Special Council Meeting - Budget

7:57All right, good morning everyone.

7:59It is Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025.

8:03It is nine o'clock in the morning

8:04and I'm calling the special council meeting

8:08for us to order.

8:10And right off the top,

8:11if you could please stand if you're able

8:13as we recognize our national anthem.

9:44Great, thank you.

9:45And as we continue,

9:46just a moment of silent reflection.

10:00Thank you.

10:01And now for our territorial acknowledgement.

10:02As we gather, let us take time to reflect on our privilege

10:06to live and work here in Guelph,

10:07a city that's built over rich indigenous histories.

10:10Our guests here,

10:11and we should reflect upon the responsibility

10:13to care for this land,

10:15the people who live here today,

10:16and the generations to come.

10:18If our actions today can move us towards reconciliation,

10:21we should take pause and make those decisions

10:23with intention and gratitude.

10:25This place we call Guelph has served as traditional lands

10:28and a place of refuge for many peoples over time,

10:30but more specifically the Anwaran Rock

10:32and the Holonoshoni.

10:34This land is held as the treaty lands

10:36with the territory of the Mississaugas

10:37of the Credit First Nation,

10:39and Guelph lies directly adjacent to the Haldeman Tract,

10:42which is part of a long-established traditional hunting grounds

10:45for the six nations of the Grand River.

10:48Many First Nations Inuit and Métis people

10:49who have come from across Turtle Island

10:51called Guelph Home today.

10:54And with that, is there any disclosure

10:55of pecuniary interest, any general nature thereof

10:58for the items in front of us today?

11:01No, and again, I do have regrets from Klassen.

11:06Richardson as well, just to have that tabled and noted.

11:13So we are here for the,

11:17I guess I almost call it the second half

11:18of the 2025 budget update.

11:20This is the local boards and shared services portion.

11:26And so we're gonna have some presentations today

11:29from not only our internal staff,

11:31like the city hall side of it,

11:32but we'll have some presentations as well

11:34from these external boards and shared service agencies.

11:39And what we'll do is we'll ask if there's questions

11:45of any of these local boards and outside services

11:49from anyone as we go through everything.

11:53Because if there isn't any for some of them,

11:58it's probably just respectfully nice

12:01to tell those people if they're in the room

12:02or they're waiting online that they can go.

12:05Okay, so I'll go with that.

12:11I'm gonna start with Shannon O'Dyre,

12:13our acting general manager of finance

12:16and our city treasurer to come on up to the microphone

12:20and maybe set the stage for us a little bit here

12:23where we're at and where we're going.

12:24So over to you.

12:26Okay, thank you Mayor Guthrie

12:27and good morning mayor and council.

12:30We are here today for step two of two

12:32in the 2025 budget confirmation.

12:35New this year, the budgets for the local boards

12:38and shared services agencies are being considered separately

12:41from the city services budget.

12:43Local boards and shared services is a mouthful.

12:46So from here on out, I'm going to refer

12:48to this group of organizations as LBSS.

12:53The city services budget was considered and adopted

12:56with a tax levy increase of 3.66% over 2024 on November 27th.

13:02That portion of the budget was presented

13:04under the strong mayor budget process

13:06and represents approximately two thirds

13:08of Guelph's total budget.

13:10Today, the 2025 budget update for the LBSS agencies

13:14are presented for council approval

13:17completing the 2025 budget confirmation process.

13:20Historically, LBSS budgets have collectively represented

13:24approximately one third of Guelph's total budget.

13:32Before we jump in, in a brief review

13:35of Guelph's budget structure, we have before you on the slide,

13:39Guelph's budget includes all city services

13:41plus the specialized services delivered

13:43by seven LBSS agencies as listed before you.

13:48The city funds all are part of the operations

13:50of these agencies and each agency has a separate

13:53governance structure and varied type

13:55of relationship with the city.

13:57Most of the city funding for these organizations

13:59is property tax supported with the exception

14:02of the Grand River Conservation Authority,

14:04which is funded by the water and wastewater rates.

14:08And there are members of council

14:10that sit on each of those boards.

14:17Of the LBSS agencies, the organizations on this slide

14:20are tax supported from the general property tax levy.

14:24The collective impact of the 2025 budget update

14:27on the tax levy is 3.12%, an increase of 0.71%

14:32from the previously adopted 2.41%.

14:37All LBSS agencies were requested to submit a letter

14:41outlining their 2025 budget update

14:43and those letters are attached to the council report.

14:46Agencies with a budget increase for 2025

14:49that exceeded the respectfully requested 4% target

14:53were requested to submit slides

14:54and present their budgets to council.

14:57And agencies that did not exceed the 4% target

15:00were also welcome to present their budget to council

15:03if they chose to do so.

15:05In just a few moments, the Elliott community

15:08Guelph Public Library, the county of Wellington

15:10and the Guelph Police Services

15:11will present their budgets to you.

15:14But before we leave this slide,

15:15I wanted to provide two points of clarity.

15:18First, there's a difference in the presentation

15:20of the library's budget increase for 2025

15:24as a result of the adjustment that was made

15:25between the city and the library

15:27to align the funding and expenditures

15:29for library debt payments.

15:30This is a net zero adjustment

15:32and a presentation difference only.

15:36The other difference that I want to highlight and explain

15:39is the difference between the county's budget increase

15:41for 2025 social services costs

15:44and the city's budget increase for this item.

15:47This is outlined in detail in the web materials

15:50and the memo that was released with the revised agenda

15:53with the increase of 4.5 million

15:55for the county social services listed on the slide

15:57for 2025 budget update is different

16:00from what the county budgeted

16:01for the city's cost increase for 2025.

16:05So there are three adjustments that get us

16:07from the county's $2.5 million budget increase for 25

16:11to the city's $4.5 million increase.

16:15So first, the city's 2024 budget was adopted

16:18before the county's 2024 budget was approved.

16:21And there was an increase of just over 900,000

16:24for the city for 2024 that was added

16:27after the city's budget was adopted.

16:29So that increase is getting picked up

16:31in the city's 2025 budget update.

16:35Second, the city phased in the 2024 increase over four years.

16:39So there's a 1.4 million that is hitting the city's tax levy

16:43in 2025 that was part of the 2024 increase.

16:48This impact will continue in 2026 and 2027

16:52when the city's budget for social services

16:54will be fully funded.

16:55And finally, an allocation of budgeted assessment growth

16:58revenue of just over 300,000 then offsets the increase

17:02in the table on the screen.

17:08The Downtown Guelph Business Association, or DGBA,

17:11is a business improvement area in the downtown of Guelph

17:14that levies an additional special tax on those businesses

17:17within their boundary area.

17:19The 2025 budget update has been approved by the DGBA board

17:23with a total levy of 721,200,

17:27which represents a 3% increase over 2024.

17:31The gross expenditure budget for the DGBA

17:33has increased from the 2025 adopted budget,

17:36but the total levy requirement has not changed

17:39as the increase in expenses is funded by grants

17:41and other revenue.

17:46And the final local board

17:48is the Grand River Conservation Authority.

17:50The GRCA is funded from the water and wastewater rates,

17:53and there are no changes to the 2025 budget update

17:56from what was adopted.

17:58The impact on water and wastewater rates

18:00is projected to stay at a consistent increase

18:02of 0.5% across all years.

18:09The GRCA's budget is still in draft

18:12and is expected to be approved by their board in February.

18:18So with that, before we move into the presentations

18:22from the Elliott, the library, the county, and the police,

18:25I would like to pause and turn it back over to the mayor

18:28to invite any council questions

18:30for Wellington, Dufferin Guelph, Public Health,

18:33and the Grand River Conservation Authority.

18:35We have from those agencies available virtually

18:39if there are questions.

18:41Great, thanks, Shana.

18:42So yeah, before we go into the actual

18:46in-person presentations, let me just ask,

18:50I'll just go in order here.

18:51Is there anyone that has any questions on the DGBA?

18:55No, okay.

18:56How about the GRCA?

18:58Okay, councillor O'Rourke,

19:00and just one second, I'll go to you in a second.

19:02What about public health?

19:04No, okay.

19:06So thank you to DGBA.

19:08Thank you to Public Health.

19:10And we'll go to a question on the GRCA

19:13just to you, councillor O'Rourke.

19:14Go ahead.

19:15Thanks, Mayor Guthrie.

19:16Just a quick question and mostly curiosity.

19:18I noticed that the GRCA has revenues from hydro generation.

19:23I'm wondering if there's any plans in the future

19:25to increase that in order to assist with the funding

19:28of the GRCA and potentially just to build up their budget

19:33that way.

19:33So really point of curiosity, but also about related.

19:41Through you, chair, this is Sonia Radoja,

19:43manager corporate services.

19:45And I beg that that question maybe has to be a bit repeated

19:50because I guess I was being brought online

19:53to participate and speak and I didn't hear part of it.

19:56I know she's asking about hydro revenue

19:59and if there is any potential for,

20:02and that's when it cut out.

20:05For expansion.

20:07No, not at this time.

20:09We have in the last number of years,

20:11there was a time when we were looking at the Park Hill dam

20:14as possibly being converted.

20:17But that has, there's been no uptake on that of recent time.

20:22So no.

20:25Okay, thank you.

20:28Okay, thank you very much.

20:29So thank you to those three outside boards.

20:31We appreciate you being with us today.

20:34Thank you very much for answering from the GRCA.

20:38So I'm going to consider those three done council

20:41and we're going to move on now to the next part

20:44that of those that are actually here to present.

20:48Shannon, do you want to jump in before I go further?

20:52Turn it back over to you.

20:54Sure, I would just say so for anyone following along

20:56with the slides that were posted with the agenda,

21:00we've actually flipped the order to respect

21:04as respectful as possible of the time

21:07and put the shorter presentations at the beginning.

21:10So it's actually the Elliott that is presenting first.

21:13Thank you.

21:16Yeah, okay.

21:17So if I could have the Elliott come up next

21:20and then the library will be in the wings, as I say,

21:24and then the County of Wellington after that

21:26and then police services.

21:27That's the order we're going to go in today.

21:29Okay.

21:30So thank you very much for coming

21:32and we'll get you ready with the slides

21:35and then feel free to give us an update.

21:39Good morning.

21:40With lots of good news, right?

21:41Yes, absolutely.

21:43Good morning, Mayor Guthrie and council

21:45and thank you for allowing us to speak briefly

21:48regarding the 2025 budget submission.

21:53So we wanted to start this morning

21:54just by highlighting a few of our key accomplishments

21:57for 2024.

21:59The most significant being the construction

22:02of 29 new long-term care spaces at the Elliott.

22:06There are now 114 long-term care residents

22:10who call the Elliott home.

22:12This is a remarkable collaboration between the city,

22:15the Elliott and the province.

22:17And it was a notable achievement

22:19that was celebrated last Thursday at our grand opening.

22:25Our home also continues to exceed

22:27the government's four hours of care

22:30and currently has achieved just over 4.51 hours

22:34of direct care this past quarter,

22:36which exceeds the provincial target.

22:39For those of you who have been able to tour

22:41our new Edinburgh home area,

22:43you have seen firsthand are the progress of our team

22:46has made in advancing our journey

22:49towards becoming the first long-term care home in Guelph

22:52to be accredited as a person-centered

22:55butterfly philosophy of care.

22:58I'm happy to provide tours to you, Mayor Guthrie

23:01and any councillor who has not had the opportunity

23:03to see this new home area.

23:09The following slide demonstrates

23:12the year-over-year budget request,

23:13the Elliott and except for 2024,

23:17we've stayed within the required guidance

23:20provided by staff in the mayor

23:22and have shown a net decrease for 2025.

23:30The next slide demonstrates the operational impact

23:33of the long-term care bed expansion.

23:36One of the pieces that we came to council

23:38asking for support was to reduce the overall cost per bed

23:42for the city of Guelph,

23:43as well as the operational costs overall for the home.

23:47This has demonstrated clearly on the slide

23:49and what will be the cost per bed moving forward

23:52into the following 2026 and 2027 budget years.

24:00Lastly, we just wanted to highlight

24:03some of the active partnerships that we have

24:05with other funders in order to achieve

24:07our strategic objective.

24:10Examples of those funders are listed on the slide

24:13and helps ensures the Elliott maintains

24:16a high level of fiscal accountability and flexibility

24:20when looking on how to achieve what is required of it.

24:25Any final comments regarding the,

24:29or any questions that the mayor or the councillors have

24:32regarding our 2025 budget, I'm happy to take at this time.

24:36So thank you very much for giving us a brief opportunity

24:39to present today.

24:40Yeah, thank you very much.

24:42And it was all good news.

24:44So thank you.

24:45Is there any follow up questions at this time

24:47on the Elliott portion?

24:50There isn't, run, go away.

24:52Yeah.

24:53There's a coffee waiting.

24:54Thank you very much.

24:55That means you're good.

24:57Start the car.

24:59All right.

25:00Thank you very much.

25:01We appreciate you.

25:03And so speaking of appreciation,

25:05let's get the public library up here next.

25:08With Gualf's new CEO.

25:11So come on up, Dan.

25:16Congratulations, by the way, just to say it publicly.

25:19Yeah, thank you.

25:20And whenever you're ready, you can go right ahead.

25:26Screen button to advance.

25:33Good morning, mayor and city councillors.

25:36Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today

25:38about the exciting developments happening

25:40at your library.

25:42I am here to present our board approved 2025

25:46operating in capital budgets

25:48and forecasts for 2026 to 2028.

25:51These budgets represent a pivotal time

25:54for the Gualf Public Library

25:56as we prepare for the completion

25:58of the highly anticipated new central library

26:01on Baker Street set to open in 2026.

26:05These investments will shape the future of library service

26:09in Gualf and ensure we continue to meet

26:11the growing needs of our diverse community.

26:18This budget is designed to deliver

26:20on the library's strategic goals

26:21while also aligning with many

26:23of the city's priorities for the year,

26:25including fostering community wellbeing

26:28and investing in growth in care for our shared spaces.

26:32By supporting this budget,

26:34we ensure that the Gualf Public Library

26:36can continue to provide equitable

26:38and accessible access to residents

26:41meeting their diverse needs of the growing community.

26:44At the same time, this budget builds

26:46the necessary capacity to prepare

26:48for the new central library,

26:50a transformational project which will enhance our role

26:54as a hub of learning, connection and innovation.

26:58We have also taken care to balance these ambitious goals

27:01with the fiscal responsibility we owe to the community.

