw we issued more than that in in uh 25 will

2:51:02issue less than that in 26 um but so that could be a conversation that we have to have through

2:51:09future budget processes as we continue to see this pressure on dc collections and and moving

2:51:14forward our capital program but at this time we haven't gone toward that additional additional

2:51:21recommendation for debt beyond the current strategy thank you just quick comment thank you very very

2:51:26much for a very thorough and transparent report thanks i don't see any other questions any oh

2:51:33councillor kate anyone else want to be on the speaker's list councillor thank you through you

2:51:39madam chair i also had a question about the court services i was just wondering if um our move to

2:51:46have tickets uh in those kinds of disputes moved to a separate outside of the court process if that

2:51:53has had any um effect on that in terms of being able to get those things through quicklier through

2:52:04the chair i'm going to see if dc i o brian can comment i think that just came into effect this year

2:52:11yeah through you uh chair Caron to um to councillor Caton yeah yes we do foresee that that will

2:52:17have an impact uh the move to administrative um uh monetary penalty system is is uh just on the cusp

2:52:24of being implemented now um and so we do anticipate that will be the case but we don't have i think

2:52:29concrete data at this point that would point to the specifics about the uh in regards to that

2:52:33but it's something that we're uh we're hopeful we'll do exactly that it'll lighten the burden

2:52:38on the court system while also hopefully expediting the processes that you outlined great thank you

2:52:45saying no further questions i'd like to ask for a mover councillor Allt uh seconded by councillor

2:52:52richardson and this is just on 14.1.1 the operating budget monitoring report

2:52:59i'll call the vote is there anyone against the three recommendations seeing none that is carried

2:53:05let's move on to point two which is the capital budget monitoring report any questions of staff

2:53:11on capital seeing none i'll look for a motion councillor richardson and mayor guthrie and

2:53:19we'll call that vote anyone opposed to section two you're in capital budget seeing none okay on

2:53:28to point three which is the long-term financial statements reserves and debt any questions on

2:53:32this item seeing none i'll ask for a motion mayor guthrie and uh councillor hauser call the vote

2:53:42anyone against these three recommendations okay those carried unanimous on all three thank you to

2:53:48staff again a comprehensive report one of the most uh comprehensive we receive each year but you're

2:53:53in financial monitoring monitoring is something that we look forward to uh it does keep us

2:54:01accountable and contributes to the overall health of our city and our financial credit rating

2:54:08and it's good to have that information publicly available for anyone who needs it we are going

2:54:13to move on to item 14.2 which is election voting methods in the year 2030 and this is an item brought

2:54:21forward by councillor Caton so uh councillor Caton i am going to turn the floor over to you.

2:54:31Thank you if the clerks could um please bring up my motion so uh i am moving that for the

2:54:402030 municipal and school board election the city clerk be directed to consider and prioritize

2:54:45voting methods which would enable voters to independently mark a ballot at home and that

2:54:49the city clerk report back to city council on the outcomes of this direction as a part of the 2030

2:54:55municipal and school board election voting methods report scheduled to go before city council in

2:54:592028 and i don't have a a seconder lined up so the floor is open for anyone who'd like to second

2:55:09councillor richardson okay thank you for your comments yeah yeah so i'm gonna frame why i've

2:55:17got it out here yep uh so i really appreciated that council had moved forward with the online voting

2:55:24and it's very unfortunate we weren't able to find any vendors that met our security standards

2:55:30um i know that council really wanted to ensure that there was a next level of accessibility we

2:55:38heard all of the feedback from the aac on issues with the communities having independently verifiable

2:55:48voting methods from their homes in terms of different disabilities that were uh vision related

2:55:55and and i think that because we weren't able to find a vendor and now we don't have enough time

2:56:02to kind of implement a secondary method that i would just like to pull it out and just refer to it

2:56:09to fill that accessibility gap so that we're we're not in this place in the next election

2:56:15and i know staff do their very best to accommodate everyone and we've got a fantastic team that

2:56:22really does their best to meet all of the individual like individual accessibility needs but we still

2:56:27have this one gap so i'd like to make sure that we've got something in place for the next election

2:56:33and uh be less pres prescriptive about what that method is so that we can ensure that those

2:56:40needs are being met thanks thank you um any member of council have any questions for the mover

2:56:48councillor Allt thank you very much chair Caron it's only one question i i don't want to

2:56:55sound like i'm uh being nitpicking but i'm wondering what you mean by the term prioritize and the

2:57:01reason for that is it sounds like you are putting at home voting ahead of voting at a um a voting center

2:57:14voting center is already covered so i'm trying to fill a gap so right now this is the

2:57:21missing piece in the accessibility package that we have um as i think you'll remember that there

2:57:27was the remote accessible vote from home where folks could um who were blind could have a ballot

2:57:33filled out on their computer and that is this same kind of technology that using your home

2:57:41computer if you have a screen reader or those kinds of accessibility needs that fits that need

2:57:49and so there are different areas where certain folks they've got latex allergies they've got

2:57:55severe chemicals and cities they can't vote externally and they can't use the paper ballots

2:58:02and do the vote by mail because they are blind they can't independently vote so there's there's

2:58:08just different use cases that aren't completely covered by the uh the group of options that we

2:58:14have now and i just want to make sure that we've got that availability for for everyone to vote

2:58:21without assistance so they have their private vote thank you very much um i don't have any other

2:58:27concern my concern was that you were suggesting that home voting would be a higher priority and

2:58:33i hear very clearly that you're saying in addition to the the current system that we have if you

2:58:40don't mind uh chair Caron i'm wondering if we could hear from staff on this particular issue

2:58:47absolutely dco o'brien thank you chair Caron and to you councillor Allt um this direction is certainly

2:58:56welcomed from from the councillor it is it is sort of in line with with the body of work that we

2:59:02would be carrying out and we would plan to carry out so um this council and council before have

2:59:07become accustomed to our our work in sort of evaluating various solutions in the marketplace

2:59:12bringing that forward as as a an option before council council still retains legislatively the

2:59:18right to make decisions on which voting equipment is used or the voting methods that are used and so

2:59:23we look forward to sort of again aligning this this this direction that we receive through this

2:59:28motion should it pass um with with those processes we'll we'll have a report ready for 2028 which is

2:59:34in advance of the 2030 election uh and we will be looking at all of the options this sort of points

2:59:40us to say have a have a really deep close look at what options are available when it comes to the

2:59:46in the the ability for electors to independently mark a ballot a lot can change between now and

2:59:502028 and so we'll see where we end up but we'll we'll continue to sort of do that due diligence

2:59:55in the lead-up to the election thank you very much for that answer and as a consequence chair

2:59:59chron I will support this with thanks to the mover for putting this forward thanks any further

3:00:06questions for the mover let's call the vote anyone against this motion seeing none that's

3:00:12passed unanimously thanks thank you councillor Caton we are at staff announcements any announcements

3:00:20from our dcao uh corporate services or our cao no seeing none we're now at adjournment

3:00:26adjournment which is the role of the chair of the committee of the whole so i'll turn it back over

3:00:31to america three i believe you were you were moving adjournment we need a seconder for that

3:00:40councillor Busuttil anyone against that is carried meeting adjourned