27:05This budget represents a thoughtful

27:07and strategic investment in the future of Gualf,

27:11creating long-term value while ensuring

27:13we remain accountable to the residents we serve.

27:19The Gualf Public Library Board has approved

27:21an operating budget of $12,349,767 for 2025.

27:29This represents a 6.5% reduction

27:32compared to the library's 2024 budget.

27:36This reduction is a result of an administrative adjustment

27:40which reallocates 1.6 million in debt funding

27:44from the library's budget to the city's budget.

27:47Without this adjustment, excuse me,

27:50the library's budget would reflect a 4.7% increase over 2024.

27:56This budget underscores our dedication

27:59to maintaining approved levels of service

28:01and ensuring that all Gualf residents,

28:03regardless of their financial circumstances,

28:05have equitable access to programs, resources

28:09and the opportunities they need.

28:11Libraries are more than just buildings,

28:13they are community equalizers.

28:15In our spaces, we foster connection,

28:17provide vital resources and meet people where they are,

28:21particularly those in vulnerable

28:23and under-service circumstances.

28:26Whether it's job seeking tools, literacy programs,

28:30technology access or simply a safe place to belong,

28:34the library is here to make a difference

28:38in the lives of all Gualf residents.

28:44The key drivers influencing the library's budget

28:46mirror many of the challenges council face

28:49when preparing the city's budget.

28:51These pressures reflect the broader economic landscape

28:54and the increasing costs of delivering essential services.

28:58Inflationary pressures play a significant role

29:01in our rising operating costs, utility expenses,

29:05rental costs for our branches, book prices

29:07and building maintenance have all seen increases.

29:11One of the most important components of this budget

29:14is employee compensation,

29:16which accounts for approximately 68%

29:19of the library's operating costs.

29:21A figure that is consistent with a national average

29:23for public libraries.

29:25These investments in our team are critical to our success.

29:28Competitive wages ensure that we can attract

29:31and retain skilled and passionate staff

29:34who are essential to delivering

29:35high quality service and programs.

29:38They also help maintain operational stability

29:41necessary to meet the needs of our growing community.

29:44By addressing these key cost drivers,

29:46this budget represents a balanced approach

29:48ensuring we can continue to deliver

29:51exceptional customer service while responding

29:53to the financial realities we face.

30:00One of the most significant investments

30:01in the library's 2025 budget is the addition

30:04of 6.3 new full-time equivalent positions for 2026.

30:09A critical step in preparing for our move

30:12into the new central library.

30:14As council is aware,

30:15we have been strategically phasing in additional staff

30:18to build capacity for this new transformative space,

30:22which will be three times larger

30:24than our current main branch.

30:26These positions include a mix of roles

30:28essential to supporting our expanded services,

30:30a full-time and part-time programmer,

30:33a library assistant, a librarian,

30:35a circulation clerk, and an administrative assistant.

30:39Together, these roles represent an investment

30:41of just over $500,000,

30:43ensuring we can continue to deliver on the promise

30:46of this new state-of-the-art facility.

30:49As I mentioned earlier,

30:50library staff are at the heart of what we do.

30:53Over the last few decades,

30:55their role has evolved far beyond caretakers of books.

30:59Today, our staff are technology navigators,

31:02social service connectors,

31:03early childhood educators, community builders,

31:07and facilitators of programs

31:09that help people develop skills,

31:11find belonging, and thrive.

31:14In a post-COVID world,

31:15where many in our community are still seeking connection

31:18and stability,

31:19this work has never been more important

31:21or more impactful.

31:23Council has helped us lay the foundation

31:26by supporting the creation of a beautiful

31:28new central library,

31:29a facility that will redefine what library space

31:32is mean to the community.

31:35The next step is to invest in the people

31:37who will bring this vision to life,

31:39staff who will empower the residents

31:41with the much needed programs, services, and opportunities.

31:45This budget also accounts for ongoing training

31:47and development to ensure that our team

31:49is prepared to meet new and emerging needs,

31:53whether it's supporting digital literacy,

31:55responding to social challenges,

31:57providing inclusive and welcoming spaces.

31:59Our staff are equipped with the tools and skills

32:02to adapt to an ever-changing world.

32:05Together, these investments will ensure

32:07that the new central library is not just a building,

32:09but a valuable hub of opportunity,

32:12learning, and connection for the entire community.

32:19Library staff actively pursue alternative revenue sources,

32:23including grants and fundraising opportunities

32:26to offset operating costs.

32:28In 2025, these revenue streams remain steady overall,

32:32but we are seeing a slight decrease in projected revenue

32:35for room rental income,

32:37as this space,

32:38which was previously available for rent,

32:41now used for library operations,

32:42including virtual programming.

32:45On the grants front,

32:46we continue to lobby the province

32:48for a much needed increase

32:49in the public library's operating grant,

32:51which has remained unchanged at $167,000 for over 30 years.

32:57This lack of adjustment fails to account for inflation

33:00and for the growing demands on library service,

33:02effectively reducing the grant's real value over time.

33:06Despite this stagnation,

33:08we remain committed to advocating for fair funding

33:10to support the vital work

33:12that public libraries do across Ontario.

33:15As we navigate these challenges,

33:17we remain resourceful,

33:18leveraging community support

33:20and seeking innovative solutions and partnerships

33:23to ensure that we can continue

33:25to provide exceptional service

33:27and opportunities for the people of Guelph.

33:33The 2025 to 2028 operating budget has been updated

33:37to meet the needs of the Guelph Public Library,

33:39integrating the new central library,

33:41ensuring its smooth operation

33:43and integration into Guelph's civic infrastructure.

33:47This forecast includes funding for programming staff,

33:50building maintenance, utilities and essential services

33:53as outlined in the Baker District Operating Impacts Report,

33:57which was received by city council in October of 2023.

34:02The report estimates an additional net cost

34:04of just under $2.3 million.

34:07These funds will support engaging programs,

34:09facility maintenance, security and utilities

34:12for the expanded energy efficient library,

34:15which is three times the size of our current location.

34:18These investments ensure that the library becomes

34:20a dynamic hub supporting Guelph's growth and aspirations.

34:24By aligning with this recommendations report,

34:28we are positioning the new central library

34:30for long term success.

34:36Well, the operating budget lays the groundwork

34:38for delivering exceptional service and programs.

34:40I'd now like to shift our attention to the capital budget.

34:44This is where we invest in the infrastructure

34:46needed to support our work.

34:48These strategic investments will shape the future

34:51of library service in Guelph.

34:53We are requesting 50,000 for radio frequency identification

34:57to align with library best practices

34:59and material management with funding

35:01to support hardware and equipment.

35:04An additional 50,000 is requested for IT upgrades,

35:07including a complete overhaul of our virtual desktop system.

35:12These investments ensure we will have a secure and modern

35:16and responsive digital infrastructure

35:19to meet the evolving needs of library users and staff.

35:23To maintain the current library,

35:25we are seeking 50,000 to cover essential repairs

35:28and unforeseen issues.

35:31And finally, we are requesting 35,000

35:33for upgrades to our branches.

35:36Guided by our facility master plan,

35:38these enhancements will improve functionality

35:41with a focus on an accessibility audit in 2025.

35:45Finally, in 2025, we are requesting $2.9 million

35:51for a new central library collection.

35:53This one time development charge funded cost

35:57to populate the new central library with material.

36:01This collection will include a diverse range of resources.

36:04The opening day collection is to ensure that the library is fully stocked

36:08with current and relevant material on day one.

36:15The investments you make here today will have a profound

36:18and lasting impact on our community,

36:21shaping not only the services we provide,

36:23but the lives we touch for years to come.

36:25With enhanced staffing, we can significantly expand our capacity

36:31to support learning, technology literacy,

36:33job searching, and lifelong education.

36:36Library staff are not just facilitators, they are guides,

36:40mentors, and problem solvers who help residents navigate critical moments

36:44in their lives.

36:46This includes providing programming that fosters a sense of belonging

36:49and connection, particularly for individuals who may be at vulnerable points

36:54in their journey.

36:56As a trusted community connector, this budget allows us to continue our vital role

37:01in linking residents with social supports, community groups,

37:05and programs that enhance well-being.

37:07Whether it's assisting a newcomer, finding local resources,

37:11helping someone develop new skills, or simply offering a safe and welcoming space,

37:16the library remains a pillar of community resilience and growth.

37:20We ask you to look beyond the books and see the library for what it truly is,

37:24a piece of critical civic infrastructure,

37:27and an evolving institution that connects people, supports communities,

37:32and helps Guelph thrive.

37:34This is not just an investment in a budget, it's an investment in the future

37:38of our city and the lives of the people who call it home.

37:43That concludes my presentation.

37:45I'm happy to answer any questions that Council might have.

37:48Thank you so much, Dan.

37:49Appreciate you and your staff and the board, all the work that goes into this.

37:54We fully appreciate that.

37:56Is there any questions as a follow-up on the presented budget?

38:00Okay.

38:01I've got Gibson and O'Rourke.

38:03Go ahead, Gibson.

38:05Thank you.

38:06Through Mr. Marin, great presentation.

38:07Appreciate it.

38:09Question, you mentioned building maintenance staff and the requirement to have new employees

38:15at the library.

38:16I'm just wondering if you could help me understand the sort of synergies between our maintenance

38:22staff in the city and our city's building, library's building, who's maintaining it,

38:27and what are the compliments of staff that help with each other?

38:30So my comment was not about building maintenance staff.

38:32It was about maintenance for the current library.

38:37So we have an old building with a failing infrastructure.

38:42The air conditioning is an original piece of equipment and is on its last legs.

38:47We have 18 months left in that building and we have to maintain it and we have to upkeep

38:52it because eventually we're going to be selling it.

38:55Pardon if I created confusion.

38:58No, it's not staff.

39:01It's maintenance for the current facility.

39:03Maybe I'll just jump in there for a second because WCAO Lee might want to just remind

39:10council and the community of the motion that we passed a while ago that I think is being

39:18looked into.

39:19So go ahead.

39:20Through you, Mr. Mayor, to Council Gibson and the rest of council, council passed a

39:23motion directing staff to embark on a centralization of back office services and we are facilitating

39:29that review and we'll be bringing that review to council in Q2 of 2025.

39:35Great.

39:38Thank you.

39:39Maybe it's just a comment, not a comment, another question.

39:42So in terms of maintenance staff, we are sort of using the same people to maintain city

39:48buildings as well as the library.

39:49Is that correct?

39:50Am I understanding or does the library have its own sort of maintenance staff?

39:55Through you, Mayor, to the Councillor.

39:57We do not have any maintenance staff.

39:59We use tradespeople to fix our infrastructure and we have a contract service for janitorial

40:05work.

40:06We do not have maintenance staff.

40:07Great.

40:08That's good clarity.

40:09Thank you.

40:10Thank you.

40:11Over to O'Rourke.

40:12Thank you, Mayor Guthrie.

40:14So congratulations on the new job, the ongoing construction.

40:19That's all very exciting.

40:20I had a couple of questions about operating and then capital.

40:25So for the operating, you're looking at obviously a big bump in the budget next year as the

40:30new library opens, somewhat more moderate the year after that.

40:34And then you get into a 2.5% increase.

40:36So is that what we can expect in terms of a once the new library is open and staffed

40:41and the programming is established, are we looking at a return to more moderate increases?

40:48Through you, Mayor, to the Councillor.

40:50Yes.

40:51Okay.

40:52Terrific.

40:53Thank you.

40:54So that's an interesting question because it looks like it's not just the transfer to

40:57the reserve that is leading sort of your budget reduction this year, but there were also some

41:02thoughtful changes made.

41:03So I appreciate that.

41:05Through you, Mayor Guthrie.

41:07I'm just curious about the capital forecast.

41:11I thought that when we approved the total budget for the new central library that a new collection

41:17was included in that total.

41:20So it was fixtures and computers and carpets and desks and all that stuff.

41:24And I thought there was a number there for the new collection.

41:27So is the $2.9 million a new number or is it just now is the time to pay that sum?

41:36Through you Mayor to the Councillor.

41:37It is not a new number.

41:39It's been in our capital forecast for quite some time.

41:43It stemmed from the KPMG business case which called out the need for the size of the collection

41:48to grow.

41:50And it's my understanding that it's been included in the DC study since that time.

41:54So it's a 100% DC funded.

41:56So this isn't just a new surprise cost.

41:59This was totally expected.

42:00This was totally expected and there's no impact to the tax rate.

42:04Right.

42:05And then through you Mayor to the three.

42:06I know you have a capital campaign that's ongoing.

42:08I'm going to ask the same question I asked when we had the conversation about the original

42:12cost for the library.

42:14Will any of the funds from the capital campaign go to offset things like a new collection?

42:20If it's covered by DC as I see why it wouldn't be.

42:23But will anything from the capital campaign go to offset sort of the the taxpayer cost

42:29for the new library?

42:31Through you Mayor to the Councillor.

42:33Yes.

42:34That's fantastic news.

42:35Okay.

42:36And my last question Mayor Guthrie is the library received $13.5 million grant from the federal

42:41government this year.

42:44Does that essentially wipe out the difference between the you know the original cost of

42:48the library and what fit into the tax fund?

42:51So we talked several years ago about the library levy does that $13.5 million from the feds

42:56completely wiped that out?

42:58Through you Mayor to the council that's a question best asked to city staff.

43:01Thanks.

43:05Thank you through the mayor to Councillor O'Rourke.

43:08So no it does not completely wipe it out but it offset it reduces the amount of debt that

43:13needs to be taken out to support the library construction.

43:19So it proportionately reduces all of the funding sources that the library capital build is

43:27drawing upon.

43:29And so that reduces DC's.

43:31It also reduces the infrastructure renewal related debt and the service enhancement related

43:37debt.

43:38Okay.

43:39Thank you.

43:42Great.

43:43Dan thank you so much again.

43:44Really appreciate it.

43:45Thanks very much.

43:48Okay up next is our friends at the county of Wellington.

43:53They're already standing up and coming down.

43:57So Louisa and Shauna coming down and thank you for being here and whenever you're ready

44:09we'll turn it over to you.

44:12Thank you very much for having us here today.

44:14We're pleased to present the proposed budget for social services for 2025.

44:21As many of you know I'm my name is Louisa too.

44:23I'm the social services administrator for the county of Wellington and I'm accompanied

44:29by Shauna Calder who is our manager of finance.

44:33And so I'm just going to start off with a general overview of the services that we provide

44:37and then passing it over to Shauna to get to the meat of this presentation and what

44:42you're all really after.

44:44So just context the budget is in respect to the mandated services that the county provides

44:49on behalf of the province of Ontario.

44:52We're one of 47 services to managers across the province and we deliver these services

44:56to eight municipalities in the Wellington service delivery area which includes the city

45:02of Guelph.

45:03We're governed by the social services land ambulance committee that has an equal number

45:08of voting members from both city and county council with recommendations from the committee

45:13going forward to the county council for final approval.

45:18The proposed budget that we're presenting today was presented and approved at the joint

45:22social services land ambulance committee earlier this month on Wednesday January the 12th

45:28and will be presented to county council later this month for final approval.

45:35I will start by providing just a general overview of the provincially mandated programs that

45:40the social services department is responsible for delivering and that is children's early

45:45years housing services Ontario works and then I will be passing it on to Shauna.

45:52So the children's early years the mandate is to provide and implement the Canada wide

45:57early learning child care system otherwise known as $10 a day child care.

46:02While some provinces have achieved the $10 a day we're at $22 a day as of January 2025

46:11in Ontario.

46:13This new program has significantly changed the work of this division which is now the

46:17largest budget in social services.

46:20The division maintains the mandates to provide fee subsidy program for eligible families

46:25who cannot afford the $22 a day.

46:28Also responsible for providing supports for the inclusion of children with special needs

46:33into the licensed child care system and we're also responsible for the oversight of early

46:38on child and family centers as well as capacity building and workforce supports for those

46:44working in the licensed child care system as well as in the early on system.

46:50The children's early years division is unique in that most of its services is aimed towards

46:55services that are available to the general public.

46:58The only service that it provides based on eligibility is that a fee subsidy which that

47:07budget has also been significantly reduced with the implementation of the Canada wide

47:11early learning agreement.

47:15So just to provide some context the budget supports the operations of the following number

47:21of full day full time licensed child care spaces for children ages birth to five years

47:26through the SEWAP program.

47:28Funding to support the licensed child care system is primarily 100% federal funding along

47:33with provincial funding and there is a mandated municipal cost contribution.

47:39Currently SEWAP supports 2467 licensed child care spaces in the city.

47:48Of these spaces 1,826 in Guelph are center based child care spaces and there are 40,

47:5954 licensed home child care providers and these providers are self employed individuals

48:07located in Guelph who have a contract with a licensed agency and they are also part of

48:12the SEWAP system.

48:16Moving on to school age licensed child care programs we also provide operating supports

48:22and as well as special needs resourcing and capacity building to these programs.

48:28This is a little tricky some of the programs in the spaces receive SEWAP funding while other

48:33spaces are supported by the general operating grant.

48:38While some of these spaces qualify for that funding we also sorry I just repeated myself

48:45there that we do provide some operating grants.

48:48I should just stick to my script and not go off.

48:53Early on child and family centers are mostly supported by 100% provincial dollars.

49:00Our goal is to provide one early on center that's available and open to each in each

49:06municipality that we serve.

49:08We're at six right now with two more to go.

49:12However our services are limited based on the provincial funding that we receive.

49:17In Guelph you will see that there are two early on centers and there's four early on

49:21satellite and mobile locations that this funding supports.

49:27So overall in the 2020-25 Children's Early Years proposed budget you will see that the

49:33majority of the funding comes from the federal government followed by provincial, then municipal

49:38and then parent fees.

49:42Moving on to the Ontario Works division unlike Children's Early Years and Housing Services

49:48Ontario Works does not require a service plan and there's no capped budget meaning that

49:54Ontario Works is not limited to providing services to people within a certain budget

49:58allocation.

49:59A variance is completed with the province to provide 100% provincial funds based on

50:07the county number of eligible people served.

50:11Municipal contributions primarily support the cost to administer the program.

50:18It is definitely a program we would like more influence over given that we're required to

50:23tell our clients that they're expected to live off of just over $700 a month if they

50:28are a single adult.

50:30And if they work and make over $200 a month we need to reduce their benefit allocation.

50:36Not only that but if they find themselves experiencing homelessness we need to remove

50:39the shelter portion bringing their monthly assistance down to about $340 a month.

50:47Ontario Works is to be a temporary assistance for those who are employable to get out into

50:55the workforce, find a job and become financially independent.

51:00Anyone can come to the realization that you're more likely to have more important things

51:05on your mind than looking for a job if you're expected to live off of approximately $733

51:13a month.

51:14In addition to monthly Ontario Works assistance the program can also provide emergency assistance

51:19and provide funds on a one-time basis for basic items such as medical supplies, dental

51:25or health related supports to individuals.

51:29This includes prosthetic appliances, dental care for adults, vision care, funerals, heating

51:37bills and payments for low cost heating energy, conservation measures.

51:42Health related items include vocational training and retraining, travel and transportation

51:47that is not health related purposes, moving expenses and any other special services items

51:53or payments authorized by the director.

51:57To give you an example of our caseload as of the third quarter of 2024 there are just

52:05over 3500 individuals that are reliant on Ontario Works in Guelph and Wellington County

52:11and 80% of the recipients reside in Guelph and 34% are in, sorry, 20% in the county and

52:21it's interesting to note that 34% of people reliant on Ontario Works are children under

52:26the age of 18 years.

52:30Some caseload details from the same quarter is that single individuals represent the highest

52:36number of caseloads followed by families with single or two parents and there are very

52:42few couples in our area.

52:44We're seeing an increase in complex needs of people in OW ranging from mental health,

52:48financial need, food security, housing and transportation.

52:55So as you can see in the Ontario Works budget most of it is provincial followed by some

53:01municipal dollars, very little federal dollars that does not amount to 1% and that's white

53:07zero on the chart.

53:08However there is a small amount noted in this slide.

53:16Moving on to the Housing Services Division there's no doubt this is a familiar slide

53:20to many of you.

53:21Most of the work in Housing Services being a social services program focuses on emergency

53:26shelters, transitional and supportive funding, subsidized rentals and government funded

53:31affordable housing.

53:33We break it down to three key areas that aligns with the Housing First Directive, prevention,

53:38emergency responses and permanent housing.

53:42Prevention programs is the number of people experiencing homelessness comes down to inflow

53:48and outflow.

53:50Reducing inflow and increasing outflow is how we reach to functional zero homelessness.

53:56Like Ontario Works we have programs for little to no income families or those already on

54:01assistance to sustain their housing.

54:04Housing laws prevention programs and programs to secure permanent housing are usually one

54:08time supports and always based on eligibility.

54:13This by far is the most beneficial cost effective way to address rising experiences of homelessness.

54:20It is better for the person's health and well-being and it helps preserve the affordable market

54:25based rental stock.

54:28The prevention budget in our department is historically was funded by 100% provincial

54:35funding but municipal investments have been needed to mitigate increased experiences of

54:40homelessness.

54:41A recent report from AMO that our staff are currently analyzing and will report on the

54:49local context of that report indicate that experiences of homelessness in Ontario has

54:55risen by 25% since 2022.

55:02In our emergency responses to homelessness, emergency shelters are responsible is a responsibility

55:09of service system managers.

55:11It is the one responsibility that we aim to need less of both in the usage and length

55:17of time that a person needs to access these services.

55:21The greater length of a time that a person remains homeless whether it is sheltered or

55:25unsheltered the more vulnerable they become to experiences of mental health and or addictions

55:30which leads to greater challenges to obtain and sustain housing.

55:35This is the middle ground between the inflow and the outflow and our priority is to make

55:39being in this space as brief as possible and to prevent reoccurrences.

55:47The funds allocated to emergency responses to homelessness enable the provision of the

55:52following emergency shelter beds on this screen.

55:56So you'll see that we have many of the emergency shelter services.

56:01They are provided by stepping stone as well as Wyndham house for youth homelessness.

56:10Part of this section is our winter response.

56:14So given the increased number of people living in encampments housing services it has implemented

56:19a winter response program and we plan to implement that annually as long as needed from October

56:26of every year to the end of April the following year.

56:30This will provide people with temporary accommodations to come in from out of the cold as well as

56:35tangibles, transportation and storage of their items.

56:43Reaching Home is a community based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness

56:48across Canada.

56:49It provides funding and support to urban indigenous territorial and rural and remote communities

56:55to help them address their local homeless needs.

56:58The main objective of Reaching Home is streamline access to housing and supports for people

57:03who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of being homeless.

57:08By coordinating local services to achieve community wide outcomes and real time data.

57:13While the county implements the community plan and is responsible for the selection,

57:19approval and management of the projects, the local area, we are mandated to be supported

57:24by a community advisory board responsible for developing the community plan and recommending

57:30projects for the funding at the community level.

57:34So you will see that the provincial funding is 20% and that is funding that we need to

57:42expend the budget in consultation with the advisory board so it is not 100% county staff

57:51decision making on that.

57:52However, the provincial and the municipal portions are that of the housing services staff.

58:00This chart shows how the inflow and outflow is realized using the third quarter of 2024.

58:06While prevention helps reduce the inflow, the next few slides will show you how we're

58:10supporting the outflow.

58:15So our community has made great progress in increasing pathways to help individuals, especially

58:22those with complex issues, to move towards temporary accommodations as the first step

58:27to obtaining housing, to increase transitional housing units as well for those needing intensive

58:33supports, to an increase of permanent supportive housing solutions.

58:39And I think something that may not, you know, you're probably well aware of the 32 units

58:44being operated at Shelldale and at Grace Gardens.

58:48We're very happy to announce that part of the health, the Hart Hub application is we're

58:53increasing, we're shifting 100 permanent housing units to be supportive housing units.

59:02So with the $1.3 million of health supports, we're now looking, we looked at our case load

59:07and there are many individuals that would fit in the tier four or five, those with the

59:12most complex, they were in permanent housing without supports.

59:15So with that introduction of health supports, we're now transferring those units to be

59:21supportive housing units and that gives us an extra hundred in our service delivery area.

59:27And then there was also eight units with Wyndham House that were opened quite a few years ago.

59:37So moving on to permanent housing is under the social services umbrella takes on two

59:43streams. One stream supports the operation of units and includes community housing, formerly

59:48known as social housing and government funded affordable housing.

59:54Community based housing is owned and operated by a not for profit housing cooperative or

59:59housing owned by the province, territorial or municipal governments.

1:00:03In Guelph there are total 2085 such units of which the county owns 883 of them and housing

1:00:13providers are owned about 1,202 of those units.

1:00:19And then the funded affordable housing, these are upfront capital government funded investments

1:00:24used to drive lower rates and make the cost of housing more affordable within the private

1:00:29market. In Guelph there are 345 such units of which 317 are owned by local operators

1:00:38in the city of Guelph and 28 are being offered opening up soon, which is the transitional

1:00:44housing units at 65 Delhi.

1:00:47In the county, the county owns 100% of the 135 affordable units and those are built and

1:00:58operated and costed to the 100% county budget.

1:01:06Another way to support permanent housing is to provide subsidies to eligible people where

1:01:10funds are provided to the individual or the landlord to reduce the amount of rent they

1:01:15pay. There's 3 main programs that are listed here on this slide and they are the ones that

1:01:21housing services implements. Each of these programs have their own capped funding allocation,

1:01:27eligibility criteria and funding allocations. So you can see most of the permanent housing

1:01:35budget goes towards the mandate for service managers to fund the operation and maintenance

1:01:40of the community housing stock downloaded to us in the early 1900s, 1990s. A recent

1:01:48report released by AMO, NASDAH and AMSA that's entitled municipalities under pressure. The

1:01:55human and financial cost of Ontario's homelessness crisis indicated that in housing municipalities

1:02:00have increasingly stepped in to address mounting pressures providing 65.6% of the total estimated

1:02:07funding in 2024. And you can see that our area is in line with the rest of the province.

1:02:16And then overall the housing services budget as you can see is 65 supported by municipal

1:02:22funds followed by rent and other income than provincial and then federal. And I'm going

1:02:31to pass it on to Shauna who's going to provide you with the numbers.

1:02:46Good morning everybody. Thank you for having us today. So I'm going to start with just

1:02:52some general budget background information for you. So the preliminary 2025 budget and

1:02:5710 year plan was brought to the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee on November

1:03:0213th, 2024. At that time we were projecting a 7.5% increase for the city and a 0.8% increase

1:03:10for the county. Following that meetings took place with our CAO and department heads and

1:03:16reviews were completed to make budget adjustments were needed. The updated budget package as

1:03:21Louisa mentioned was presented to the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee

1:03:26on January 8th and that's the budget that we're going to be reviewing today. So this

1:03:33slide starts with a high level overview of our budget. The summary combines operating

1:03:38and capital for the city. On the county side it is operating only because capital is funded

1:03:44through capital reserves and not shown here. So that's one difference just when we're

1:03:49looking at these. Overall the total budget expenditures are 182.7 million in 2025. This

1:03:57is a significant increase of 30.5% or 42.8 million. The vast majority of this, 37.3 million

1:04:05in fact, is in the children's early years area and funded through increased levels of

1:04:11investment from senior government. So those expenditures do not fall to the municipal

1:04:15bottom line. It certainly is a large percentage but it doesn't flow through to the tax increases.

1:04:21So the tax levy percentage increase for the city of Guelph right now is projected to be

1:04:257.3%, roughly $2.5 million and 0.3% for the county. Sorry just flipping my page down

1:04:40and it's just a little bit of a change around. So now I will give you some highlights of

1:04:43the budget for each of our service delivery areas. In housing services we are looking

1:04:48at an increase to the level of 3.9 million or 15.4% for the city and 603,000 or 11.2%

1:05:00for the county. Just focusing on the city, an increase in operating costs of 5.2 million

1:05:07is being offset by a decrease in capital requirements of 1.4 million, resulting in the net levy

1:05:13impact of 3.9 million. It is unusual to see a decrease in capital requirements. This is

1:05:19happening in 2025 because in 2023 and 2024 capital projects were increased to take advantage

1:05:26of a $12 million one time grant. So we had a bit of a shift in our timing that is now

1:05:32being seen to reduce. From the slide you can see that the most significant operating

1:05:38impacts in 2025 are in the areas of homelessness prevention and support. The four items listed

1:05:44here account for 83% or 4.3 million of the city's operating impact. Looking at this

1:05:52we do have the removal of 1.1 million in one time funding that was allocated in 2024 to

1:05:58help offset some of the significant increases. If we take that out, if that funding hadn't

1:06:04been allocated, the budget increase this year would actually be a 4.1% ask rather than a

1:06:097.5%. We also have the operations at 65 Delhi coming online. We have the operation of 128

1:06:18Norfolk and winter shelter response. The remaining budget increase of less than a million dollars

1:06:24is offsetting one new position that is in the area of maintenance to help oversee the

1:06:30new buildings that are coming in line as well as dealing with inflationary pressures across

1:06:34all areas including maintenance at the community housing buildings and the homelessness area

1:06:40so that it's really rather small when you move outside of these four items. In our children's

1:06:50early years area as I mentioned in my opening comments we see significant increases in both

1:06:56funding and expenditures so overall however we are seeing a decrease for the city and the county.

1:07:02The city is looking at a decrease of 26.8% or roughly 1.3 million. This is a result of the

1:07:10new funding agreement and funding formula that's being implemented by the province as a result of

1:07:16the implementation of the Canada-wide early learning and childcare funding agreement. Total

1:07:21funding from upper levels of government is increasing by 41 million dollars in 2025 in

1:07:27comparison to 2024. Along with this funding increase there is a new funding formula for

1:07:33funding childcare programs within the community. Funding will be based on a cost recovery basis

1:07:39approach and a benchmarking formula will be put in place. There will also be increased

1:07:44oversight and accountability requirements for all of the community agencies that signed into

1:07:50Seawelk. In order to respond to this we do have two new positions projected in the budget.

1:07:56One is on the program delivery side to assist the community in adjusting and being able to

1:08:01complete the required paperwork and requirements. The other is on the finance side to deal with

1:08:05the oversight and accountability on the dollars. In Ontario Works we are projecting a 3.1%

1:08:16increase for the city and a 4.6% increase for the county. The budget does include a 6%

1:08:23adjustment for projected caseload increases which is in line with the provincial projections at

1:08:29this time. Ontario Works caseload is fully funded by the province and does not impact the municipal

1:08:35tax levy. However it's a significant portion of the budget numbers that you're seeing. We have

1:08:40included a small increase to our administration funding of 251,000. This is the first time we

1:08:48have seen an administration funding increase since 2018 in this program area. The estimated

1:08:54cost share ratio for administration expenses between the city and the county was adjusted

1:08:59based on actual caseload split at the end of 2024. This has resulted in a decrease in cost of 45,000

1:09:06for the county and a corresponding increase to the city. We have included a new newcomer case

1:09:13worker position on a contract basis from April to December 2025 and staff will report back in

1:09:20year on that position and its potential future. So just to wrap up and kind of look at overall again,

1:09:31so in column four of this chart you'll see that the proposed 2025 budget for the city is 4.1%

1:09:39than what the 2025 budget was when we did the 2024 budget. The driving factors behind the

1:09:484.1% increase from what we were projecting last year to this year are made up of in-housing,

1:09:54the temporary accommodation site at 128 Norfolk, and winter shelter response in Ontario Works,

1:10:01the shift in cost base based on caseload split as well as one contract position for

1:10:09nine months of the year. And in children's early years you have an offsetting reduction as a result

1:10:14of a new funding formula. Column five does show the 7.3% increase for the city that I spoke of

1:10:21on the first slide and that's the end of my official presentation so I'm happy to take any questions.

1:10:28Well thank you to the both of you for walking us through that and yeah you're right there.

1:10:35It's not really a surprise in where there's some of those areas that have jumped up. I think every

1:10:41city is facing some of that but there are a few questions that are going to just jump out. You

1:10:48guys are both right now so Louisa maybe you could just come back up to the microphone just in case

1:10:54there's something on your end. I'm going to start with Boussatill then Alt and then Kate and after

1:11:02that okay so I'll go around the room here a little bit. There's some hands so Boussatill go right ahead.

1:11:09Thank you good morning and through the mayor. Thank you for the presentation. Yes this is a

1:11:13significant piece of the budget. I just had a question around housing and again around the

1:11:22community public housing part of this. Can you two things Louisa you mentioned something about

1:11:29the community advisory board. Can you just clarify for me is that around guidance around

1:11:35operating funds for community side or is it around awarding contracts? What exactly is this

1:11:41community advisory board and then I have a second question. Through mayor to Council Boussatill

1:11:47that is the reaching home funding which is 100 federal and so what they have done is they've

1:11:54done like a community entity so the funding actually is managed by the county however

1:12:01how to use those funds in the community needs to be supported by a community advisory board

1:12:11so it's basically making sure that the community has input as to how those funds are expended

1:12:20in the area so there is a community advisory board that is established for our service

1:12:27delivery area and they are instrumental in creating the plan and then the county pretty much

1:12:34implements the plan that this advisory board has developed so you know we need to consult

1:12:41and so that is where a lot of the the emergency response is to homelessness

1:12:47but federal dollars are implemented is through this advisory board. Thank you I was a little bit

1:12:53confused I knew about that one if it was another one. The second question I had is about you know

1:12:58permanent public housing can you and maybe Shona can do this tell explain to me the capital

1:13:06side of this is is you know in your plan and your budget I see the operating the rent subsidies

1:13:11and so on where does the creation of you know the purchase of land and the building where does that

1:13:18fit in this budget or does it? Thank you through you Mr. Mayor so this budget the capital proportion

1:13:27that you're seeing actually relates to the maintenance of the community housing that is

1:13:32already owned so that that's what you're seeing in here primarily in terms of new builds right now

1:13:39there is no capital plan for new social housing the county does have a separate portion of our

1:13:46budget that is specific to county owned affordable housing and that is not included in the numbers

1:13:53because it is 100% county so you're not seeing any impact but the county operates affordable

1:13:59housing and we do allocate to our reserves annually 1.2 million dollars to set aside for

1:14:05for that type of housing building so if there was a an intent or a desire to step into the

1:14:11area of building new housing that would not be included right now it would be in addition to the

1:14:16budget. If I could just follow up through the mayor just so I'm clear when you said the that

1:14:22would be in the county does the city then have to have a conversation with the county about land

1:14:28purchase building things like that and is that a separate part of the budget or is it paid for

1:14:33through the county if you can help me. Through you Mr. Mayor so that would be a conversation

1:14:40depending on the type of housing that you were looking to build certainly so if there was an

1:14:48opportunity to leverage provincial or federal funding that came down and there was a shovel ready

1:14:55or purchase ready project so to speak certainly that would be one conversation but if we were

1:14:59looking at a more long-term plan that there was a desire to build a certain number of units over

1:15:04a certain period of time that would be a separate conversation. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm

1:15:12sorry I do you mind if I just ask one quick follow-up just it's on that topic so the 1.2 million

1:15:18dollars that the county puts in for potential capital building purchasing for affordable housing

1:15:27would that money that the county is putting in only purchase create build affordable housing in

1:15:35the county or is it because it's county money which we appreciate could it also go to the purchase

1:15:43build creation of affordable housing in the city of Guelph. To you Mr. Mayor that is specific to

1:15:48buildings within the county. Thank you. Thank you I appreciate you allowing me to do that follow-up

1:15:53council I appreciate that. Councillor Allt. Thank you very much Mayor Guthrie through you

1:16:01to our delegates from the county. First of all thank you to Ms. Artuso and Ms. Calder for the

1:16:07presentation. This might show demonstrate my ignorance of housing but I'm going to ask the

1:16:13questions anyway. In looking at page 51 of the of what we have here which is emergency response

1:16:22to homelessness I note that there are 106 emergency shelter beds which include overflow.

1:16:29Does that represent enough beds for those that we recognize as being homeless and

1:16:37unsheltered at the present time? Right. At this point in time it does. What we do is every month we

1:16:51actually three times a week we get reports from Stepping Stone and ask them for any

1:16:56vacancies that they have in their emergency shelter system and there have been vacancies

1:17:03and they've not had to turn anyone away in 2024 unless there's a restriction placed on that individual

1:17:13and in addition to that they're the second floor of 23 Gordon is being planned for possible increase

1:17:21as we we're continuing to see increases in the number of homelessness to in order for us to get

1:17:26ready for that and ensure that everyone has a place to go. We're adding another 27 beds

1:17:31in addition to what's already available for future possible need and the temporary accommodations

1:17:39is a place where individuals from the shelter system are offered if they are they have been

1:17:46participating in the shelter system. They seem to be more along their journey towards

1:17:52permanent housing and so they go into a temporary accommodation where they're there 24 hours and

1:17:58they have a unit. It's not supportive housing. It's not transitional housing because there's not

1:18:03health supports available in in in that space but between the two like the shelter system the increase

1:18:11and then the temporary accommodations we're confident that we will be able to accommodate

1:18:17the homelessness population. So I can feel confident that there are 106 or fewer people

1:18:24on the street in the city of glove. That's tricky question sorry to you Mr. Mayor because

1:18:33the availability of shelter beds does not equal a reduction in the number of people

1:18:39that you might see in an unsheltered homelessness. There are various reasons why some individuals

1:18:48feel that they cannot participate in the emergency shelter system. So our job is to make sure that

1:18:55they do have a place a warm place to go. We are meeting that need and that demand. We're projecting

1:19:00into the future just in case there's a sudden increase but we cannot force people to to attend.

1:19:07There are a lot of individuals that need to stay in and sheltered homeless situation for whatever

1:19:14reason that is. So it's hard to say that because there's space that we shouldn't see people on

1:19:19the streets. Okay thank you. The next question Mr. Mayor through you to the delegates.

1:19:24Reference was made to homelessness has increased approximately 25 percent since 2022. And the

1:19:32question is what are our projected financial needs for the next two years of the multi-year

1:19:38budget? This strikes me that we're going to see a substantial increase in our need. Is that correct

1:19:44and what is what is the estimate of that need? Through you Mayor Guthrie it is like the next

1:19:53two years like our budget actually does accommodate for that. So I don't have the numbers with me

1:20:00right on hand but what we're doing is we are we have looked at projected increases. The other

1:20:08important part that we're also seeing that's going to influence that influences those projections is

1:20:13the increase in the number of supportive housing units that we have. The more that we can support

1:20:20people to obtain permanent housing and sustain housing you know then the less we will need of

1:20:27emergency shelters. So with the increases that we're seeing with the what we have projected for

1:20:34emergency responses to homelessness we're confident that people will have a place to go

1:20:39with the numbers rising. And I do want to end by thanking you for this. I do think right across

1:20:46Ontario it strikes me that we are losing ground on homelessness and and I think that

1:20:53regrettably at every community we're barely treading water keeping our heads

1:20:57above the surface but I appreciate everything you're doing. Great thank you Councillor Allt.

1:21:03Kate and then Downer. Thank you through you Mr. Mayor. I have a question about the the chart

1:21:13that you showed and the one that we've got in our package. Are these the totals or are these just the

1:21:19increase and increases per each year? Through you Mr. Mayor those would be the totals. Okay great.

1:21:30And through the mayor do you have an estimate and I imagine you might not have these numbers

1:21:35on hand so I apologize if I'm asking for things that you can't provide. The percentages of the

1:21:40people on Ontario Works who would be more appropriately on ODSB. Through you Mayor Guthrie I

1:21:53think that is something that the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services is looking at.

1:21:58They're presently doing a study to see how many individuals on Ontario Works are staying on that

1:22:04program for more than five years. Our suspicion is that they're looking at potentially that those

1:22:11people might be more better served and probably in line with ODSP. I can share that we did a

1:22:18delegation yesterday morning to the ministry and our argument to them was that unless if you raise

1:22:25those rates in some cases you might be driving people to ODSP when if you allow them the adequate

1:22:33amount for shelter and basic needs then we can increase their our supports to them so that they're

1:22:41more job ready. So we want to see them be sustained both in their basic needs and in their housing

1:22:48needs so that we can work with these individuals and provide them to a pathway supports towards a

1:22:55pathway of being financially independent. The way the system in our opinion is right now it's actually

1:23:00driving people more towards ODSP which is more reliant on ongoing social assistance. And so that

1:23:07was our argument to the ministry to say you have to raise these rates to give people a chance to

1:23:14move towards employment either it's partially or fully but if they stay in this crisis mode of

1:23:23trying to meet the needs like I mean think about it I'm going to go on my tangent here. If you were

1:23:28homeless and you had 300 a month to live off of what could you do I mean I'm more than certain

1:23:34that getting a job is not in your main priorities finding food and getting access you know and can

1:23:44you even afford a cell phone like having a cell phone these days is half that. So we want to take

1:23:50people out of crisis mode in order to help them become more job ready but right now we feel that

1:23:56it is impossible for us to ask these individuals of that and you're seeing more and more families on

1:24:02Ontario works that shows you that systematically social policy and social funding programs are

1:24:10not meeting the needs of those that are most vulnerable in our community and the government

1:24:14needs to make some changes to those policies to which the municipality has no control over

1:24:20unfortunately but boy would we love to. I 100% agree to you I think that we're all preaching

1:24:27to the choir at this point there's a lot of things in the budget that seem to me that should be 100%

1:24:34provincial funding rather than into the pieces that you you were showing us and I have one final

1:24:41question through the mayor I for the 100 permanent housing units versus the heart hub

1:24:50supportive housing unit model are we just moving people who are in those houses to the new model

1:24:56or so are we going to have 100 new houses and we're going to be moving other people into the

1:25:02permanent spaces that aren't supportive or is it just 100 people being moved into a better place for

1:25:10them and then we're going to be using all the other 100 will be going off to market.

1:25:16Mayor Guthrie people are staying in their units and so they become supportive housing units when

1:25:23they're getting health services provided to them to help them sustain that unit so we are not we

1:25:30are not able to move people around once they have that unit they they only leave that unit if they

1:25:36if they choose to unless unless we have to go through an eviction process so they are staying

1:25:42in their units and so they're just moving from the permanent housing in I guess you could call it

1:25:49independent permanent housing portfolio into the supportive housing portfolio so those units are

1:25:55just calculated and reported on differently but the individual is staying in the unit and so they're

1:26:01just we're just providing them the supports which then makes it a supportive housing unit.

1:26:07Okay so the Hart Hub model doesn't create any new housing spaces.

1:26:11If you may have got three correct it was $1.3 million however there was no capital funding

1:26:20provided so building new was was not possible and the other factor is that it's a three-year

1:26:29funding commitment from the province so to build permanent supportive housing was not realistic

1:26:35given the time frame of the funding and that there were no capital dollars provided.

1:26:42Great thank you very much. Thank you Councillor Caton and I'm going to go to Downer than O'Rourke.

1:26:49Thank you Mr. Mayor it's through you to the to the delegates so Councillor Caton basically asks

1:26:57my questions around the Hart Hub but I just want to thank you for your presentation today.

1:27:03The detail was was very good on what we've got. Those of us on the social services committee hear

1:27:10this but it's really good to have all of council hearing a lot of this information.

1:27:16Though I do have a sort of a follow-up sort of question around the hundred units with the Hart

1:27:20Hub so what I think of the supportive housing I think of like you know like Grace Gardens where

1:27:28everybody's there and and there's supports there sort of on site so is this kind of a

1:27:34and I think it's a very creative idea that that you've come up with to do this because I you know

1:27:39I have heard that there are quite a few people living in social housing that could use these

1:27:45kind of supports on an ongoing basis so how how does that work in that model you know I could

1:27:54maybe have a conversation offline about that but that's kind of interesting because I sort of

1:27:58think of it as a one location and supportive housing for everybody there but so these are these

1:28:03could be over you know 20 20 different sites right that yeah geographically and so I was

1:28:11wondering how that would operate. So through you Mr. Mayor Guthrie there's uh there's different

1:28:16examples of supportive housing there's actually supportive housing that is 100 funded by the

1:28:21Ministry of Health and that is the the Kindle project or the Shelldale project and then there is

1:28:28social housing under the service system manager and that is an example of that would be Grace

1:28:35Gardens so those are you know and then we have the youth shelters sorry the youth supportive

1:28:41housing that Wyndham House provides. There's that where it's one building and all individuals in that

1:28:50unit need supportive housing. We've also always had scattered sites supportive housing so it's

1:28:58supportive housing that is available scattered and integrated into the housing system in some cases

1:29:06it could be alongside some market rent units but the key is is that those individuals are connected

1:29:13to and regularly engaging with health health supports and so that is where it's all usually in

1:29:24a unit but it's also scattered so that that's always been kind of the the mechanisms for supportive

1:29:31housing. One of the follow-up question then is when we see the numbers for supportive housing

1:29:36and transitional housing like with you know Grace Gardens with the adult Shelldale one and that we

1:29:43see those numbers but then actually we have more supportive housing units it sounds like currently

1:29:49even without this heart funding than is identified within those reports. Through you Mayor Guthrie

1:29:59I'll have to go back and but we've always like if we have supportive housing units they are rolled

1:30:04up into the county numbers so I think what we did today was highlight the new ones that are coming

1:30:10on board. I'd be curious at some point to hear how many supportive housing units there are

1:30:14total total under both models right under the. Through you Mayor Guthrie I'm sure we have a

1:30:19report that identifies that we can pass that on. Great thank you. Thank you I got two more here

1:30:25O'Rourke and Gibson. Thank you Mayor Guthrie through you to Ms. Artuso. Thank you very much

1:30:33for pointing out the real conundrum with the low rates at Ontario works and the real clear evidence

1:30:38of municipal downloading so that municipalities are picking up what really are mental health

1:30:43addictions housing issues. I just want to repeat a question I've asked at the joint social services

1:30:50and land ambulance committee so that folks who are listening and other councillors are aware so

1:30:56you know I asked this question five years ago my first budget ever when I looked at the 10-year

1:31:00projection in terms of social housing which I know the term has changed but I get them confused

1:31:05because they both start with a C. So the city as a service manager for land ambulance has provided

1:31:13to the county a proposal to say if we want to improve the response times here's where we recommend

1:31:22you could build new stations here's what would cost to staff them here's what would cost to build

1:31:26them etc and then the county can make those decisions whether they want to proceed with that

1:31:32right so I know many of us are troubled that there doesn't seem to be a plan for city social or

1:31:40social housing in the city and as the social service manager for social housing is there a plan for

1:31:49the county to do similar research for the city and if so when can we expect to see that.

1:31:56If you may ask Mayor Guthrie thank you for asking that question more openly so more people will know

1:32:02that that is something that we're working on I think it's really important to understand that the

1:32:09market-based rental system can actually influence people experiencing homelessness

1:32:19family breakups high costs and rent not being able to afford a mortgage losing your mortgage and then

1:32:26realizing that your rent is actually going to be higher than your mortgage payments so therefore

1:32:30what are people supposed to do so there's a lot of outside influences that actually come into that

1:32:35affect social services so what we're doing is looking at the housing in general how many

1:32:42of the population and we're using 2021 census of the population how many people own their homes

1:32:47in your community how many people are rent what's the average income what are people more or less

1:32:53able to afford at that time and then where we can lean into how many government funded affordable

1:33:03units that a municipality could use we're using our RGI waitlist and we're using the

1:33:11the data from the by name list however we have to understand that that is not a firm number because

1:33:21that can rise every day and the more people that go into homelessness and the less people that were

1:33:26able to house that number can fluctuate but we're providing that to each municipality and we're hoping

1:33:35to get that out in the next couple of months great thank you uh three you're margat three

1:33:40will there be any targets in those estimates because because we do know I mean we've got a seven to

1:33:4514 year waitlist for social housing and 3 000 people on the waitlist for that so we know the

1:33:51need is there will there be any targets for people experiencing intimate partner violence to accelerate

1:33:57the ability to move those people to safe places and anything any special consideration for people

1:34:02with developmental disabilities who also uh expected the province to be there expected certain

1:34:09you know group homes and things to be there and are finding when they get close to needing that

1:34:13service that that it's not so do we have consultation with those groups and special consideration for

1:34:20those groups if you mr. Guthrie that's sort of mayor Guthrie um that is something that we're

1:34:25working on more on the intimate partner violence and then we do have a list of individuals that need

1:34:32uh you know accessible units that is part of the overall system um I we're not we cannot do that per

1:34:41municipality but what we do know is that the county does not have an emergency shelter system for

1:34:50women experiencing intimate intimate partner violence in the county so we are working with

1:34:56women in crisis on taking a look at that we know those numbers are going up everywhere

1:35:03and you know we're hoping that by providing that service out in the county it will put less stress

1:35:08on the shelter located in the city although they they provide services to everyone so the more the

1:35:15larger number of women that they can accommodate the better so overall like as a system we are

1:35:23looking at the needs and we will that is that will be part of our housing plan uh as well as

1:35:28those that are needing more accessible units great thank you one last question margat three that just

1:35:33actually occurred to me when you were describing the wraparound supports that the hope hub will

1:35:40the hub is that the hope heart hub will provide sorry um I'm I'm just curious so I think when

1:35:48the announcement was made we expected there would be like bricks and mortar and investment in housing

1:35:52and and so uh so that's not the case it's more wraparound services for a three-year period

1:35:59so I'm curious why wouldn't home care cover that already if it's mental health and addictions

1:36:05and and complex medical issues how come that's not in the health care system um through you mayor

1:36:12gut three um that's a very good question I can tell you about the process uh so when the heart

1:36:19hub application was received the housing and all the health services um got together and did this

1:36:28together which I think is a very good indication that health and housing are working more collaboratively

1:36:35together um and so what we did was be looked at the creation of supportive housing so the heart hub

1:36:44and our health partners are looking at the heart hub so there will be a brick and mortar

1:36:48heart hub however um the heart hub will be for Wellington and Guelph um so there has to be some

1:36:55hub models and satellite services that are being provided as part of the plan so they will be

1:37:02there will be some services at the heart hub and then there will be more supports for

1:37:08you know people like in the supportive housing section it has to go to the unit because you

1:37:14know there was no funding to build a supportive housing units um so there are some of the

1:37:20supports that are given to individuals that are connected to the health uh to the heart hub

1:37:25that will be more um completed and satellite locations to better serve the needs of the community

1:37:33I can't speak to home care unfortunately as to why they're not providing those services

1:37:38thanks thank you just before I go to my last um which is Councillor Gibson,

1:37:47CAO Baker um just also wanted to jump in as well um thanks Mayor Gatheer I just wanted to make

1:37:54just to respond just to clarify one thing that was said about the paramedics and as the service

1:38:00manager um we do have a plan and we've presented that plan the long-term plan on the the response

1:38:07times um we do that as the service manager um to advise and project out the cost um for all of our

1:38:18county um partners but those are not then up to the discretion or investment decisions by the

1:38:25county those are as the service manager we as the city will will move forward and make those

1:38:31investments to make sure that the service response times um are maintained so I just wanted to make

1:38:36that one one slight clarification that nuance is that um it's it's within the city's obligation as

1:38:42the service manager um to to recommend and then execute on those uh those investments and so when

1:38:49we look at um the housing side in the same the same sense we need we're we're looking for the plan

1:38:55and then we can work with the county but I think it would be up to the county as the service manager

1:39:00also to lead kind of um the the growth um to deliver that service.

1:39:09Thank you and over to you Councillor Gibson. Thank you through Mr. Mayor. My questions were

1:39:14actually about the with the 100 um hard hub uh room so thanks very much for answering those

1:39:18questions I appreciate it uh not too much to say on this file other than you know we're always watching

1:39:25I'm just as I was doing some reading last night on unemployment in Ontario and across Canada

1:39:29and uh you know it's taking up Bank of Canada and need to make actions to reduce inflation

1:39:34those take about 18 months to get into the economy so you know unfortunately some of the housing

1:39:39issues that we're seeing were coming out of 2022 were a little bit predictable when we saw interest

1:39:43rates going up to six seven percent across the country we knew that that was going to put a

1:39:47lot of pressure I didn't we we should have known and we did know that that would put a lot of

1:39:51pressure on housing downstream now that we're in kind of the valley of the housing crisis

1:39:57and we're starting to see you know the economy continues to weaken but with the Bank of Canada

1:40:01making its decisions to reduce interest rates we're hopeful that in the next 18 months we'll

1:40:07start seeing a downtick in the unemployment across the province and across Canada is there sort of

1:40:13a forecasting that the county is making on on sort of the near term or medium term as the economy

1:40:22hopefully improves and as unemployment is coming down are you seeing your Ontario Works

1:40:29clients are you seeing them re-entering the workforce are we seeing a potential decrease

1:40:36in the number of clients asking for Ontario Works? Through you Mayor Guthrie the only thing I can

1:40:44share is that we're projecting our Ontario Works case numbers to go up yeah yeah and I mean that's

1:40:50that's what the news is telling us too that the economy continues to weaken and until it turns

1:40:54its corner where the job growth needs to be there first okay thank you great thank you so I'm

1:41:04technically last just one quick question I really appreciated you saying out loud your advocacy that

1:41:10you did with Ontario Works as an example that you just said that you met with ministry staff

1:41:15yesterday about is there anything you could throw our way where we can help partner on that

1:41:20from a city perspective any advice for us to work with you I just I just want to ask if there's

1:41:28an opportunity for us to collaborate together on that yeah you may have Guthrie and I know that we

1:41:34did a joint delegation at AMO yesterday it was at Roma so it was a rural municipalities association

1:41:42so in that case you know it was a county that was you know met with ministry staff

1:41:49you know advocacy for this needs to be ongoing I think that we do need to partner and we have

1:41:56met with city staff to start to look at how we can advocate this aside from delegations

1:42:05and so we're also working with the poverty elimination task force as well so you know I

1:42:11think this is a province wide issue and so I think we need to collectively look at things from a

1:42:18provincial perspective but then put some local context to it one of the things that we did share

1:42:25yesterday was a story of you know a story that summarizes a lot of experiences that people

1:42:33in Ontario Works has and so could you could you tell that story now publicly um briefly I think

1:42:41it was it was a story of Emily and I wish I had it with me but I don't so it's a story of Emily and

1:42:48she talks about her experiences with you know her struggles and not being employed and then you know

1:42:58she talks a little bit about some of the struggles that she had with some mental health challenges

1:43:06and then when she was able and and she was able to find some part-time work

1:43:11if she made over 200 dollars then her benefits decreased and so she talks about that ongoing

1:43:16struggle of how she is not able to move forward in in her life the way that she would like and become

1:43:24independent financially you know because of her experiences and I think that you know being an

1:43:30Ontario Works both in in the situation that she was in but also when people experience trauma and

1:43:37mental health and potentially addiction they might become financially independent at some point in

1:43:44time but those the impact that that experience has on that person is is lifelong so I think it's

1:43:52we need to put the human factor on this it is it is not to me it's it's it's it is about financial

1:44:00advocacy but it's also about human advocacy that you know people should not have to experience that

1:44:08level of trauma and and that vulnerability to future present and future mental health

1:44:16challenges or addiction challenges that that might result in it is actually impacting people

1:44:23on their lifelong journey and it's not just a one point in time that now I'm on assistance and now

1:44:28I'm not so but I can definitely share you know the the story that we we did and it was it was

1:44:34actually the poverty task force that provided us with that story and it spoke also to food insecurity

1:44:41yeah I appreciate you saying that yes sometimes the stories can make the impact a bit better

1:44:48hopefully the ministry staff heard that so and maybe we can help advocate and amplify it so

1:44:54thank you see nothing more um thank you very much for for standing up there and answering all the

1:45:00questions we really appreciate it um so uh council what we're going to do is our last one is the

1:45:09police it's coming up let's let's stand and move around for five minutes we'll take a break

1:45:14but before we take a break um I see our library friends here I just want to ask all of council

1:45:21is there's nothing more for library right we're good we're going to pass it yeah yeah everything's

1:45:26good just trying to help you okay so just police is left count there's nothing more on county right

1:45:33check out some books yeah check out some books council roll says uh nothing more on county right

1:45:39okay our county friends can go all right we're good we're going to take a five minute five to

1:45:44seven minute break let's do that let's make let's do 10 let's do 10 10 50 a.m we will come back okay

1:45:52thank you okay this is just your 30 second uh warning everybody uh for online and for only

1:57:09councillor alton I but okay I'll call the meeting uh officially uh back to order and last on our menu

1:58:38today is the Guelph police so thank you very much uh chief and everyone else that has arrived

1:58:45to walk us through your presentation I'll turn it over to you thank you mr mayor before I start

1:58:53today I have a pleasant surprise for council in that a few of our team members are with us

1:58:58so not just I will be chatting today so we have a bunch of folks with us uh in the the stands so to

1:59:06speak and as well we have staff sergeant Mel Clark and detective Hugh Curry Mel has spent many many

1:59:14years in the intimate partner violence human trafficking area Hugh has spent many many years

1:59:21in the internet child exploitation unit so we're going to give them both a chance to speak with

1:59:26you later today um and it's green button thanks so much I want to start off today by thanking you

1:59:37for your leadership and the work that you did um on November 28th 2023 in really refocusing and I

1:59:47would say regalvanizing the community's understanding awareness and commitment to support victims and

1:59:55survivors of intimate partner violence as well as human trafficking in a number of other areas

2:00:02over the last 12 to 14 months that work has really played a critically important area as we have

2:00:10established our next strategic plan and the priorities for the service as well as the

2:00:16consultations that we've had with our community members and ultimately the budget you see before

2:00:23you we have a collective responsibility to do this work and to do much better than we have

2:00:27and we're going to talk about that moving forward essentially the theme of today um this is year two

2:00:37of our previously approved multi-year budget we had a great deal of discussion last year and while

2:00:44we can certainly have that discussion again today if if needed it is not my intention to do that

2:00:50um we obviously last year we explained the notion that KPMG had done a great deal of work over many

2:00:58months they had provided point-in-time recommendations with respect to resource requirements needed

2:01:05and we spoke last year when I was here about the the the reality the the affordability realities

2:01:11and considerations that we had made the choice to phase in those required enhancements with the

2:01:17understanding that there were there was jeopardy associated to that um the obviously response times

2:01:24remember wellness and just overall service delivery so unless during the Q and A there are specific

2:01:29questions it's not my intention to go through the whole multi-year budget but rather talk about

2:01:33the needs for the change that you see before you with respect to our budget today we're going to

2:01:47talk to you about why there's been a change to the multi-year budget we're going to demonstrate

2:01:53the need and also our commitment to taking a very very strong leadership role amongst our community

2:02:00so that we can better support uh vulnerable people in our community and uh we want to

2:02:09state very clearly for our service and our community that we will set an example for how we

2:02:15prevent these types of intimate partner and other types of crimes but also how we work together

2:02:22to support victims and survivors and very clearly we want there to be a message that the city of

2:02:29guelph and the guelph police services will do everything we can to hold offenders accountable

2:02:34for their actions this is an environment where we continue you guys have seen this slide for five

2:02:42years now obviously as we continue to grow the service that blue line which is the population

2:02:48growth of the community that's not within our control and that continues to grow i'm hitting

2:02:57the button and it's not there we go as we have discussed over many years we continue to see

2:03:05increasing demands and so we can we're constantly ebbing and flowing we're constantly trying to

2:03:11surge resources to a number of urgent priorities an example of that is our downtown commitment

2:03:21that we've recently made in the last several months those positions aren't funding or are not

2:03:27funded with long-term sustainable funding but the constant increase and record increases in 2023

2:03:34as far as calls for service that's just our reality as we try to constantly balance needs

2:03:40against affordability one of the things we've demonstrated i believe very strongly over the

2:03:48last five years is that when we invest we can show an important return on that investment for our

2:03:53citizens an example of that you see here obviously the slide before you response times they were at

2:04:00record highs five years ago we achieved favorable results but we can't lose sight of the fact or

2:04:06become complacent that they're starting to increase our downtown team i think that speaks for

2:04:12itself our community resource officers five years ago we would have had approximately 200

2:04:19documented proactive engagements with our citizens last year we had about 3200 so we've

2:04:26done we've gone from 200 to over 3000 documented proactive interactions with our community our

2:04:32community safety and operations center that we've recently invested in has shown many uh many returns

2:04:39on investment as well as many future possibilities as well as the investments we've made in relation to

2:04:45break an entrance in auto theft we've actually seen favorable declines in those areas so i think that

2:04:51has been an important theme and will continue to be we will be very focused on making sure the

2:04:57community sees a return on their investments this slide we've talked many times as we seek to ensure

2:05:04safe and sustainable staffing levels that's our people are our greatest resource so we can't

2:05:11provide long-term effective service without safe and sustainable resourcing and 2023 for the first

2:05:17time in a few years we saw a decrease in medical absences and i think a lot of that comes from

2:05:23our members the hope of of being able to grow and do the work with the resources that you've

2:05:31entrusted with us i think probably the greatest point of pride and an excellent demonstration

2:05:39of what we've achieved is where we've come with respect to the overall crime severity index so

2:05:44as you can all see and we all lived in wealth many of us um in the years when we were the safest

2:05:50CMA in the country over five years going from two to 19 is not good um we've consistently improved

2:05:59and we are now back in the top 10 our goal is to get to number one and just as a point of

2:06:05observation we were at eighth um Toronto was at ninth it's only just last this year in the most

2:06:12recent year that we got ahead of the Toronto CMA with respect to overall crime severity index so

2:06:19we are continuing to work hard uh last year we saw an overall decline of seven percent on our crime

2:06:25severity index versus a three and a half percent increase in the province in a about a two percent

2:06:30increase overall in the country so we are we are against the trends in a good way spoke a moment

2:06:40ago so overall this is the theme of this year's budget this budget the is this is simply year two

2:06:47of the multi-year budget with the addition of resources to support intimate partner violence

2:06:53human trafficking internet child exploitation and many uh um of our areas targeting some of our most

2:07:01vulnerable seniors in the city of Guelph so I'm going to invite Mel to join us to give you a bit

2:07:09of an introduction about Mel and her career and then also I've asked Mel to talk to you and our

2:07:16community what does she think you need to know about intimate partner violence and human trafficking

2:07:21in the city of Guelph today thank you chief thank you mayor thank you council um so yes

2:07:28sorry my name is yeah Melanie Clark I'm 23 years on with the Guelph police service I would say half

2:07:34of that and counting has been under the victim driven umbrella specific to gender based violence

2:07:42so I have a lot of experience in this um recently specifically October and just this past Monday we

2:07:49have held some education nights with three spec two intimate partner violence and human trafficking

2:07:54I see some familiar faces that have attended so thank you for that um from that we have received

2:08:00some questions some consistent questions so I've tried to bring the answers to those questions

2:08:04here with me today um as the chief alluded to in 2023 intimate partner violence was declared an

2:08:11epidemic and we um definitely have a responsibility to our community to address what's going on we as

2:08:20the Guelph police service have taken steps one of those steps was January 2024 we established

2:08:27a new unit specific to intimate partner violence in human trafficking the reason we are we're unique

2:08:35to this is no other service that I'm aware of has combined these two types of offenses types of

2:08:40investigations um the reason we did that is a couple of reasons the cycle of violence in human

2:08:47trafficking and intimate partner violence are very similar um and also with regards to the human

2:08:56trafficking there is usually and you'll see some statistics on this later um an overlapping of the

2:09:04intimate partner violence in that the trafficker and the victim often have that relationship initially

2:09:10usually during the grooming stage of the cycle of human trafficking um and lastly it gives our

2:09:18service an opportunity to review every intimate partner violence report and human trafficking

2:09:22report with people that are trained in that um so that we don't miss anything so that's what we

2:09:29have done since January of 2024 um another clarifying point is I want to you to know that

2:09:39intimate partner violence and human trafficking is not new to our community it's been around for

2:09:45many many years and just to bring that point alive a little bit um I'm going to give you an

2:09:54example of an investigation I was involved with so I'm going to take you back to January of 2006

2:10:03we got a call for service I was in uniform call for service female at an establishment in Guelph

2:10:09hiding um out of fear for whatever was happening to her uh flagged down a stranger who uh and asked

2:10:18him to call police which he did we became involved and this is her story 23 year old female um again

2:10:28not from Guelph December 31st 2005 goes out to uh for New Year's Eve with a friend uh in another

2:10:36jurisdiction and does what every 23 year old does you know enjoys herself socializes meets new

2:10:43people and she met a couple a male and a female at this at this establishment who invited her back

2:10:52to their residence she accepted this invitation thinking nothing of it and this was separated from

2:10:59her friends once she was at this residence um she was drugged via a drink and I've edited edited

2:11:08this quite a bit because there is a lot of detail to this that I'm not saying but she was drugged

2:11:13she was then sexually assaulted she tried to escape so she was physically assaulted

2:11:20by being punched in the face numerous times uh a firearm was brandished some other weapons were

2:11:27brandished she was um her family was threatened her identification was stolen her cell phone was

2:11:38stolen within this identification was a work permit and a letter from the Canadian government

2:11:45giving her permission to be in Canada and then um she was locked in the basement for the evening

2:11:52during that time they also told her that she owed them $5,000 um and she could get that from

2:12:00somewhere if she could and if not she would have to work her debt off so she tried to get the

2:12:08$5,000 from next from her boyfriend or fiance at the time was unsuccessful um so anyway she was

2:12:15locked in the basement she woke up there was another female on the ground she slept on the

2:12:20ground and there was a dog as well beside her she then woke up the next day she was forced into

2:12:29the same vehicle the broader there um she was then in the back seat her head was forced down so

2:12:37she didn't know where she was or where she was going and then she was driven to uh an establishment

2:12:44in Guelph once there again she had to pay off her debt that was the reason they came here

2:12:51and that was through sexual services she had luckily her wits about her enough to find an

2:12:59opportunity to hide and flag that stranger down and that's where we came in and this is a story

2:13:14I've told for three reasons one just to prove that it's not a new offense and just to add to that

2:13:21we investigated that as an abduction a sexual assault and assault human trafficking wasn't

2:13:26even spoken of but it's clearly a human trafficking incident so to show that it's been around for a

2:13:32long time to give you kind of a snapshot of what human trafficking is that was a one that was one

2:13:37night that's rare usually it's much longer than that and also to let you know that you don't know

2:13:46know sorry you don't know what you don't know um and like I said that was closed as an abduction

2:13:53we didn't know about human trafficking policing now we have courses we have continuing education

2:13:59it's getting much better we still have a ways to go but it's getting better so what do you need to

2:14:04know about Guelph Guelph um the 401 401 is the backbone of human trafficking for obvious reasons

2:14:14traffickers can get victims from A to B very efficiently very quickly and what does that mean

2:14:20for the trafficker more money right statistics Canada into 2023 they excuse me the national stats

2:14:31listed the top urban communities number one Toronto number five London

2:14:39and whereas Guelph sit right in the middle so we are a hub for human trafficking as mentioned not

2:14:48acceptable we have a huge responsibility to community to address what's going on and I

2:14:53believe that she alluded to this we really need to let the victims know that we holistically

2:14:58support them um and that the offenders know that we don't tolerate it so statistically just if you

2:15:09refer to the slide just for your reference um in 2022 80 percent of incidents in human trafficking

2:15:18were in the metropolitan areas I believe that's gone up to by the end of 2023 85 percent 82 percent

2:15:24of persons accused of human trafficking were men 91 percent of human trafficking trafficking

2:15:31victims were by trafficked sorry by people they know and 34 percent were trafficked by

2:15:36an intimate partner and I had mentioned that at the beginning based on our experience we feel

2:15:41that to be much higher if you're going by the definition of intimate partner next look yeah um

2:15:58and just to add to that 90 96 percent of the victims are young women and girls 24 percent

2:16:07under 18 the age of 13 is the average age of females being human trafficked even though we

2:16:16may not get reports of females until they're much older usually they say they started when they're

2:16:21very young um so Guelph again 2022 right yeah calls for service to the Guelph police that

2:16:33involved human trafficking in 2022 or 36 23 39 and in 2024 this was to the end of our beginning

2:16:40of October I believe that number is now 53 as per the end of 2024 and that reason is because

2:16:49of that unit that we have established we were able to do a little bit more work

2:16:55um the number of identified victims under the age of 18 in Guelph uh 2020

2:17:0323 1 and 24 6 and you'll notice the slide is an iceberg this is literally the tip

2:17:11of the iceberg human trafficking is probably the most under reported crime out there so

2:17:17we are just seeing a very very small small percentage um these numbers are also very

2:17:22reactive right now we with the resources we have we react call for service if uniform sees

2:17:29something that they're concerned with we'll react to that so most of the time that reaction the trauma

2:17:34has already been done um so identifying and I'm just going to read this for BEDM identifying

2:17:44incidents of human trafficking is reliant on police resources and expertise paired with the

2:17:49ability for the victim to report or know how to report and that comes from stats can so some of

2:17:55the stats that were up on the slides from stats can it really all depends on resources

2:18:01holistically uh these investigations are extremely collaborative holistic require

2:18:08dedicated officers that specialize in these types of investigations what makes them so

2:18:13so complex is when you have a drug investigation firearm investigation break and enter whatever

2:18:22it may be you have evidence with human trafficking our evidence is so it takes a lot of because of

2:18:32the trust that has been broken it takes a lot of rapport building etc and time and dedication

2:18:38and working closely with our community partners to get that trust so we can get that that statement

2:18:44and that information and you have heard me say victim you have heard survivor those are used

2:18:53interchangeably often um but I'll just leave you with this in that when you do hear those

2:19:02terms just remember that they're you know they're people's daughters or people's sisters or people's

2:19:08mothers or people's friends um and they really are suffering through like some genius genius traumatic

2:19:18experiences so that's my thanks mel I know there's a Q&A coming after so um mel will be very available

2:19:28you're gonna stick around to chat I think and I want to just kind of touch on four numbers

2:19:35that mel just said 96 of those trafficked are young women and girls 24 percent of them are under 18

2:19:43years the average age of recruitment is 13 and 80 percent of survivors have reported first being

2:19:50trafficked as children in gualph today those are those are obviously national numbers but this is

2:19:57happening here today so one theme that we have to remember about human trafficking as mel said

2:20:03it's not a developing issue it's not an evolving issue it's an issue that we are now becoming

2:20:08much more aware of and councillor work I thanked council for their leadership before you came in

2:20:13at the very beginning the motion you passed on November 28th has played a very important role

2:20:18in that so next um I want to talk about another very disturbing very prevalent

2:20:31issue victim-based crime that's happening in our city uh before I do that before I speak about it I

2:20:38want to introduce you to detective Hugh Curry Hugh has been doing this work for a very very long time

2:20:46for a significant period of time Hugh did this work by himself and now just recently we have

2:20:55two a total of two people doing this work which is not even close to to where we're going to be

2:21:02after today but I want to give Hugh a chance to talk to you and none of this is scripted I have

2:21:09told both Mel and Hugh to just inform you in our community what they think you need to know thank

2:21:16you mr mayor to the council I'm just going to let you know that we are letting the citizens of Guelph

2:21:21the kids down this is a very emotional subject for me as we can tell we don't have the resources

2:21:29we don't have the power to deal with this um it's tough every day I see kids being victimized I see

2:21:39kids being tortured all for the mighty dollar every day I know that there are people in Guelph

2:21:46that are committing these offenses against kids exploiting them using their money to gain profit

2:21:52for themselves um it's a child exploitation is a real thing it's a silent thing people want to

2:21:59turn their eyes to it people don't want to see it people don't want to know about it but it's there

2:22:04we are not doing enough to protect our kids one of the most important commodities we have

2:22:10in our lives our kids they're innocent they don't know

2:22:16doing this work by myself I've seen over 50 million images of kids being tortured sexually

2:22:22assaulted as young as infant to 17 18 years old I know that I've when I deal with people in this

2:22:31society in this in where we live in Guelph that are arrested they don't think it's anything bad

2:22:38because they don't see them as a victim every time an image a child is put in front of a screen

2:22:43they're being re-victimized I know for a fact that if I log on into my undercover capacity as a child

2:22:50I will get somebody in Guelph that will be willing to have sex with me in five minutes guaranteed

2:22:57that's how fast it is they will tell me where they want to meet they'll tell me what they

2:23:01want to do and they would tell me they're bringing a friend they rent hotels they go to their homes

2:23:08they invite me to their homes we recently did a project with Waterloo Regional Police and OPP

2:23:14that included that involved Guelph and Waterloo and we had to close our undercover accounts down

2:23:20because there are so many people that want to meet up with kids under the age of what I was and I

2:23:27was under 12 years old to have sex there were parents that want to bring their kids to another

2:23:34undercover officer that want them to have sex with their kids in Guelph this is a real issue in Guelph

2:23:42that we are not facing we are not standing up to we close our eyes because it's not our kids it's

2:23:48not our grandkids you don't know that I can guarantee that if I were to talk to your kids

2:23:55and talk to family members with kids they will say that on gaming platforms or through regular

2:24:00text messages that they were contacted by an adult asking for something to do something be

2:24:07friending them grooming them and all hopes to have the end result of meeting with them for sexual

2:24:13purposes this is real we're not a little village anymore we are a city and as mel alluded to we

2:24:22have the 401 these people who travel from all over recently had somebody from brandford come up

2:24:29let's try to have sex with a child as a council as a city we're definitely letting our kids down

2:24:43to put some kind of numbers to that in 2024 before I say that I want to um like our whole our

2:24:56service our city I think we have no idea of the the trauma that you and people who do that work

2:25:05have endured on behalf of us and the 150,000 people who live here so just let that sink in for a second

2:25:17um in 2024 this we had um just our service we had 92 um tips which might come from like a national

2:25:31center it might come from crime stoppers of the 92 tips that we got that we know of of those 61 of

2:25:39them or two thirds of them we do not have the capacity to even look at so two thirds of the

2:25:46stuff that comes to our retention and that's not even talking about all the stuff we don't we don't

2:25:51even have the capacity to look at because they have to be prioritized few you're going to jump in at

2:25:56any point if I'm wrong they have to be prioritized as the most heinous the most serious the most recent

2:26:04for us to be able to dedicate resources to that so two thirds of the stuff we find out about

2:26:09we can't action um and if it was our children or our grandchildren just last week you had to close

2:26:1916 of 16 files that represents it 158 images or videos because we don't have the ability to look at

2:26:25them and that is the reality for us and and this and again I'm going to come back to that motion

2:26:35on November 28th this has really refocused and regalvanized our commitment we need to we need

2:26:44to burden you with the information so you can understand the needs and the requirements

2:26:49and that's what this is about is having honest conversations because whether it's internet child

2:26:54exploitation whether it's human trafficking if we don't talk about it we don't recognize it we don't

2:27:00react to it and we don't support the victims who are being victimized in this city every day

2:27:11next I'm going to touch briefly on cyber-enabled frauds so last year the city of Guelph Guelph police

2:27:20service we had approximately 255 frauds under 25,000 reported so 25,000 is kind of our threshold

2:27:33if it's under 25,000 it gets reported for essentially information purposes we have very

2:27:39little ability to look at things uh under 25,000 and currently we have 38 cases

2:27:48totaling between seven and a half around seven and a half million dollars of frauds so 38 cases

2:27:55that have been reported over 25,000 and there's about a one to two year wait in the queue for

2:28:02us to get to those so 255 reported last year under 25,000 38 outstanding and currently we have three

2:28:11folks to manage that this you have this in front of you so I'm not going to I'm not going to read

2:28:23the numbers to you I certainly can Sean can certainly talk about this if we touch on this

2:28:27the Q&A essentially as I said the theme of today this is year two of the approved multi-year budget

2:28:37the material change is obviously the resources we've talked about to make sure we build on the

2:28:43work done by KPMG we will continue to navigate the the reality of phasing in the resource

2:28:51enhancements so you know we talked last year in 2027 will be where we KPMG said we should have been

2:28:59in 2023 but we get the affordability issues we have done a great deal of work in the last 12

2:29:08months since I was here last to make sure that the work we're doing our strat plan to make sure

2:29:14that our priorities as a service for the next four years aligns with council's priorities and the

2:29:18community's needs to make sure it's aligned with your motion on November 28th

2:29:26and that Mr. Mayor that's our presentation so I look forward to answering questions

2:29:34great yes and thank you thank you to all of you very much and just before we get into questions I

2:29:41know I speak on behalf of council and the entire city when I say thank you for what you do

2:29:47like it doesn't go unnoticed but sometimes it's not said publicly this is an opportunity to say

2:29:54that so especially in these areas that we just discussed so yeah just all I can say is thank

2:30:03you so thank you very much I have two people so far Gibson and Alts so and then I'll say

2:30:10there's anything further or work after that so Gibson then alt thank you through Mr. Mayor I

2:30:15liked your phrase burdening us with the information it's important that we do that can I ask a question

2:30:20to is it Hugh okay Hugh um collaboration you hinted on it a little bit with other police forces

2:30:28there's many other forms of policing in this country RCMP OPP other police forces I used to know

2:30:35as an old colleague of mine who did the semi-work in Peel how are you working and how are you

2:30:40collaborating with other forces to strengthen your strengthen your sort of I guess your

2:30:47presence online and how will you know further supporting with with funding help those efforts

2:30:55we're currently part of the we have the luck of being part of the own terror provincial

2:30:58strategy group which is 86 police services about 100 police officers that do the same work

2:31:04they include luring and online cyber tips and child pornography incidences

2:31:12the problem is they're in the same boat everybody else's they're overworked busy swamped so although

2:31:17we are on our own we're not they can help when they can help I know I've gone and helped other

2:31:24services with investigations and whatnot obviously the more people that we have working in my team

2:31:31the more victims recover my job is to recover and support victims right that's that's what our

2:31:37number one mandate is is to to find victims we do a very good job at it um with the support of

2:31:44the slt and the rest of people here um we do find a lot of victims not only in Guelph but I found

2:31:51some in Michigan all over the world um so there's here some more manpower more more people involved

2:31:57in the unit will obviously help us find who these offenders are and bring these offenders in front

2:32:02of the courts so if you're not prepared to say that I will in my comments but um social media

2:32:09is this is this something that our youth need to be more and more aware of I'm in year two of

2:32:13social media for my 13 he doesn't care for it I'm happy about that um but like is there something

2:32:20there that that young people should be aware of when the like the the messaging systems snap

2:32:25chats these things like we're in my household it's like you'll get it when you get it but you

2:32:29don't ask for it right but is there something that the parents need to know um maybe unaware of the

2:32:34dangers of some of these social media platforms sure through the mayor um so part of my mandate is

2:32:39presentations to the community and we do provide a lot of presentations for the community to pair

2:32:44groups to I know I do work closely with crime stoppers we do do presentations at schools

2:32:49um it pretty much comes down to you have to parent right a lot of parents now use social

2:32:59meeting devices as a babysitting tools um here watch this youtube video will I go do this well

2:33:06watching youtube isn't really there's a lot of stuff on youtube that kids shouldn't be watching

2:33:12let's I'll just put that out there um and that's with every every game and platform every social

2:33:17media platform wherever you are um there's ways that people will find our kids and they usually do

2:33:24it's not hard um so just more education for parents you know come out to the presentations

2:33:31do use the google you know it's there it provides a lot of great stuff for parents to do um

2:33:37that where they could monitor their kids I know some some gaming platforms now have

2:33:42where you mirror monitoring so if your child signs up for a platform then the parent is actually

2:33:48sees exactly what the child is doing and if the child wants to get a new game the parent has to

2:33:53okay it so there's that sort of stuff out there but the promised parents don't want to do that parents

2:33:57just want to let the kids go and the youngest investigation we did was involved in a six-year-old

2:34:03where they got sucked in through a gaming platform and the offender was arrested in Montreal so

2:34:11I appreciate that um I've got that I've got that sort of control set up through my wife's

2:34:15phone my wife smeared my son's phone but um heard the comment once and it's very real and I don't

2:34:21care if I'm called approved for it if you want your child's childhood to end give them social media

2:34:26right um I have another question uh because I did attend the uh trafficking 101 seminar two nights

2:34:33ago and you gave me an answer and I went home and I pondered it and I needed to ask some more I'm

2:34:37sorry and it was involving you know we have we did so much work and so much information on

2:34:42victim services which I think is terrific supporting the victims all the time but I like I like catching

2:34:47the bad guy and so I wanted to ask a follow-up question because I was in a car accident once and

2:34:54the other person was charged and they asked me to come to court and testify and I said I'm not

2:34:58comfortable I didn't like I didn't like the feel of it and they went and charged a minute worked out

2:35:03no problem they didn't need my testimony so you gave the comment uh the response the other day

2:35:08that we need that victim statement um and so it kind of puts the victim back in a vulnerable position

2:35:14is there is a cases where just evidence is strong enough where you can take a victim statement

2:35:20anonymously and you've got the transactions you've got the text messages you've got these other things

2:35:24like do we have to re-involve the victim every time we want to put a bad guy away when it comes to

2:35:32trafficking because I mean that didn't that I didn't feel like we were servicing

2:35:37the victim when we were trying to we're almost re-victimizing them bringing them back into

2:35:41court and asking them to testify against um their their uh their victimizer and I can tell you we are

2:35:50yeah we are well no we are re-victimizing them by doing that 100 and any intimate partner

2:35:56violent sexual assault human trafficking that's sorry I have a problem with them um that's what's

2:36:03happening right so um we I heard a survivor speak once um and told her story and she said that the

2:36:15court process was almost more traumatizing than the human trafficking so is there is there a way yes

2:36:21is it obviously way more difficult to get a conviction yes right because a lot of times

2:36:27that statement will lead us to that corroborating evidence and without that statement we may not

2:36:32get that corroborating evidence right so to answer your question it is possible um but the best

2:36:37evidence is her statement and we like to get that best evidence but it is possible and yes we are

2:36:44re-victimizing I don't know if that helps you but it doesn't help me at all actually it's a struggle

2:36:50that because again I I go back to my own experience being in a car accident the other person was charged

2:36:55I didn't need to testify against their actions to have that conviction upheld in court um I just hope

2:37:01that there's there's a way to remove the victim from the situation and not have to be cross-examined

2:37:08or or something like that so that they the statement can just stand that with the evidence right yeah

2:37:13and to speak to that with the car accident there's evidence yeah evidence of that accident with

2:37:18like I mentioned with firearms with drugs there's evidence right so even if like we do

2:37:26operations all the time with drugs firearms that's very well known right we're gathering

2:37:31that evidence that's what we use right we see the drug transactions we see A, B and C but with this

2:37:37it's also intimate that's the name there's no witnesses there's no right it's it's very very

2:37:45difficult our main goal in human trafficking is is to get that victim survivor out of what they call

2:37:51the game right that's our goal and I know we spoke to that on on Monday night um our end goal is can

2:37:59we yeah we would love to get the back guy that's what we want to do that as officers as a community

2:38:05right but it's it's difficult these investigations human trafficking and intimate partner violence

2:38:11but even with intimate partner violence we have a phone call and usually by the time we get that call

2:38:16that person is willing to come to us and talk to us right we need to work on the proactive part in

2:38:21the early intervention parts we don't get there but at that point with human trafficking they're so

2:38:26scared and traumatized it takes a long time for them to be ready to talk to us so we really got to

2:38:32work and it takes a lot of like holistic partnerships to get them to that point if we ever do it's

2:38:40frustrating I understand your frustration it's frustrating for us too because we do want to

2:38:44get the bad guy but we just have to take it in steps last question and it's on the

2:38:59would more serve would more officers support uh getting the bad guy 100 perfect answer

2:39:08perfect uh alt or org and caron thanks thank you margatary these these are budget questions and

2:39:15they do also relate to some of what we've heard first of all thanks to officers curry and clark

2:39:23for the presentation but it gets down to what is my question and it relates not just to

2:39:30the human trafficking and intimate partner violence but to the whole of the police force

2:39:36chief kobi the issue of presumed trauma is a dollars and cents issue for us

2:39:44how are we in addressing overtime and other aspects of budget that arise as a consequence of

2:39:53presumed trauma from much of what these officers and other officers are doing

2:39:59so i wouldn't take it further i would say guaranteed trauma i wouldn't even say presumed

2:40:04trauma i would say guaranteed trauma we are as we've talked about many times the affordability

2:40:14considerations requiring us to phase in required enhancements inevitably leads to increased overtime

2:40:22so we're fine constantly trying to thread the needle rather than um come to you or come to our

2:40:29citizens and say in 2023 we need 35 people then and we made the choice to do 88 and eight over four

2:40:35years so the the longer we phase it in it's just the reality i don't believe i will ever come before

2:40:43you and say we have a zero zero growth budget so it's just the reality as as the city grows

2:40:50we're going to have to have a growth plan it's just got to be a smooth growth plan like if in

2:40:57theory if we could one point in time recommendations come in all at once and then i'm sure our ceo

2:41:03would love it if i said terra assessment growth only that's going to be our growth from now on

2:41:08that like all that would be our goal but we're trying to we're trying to be mindful of affordability

2:41:14but make no mistake about it it's guaranteed trauma for for folks thank you and with that

2:41:19affordability another issue that has arisen one of your first slides was population statistics

2:41:25and just for sake of argument i'll just identify guelph as being approximately 150,000 as our base

2:41:31population but from previous conversations with you i understand that we actually police for

2:41:39significantly a significantly higher population base i believe that's a consequence of the

2:41:45post-secondary institutions in guelph what do we police for and is there a significant difference

2:41:53in in the cost of what we police for versus what we can reasonably assume we can finance for from

2:42:03our our tax base i think much i think more than we should probably add 25 or 30 000 to the number

2:42:10it based on the student population so we are probably we're policing providing service to

2:42:15a number much greater than 150 000 it's probably for eight months of the year and the reality is for

2:42:21the the the whole year i think we should add 25 000 to that number so i think it's a proportionately

2:42:28low number when we talk in terms of 150 000 and i believe through the mr mayor to councillor

2:42:35karon i think you educated me a couple years ago that the heads and beds levy hasn't been increased

2:42:41for many many years i'll defer to you councillor karon but i'm pretty sure we talked about that

2:42:46a couple years ago and that was the next point that i was going to raise it is another point for

2:42:51council to consider significant lobbying on the heads and beds improvement the next question

2:42:56actually comes from the the slide on cyber fraud um many of us are getting grayer and uh it strikes

2:43:07me that senior fraud and senior violence and family abuse are becoming uh more ubiquitous

2:43:13within our population uh how well staffed are we how are we able to address senior fraud violence

2:43:20and family abuse that might occur within an aging population well i i would say we are not well

2:43:29well positioned to do that however um but the discussion i'm hoping that after this meeting

2:43:35today we will have um a couple at least extra resources that we can direct to frauds a lot of

2:43:42this stuff is about proactively educating community members um family members our elderly residents

2:43:50whether it be an information session that we host or proactive sessions at the evergreen

2:43:55center or so many other places if someone is a victim of cyber fraud and it's a cryptocurrency

2:44:02and the offender is across the notion we may never recover those funds so we want to prevent

2:44:08those crimes from happening and i think the single greatest thing we can do is empower

2:44:13our elderly and their family and everyone with the tools to know how to minimize the chances

2:44:20that they'll become victims and this this is a big part of that because we essentially have no

2:44:25ability to do that right now okay thank you very much thank you councillor Allt or work then karan

2:44:33thank you mayor guthrie to you to chief coby and uh and thank you to sergeants clark and

2:44:37curry for being here my brother-in-law worked for a turnip police service and just recently

2:44:42retired and he did a rotation through child sex exploitation and it is very very difficult work

2:44:47as is ipv so um chief coby i hear you talk about prevention people need to be aware of what a scam

2:44:54will be on monday night we learned that kids are being lured through gaming platforms like roblox

2:45:00and you know the minecraft stuff that you wouldn't necessarily think about um we know in france the

2:45:06dominic pity code trial 50 code offendants that claim they didn't know what consent was they thought

2:45:12they were you know the husband could consent for the wife in what was sex trafficking um

2:45:18so what proportion or dollar amount will this portion of the budget allocate to proactive

2:45:26awareness and prevention so that we can really focus on you know i'm thinking specifically of ipv

2:45:35and human trafficking but it applies equally to child luring and equally to seniors and fraud protection

2:45:41what's the proportion on prevention because the policing the inquiries the court time the resources

2:45:50allocated to catch the bad guy and prosecute the bad guy are grossly at a proportion to the

2:45:56prevention piece so so where's the prevention piece for me it's a great question um and thank you for

2:46:03that so i think again one of the themes of this is we are going to take a leadership role to bring

2:46:09the community together i would never speak for sly and women in crisis but i suspect sly would say

2:46:16we are much much stronger if we're all doing this work together so whether that be victim services

2:46:21women in crisis with the ability to not just be keeping our heads above water then we can proactively

2:46:29look for those opportunities to educate our citizens to have social media messaging to have

2:46:36to host events to work with all those agencies so that we can do that so very specifically

2:46:44six people will be going directly to support the unit mal talked about of intimate partner

2:46:49violence and human trafficking very specifically those numbers as far as how that will be split

2:46:55up prevention enforcement it'll be a function of the work we do with our community partners

2:47:01and the work that just finds us right like the work that the calls for service we get so

2:47:05i can't give you an exact number but i can tell you six of these fte's will be going directly to

2:47:10this work both prevention education and enforcement so three america three far beat for me to try and

2:47:18pin down a seasoned investigator but can can you reassure the community that some funds will be

2:47:24set aside just for proactive communication communications like 20 grants something because

2:47:29when i talk to women in crisis or victim services or even police they're beholden to these tiny

2:47:36grants from the ministry of the solicitor general and then they're like okay we can do a brochure

2:47:41now okay we can do a campaign but can a portion of this budget increase uh can we have an assurance

2:47:49that a portion of that is dedicated to helping the action committee on gender-based violence

2:47:55have a campaign 100% thank you and through you merga three to chief coby uh i did want to give a

2:48:02shout out to that action committee on gender-based violence i'm curious to know if to the extent that

2:48:07you know um sergeant clark or chief coby what does the collaboration look like with women in crisis

2:48:15and victim services and family and children services and uh and school boards both in terms of the

2:48:21prevention um and then in terms of the work um we do collaborate but as mentioned because of lack of

2:48:32resources we could do it better we could do it more right the action committee is excellent they meet

2:48:40but again ultimately and we work very well with women in crisis obviously victim services is in

2:48:45house um so we work collaborative with them we do conferences again through grants mostly might do but

2:48:53it's it's like everything we're speaking of today we're doing it but we can do it so much better

2:48:59if that answers your question no we completely understand i'm a communications person and so

2:49:05that work is never ever done right right and people get older and and get into a zone where

2:49:11there might be potential victims and so that work is always to be redone um and then through you

2:49:16may I got through my last question for sergeant clark so this these are old numbers 2022 um there

2:49:23were 1659 calls related to domestic violence we know that's a tip of the iceberg kind of question

2:49:31we're talking today about human trafficking so can you help me understand like is is there a

2:49:37division of work between human trafficking and ipv or will all those officers being able to address

2:49:43you know both the ipv piece and the human trafficking piece because the numbers are vastly

2:49:48different right ipv has been an issue in the community for a long long time so um how does

2:49:54that work sort of practically I just want to make sure we don't lose the focus on ipv 100

2:49:59understanding that it's related to human trafficking right um so our goal and has been from the beginning

2:50:05is to have every officer in that unit cross-trained so ultimately if a human trafficking investigation

2:50:12comes in they're all capable of investigating and vice versa our front line is inundated with

2:50:18intimate partner violence calls and our goal with that unit is to pull the the more serious ones

2:50:24off of front line and investigate them to their full potential so it will definitely not get lost

2:50:31if anything ipv will get a lot more attention than it is right now it's terrific thank you

2:50:39thank you I have cron and then downer thank you for you mr. mayor and thank you to chief kopey

2:50:46for your and your team for being here focusing on this just being a budget meeting but you know we

2:50:51have we have had discussions obviously here and the stories that have been told that are speak

2:50:57directly to allocation of resources and I appreciate that those stories have impact and I

2:51:02appreciate why you brought them to council here today um at the same time uh there's a lot of

2:51:10interest in the public from the public in uh budgets for policing and there may be people in the gallery

2:51:17or staff or those watching at home or those who will watch the video afterwards who may have

2:51:23been triggered by those stories and there was no warning that they would be told during the budget

2:51:28meeting so I do have a question um but I do think it's important to um bring that up and to ask

2:51:38our our police experts here if anyone was triggered by those stories um and unaware um what is the um

2:51:47the network of support in the community for them to reach out should they be calling victim services

2:51:53counseling um if if anyone is still watching um and has been triggered where do you where do you

2:52:00suggest that they um they call or reach out for support thank you for that that's an excellent

2:52:06point um our victim services folks and uh to assist in that regard we could have uh our media

2:52:16person scott tracy he could just send out a an information link today to victim services if

2:52:20that's helpful uh yes please do because I think you know without uh advance warning that may that

2:52:27may have happened during the course of this meeting um now that being said I do have a question

2:52:32that and thank you uh to mr tracy for for following up um during that presentation

2:52:38we learned that the 401 corridor or corridor is is crucial uh in in and significant in the

2:52:46trafficking that is happening in our region and so I know you are part of a larger group of chiefs

2:52:53of police um and from a regional and a provincial uh group and that this is not a wealth problem

2:53:00so my question is more about the allocation of resources as it relates to what other um

2:53:08police services are doing along the 401 corridor uh is this a is this a larger effort

2:53:15among all police services and police services board to direct more resources to this wealth

2:53:21I you know I I will be supporting the police services budget and this allocation of resources

2:53:27but I want to know that waterloo region and falton region and peal region and all the regions

2:53:32along 401 are also asking for funds and that you're partnering with all those regions and pressuring

2:53:38the province um because you know putting putting the funds into wealth isn't going to be enough

2:53:43to to stem the tide of of human trafficking can you speak to the larger regional and provincial

2:53:50approach along the 401 certainly and I'm going to I'm going to introduce you to James James can

2:53:55give you a quick intro um and then also James has been directly doing human trafficking work for

2:54:01quite some time and can answer that question much better than I could answer thank you um

2:54:10so as much as it's not a growth problem because we're not directly on the 401 it is a wealth

2:54:13problem because we're a part of that infrastructure um as for other services I mean I can't speak

2:54:21for them we're aware that the 401 is the backbone of human trafficking and reason why

2:54:26material numbers are significantly higher than the rest of Canada based on population being

2:54:33pretty much surrounding the 401 um it's it's spoken about consistently we know it's a big reason why

2:54:43human trafficking um is such an issue along the communities along the 401 the crowns are aware

2:54:51the everybody that needs to be aware is aware there's campaigns along the enruts there's

2:54:57posters in those bathrooms there's a I don't know the exact name of it um but even the truckers

2:55:03associations are aware and have campaigns against it we can only kind of control we can control and

2:55:10go off um I'm all about fighting realistic battles um within my role um but on an Ontario level with

2:55:19other human trafficking investigators other police services it's definitely something we're aware of

2:55:25but I don't have an answer for you on what Halton's doing for it and other services no

2:55:32okay thank you appreciate that I'm thinking more of police services budgets whether um

2:55:40your colleagues and other jurisdictions are asking for additional funding not not necessarily what

2:55:46programming they're doing but um you know are they asking for a 2 increase in in funding what

2:55:52what is the kind of lay of the land in terms of of funding and and asks during during budget time

2:55:58because I'm assuming that most other police services are currently tabling their budgets as well

2:56:06I actually so I do have that um I know that when we looked at the average

2:56:13sorry Mr. Mayor I know that when we looked at the average police budgets this year the ones that we

2:56:18knew of um were coming in consistently higher than we are this year now I would say we're probably

2:56:26around the 50th percentile as a guess um if anyone's following the news in the GTA I know

2:56:31there's some regional services there that is much much higher than ours um but I would say we're

2:56:38slightly at or below the 55th percentile with respect to increases this year okay that's that's

2:56:51great that helps me to um be able to balance you know what what we're doing here in Guelph with

2:56:58with the needs in other communities that we're not really out of line with our our regional

2:57:02partners and what types of resources are being requested this year thanks very much okay and

2:57:09through you Mr. Mayor to the Mayor's request I think John just said from the gallery that it's

2:57:13around 10 percent is a provincial average and after assessment growth I think we're at 7.9 or

2:57:18something like that that's really helpful thanks thank you um and last I have is downer please

2:57:27hey thank you through you Mayor Guthrie so you've identified these four priority and needs of the

2:57:33community for this year so over the next four years it looks like it's about five million a year

2:57:40increase every year that you're looking at so what percentage of that five million is going to these

2:57:45priorities and I think so this this year is going to get the units established

2:57:51essentially at a very high level we're looking at about uh two FTEs to fraud this year a minimum of one

2:57:59additional one to internet child exploitation a minimum of one to our tech crime because as you

2:58:05can imagine you see devices they have to be analyzed there's often encryption and things like that

2:58:10and then six to the intimate partner violence human trafficking as we move forward with that

2:58:16phase in approach that still catch up mode we have to constantly ebb and flow to see where we're at

2:58:22so it would be premature for me to say next year like one of the five will go to Staff Sergeant

2:58:28Clark it's a constantly in ebb and flow based on where we will find ourselves next year okay those

2:58:35are the specific resources so what percentage of the five million is that for for what for 2025 then

2:58:43related to these and what is other what are the other increase how much of the increase is other

2:58:49things as well yeah so this I think uh Sean is probably around one percent yeah so it's about

2:58:56one percent of this increase is going to support human trafficking and then the remainder um through

2:59:03you mr well Councillor Gibson every year asks me about do we phase in things so a lot of this

2:59:09year's increase is also the phasing in of investments made last year as well as contracts

2:59:15obligation and base so it's still the majority of this year's increases base and then one percent

2:59:21for the human trafficking investment and intimate partner violence and an original one percent for

2:59:27that original growth we would have talked about last year okay so what that's the intimate partner

2:59:33violence and human trafficking is the one percent and then what percentage then is is the internet

2:59:38the internet child exploitation and exploitation and the online fraud that'd be a fraction of this so

2:59:45if six fte's represent one okay then a sixth a sixth of a sixth of one percent okay I just wanted to

2:59:51sort of see what kind of breakdown we're going to those priorities thank you thanks thank you

2:59:58so correct me if I'm wrong trying to remember from being on the board but maybe the easiest

3:00:02way for me to explain it out loud is that there was an extra eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars

3:00:08roughly added on top of what the multi-year budget was proposing and that eight hundred and fifty

3:00:14thousand dollars is going to the specific focused issues intimate partner violence human trafficking

3:00:21fraud child exploitation am I right yes the only correction I would give you correct me is that eight

3:00:30hundred and fifty was primarily into human trafficking yeah intimate partner violence yeah

3:00:37because the the growth already approved last year as part of the phase in would have supported

3:00:41fraud and ice in some of those areas okay so the two portions are more dedicated to the extra

3:00:47eight fifty absolutely because of the issues we've all explained properly okay all right thank you

3:00:53um with that we're done thank you very much thank you to all of you okay council I am looking for

3:01:05there's two motions one's a big one and then the other one's just in regards to the elliott fixed

3:01:12term loan update would someone be willing to put actually both down on the floor for me

3:01:18okay gullard and uh karan thank you sir you're good with that right just putting everything down

3:01:25yeah okay is there anything more before I just call the vote on these no okay I'll call the vote

3:01:33is anyone against the outside board budgets nobody so that's unanimous thank you very much

3:01:44bylaws councillor orc I have you down there for bylaws please that bylaw 2025-21032 be approved

3:01:56subject to section 284.11 section 4 of the municipal act okay thank you very much

3:02:05and I'm sorry that was seconded by downer thank you and I'll call the vote is anyone against the

3:02:13bylaws nobody okay and just before I look to do adjournment I know everyone's always interested

3:02:22in numbers so shana maybe I'll just look to you and I'm going to try to go by memory because we

3:02:29talked about this a couple days ago but I think basically what we're at is 6.78 in total impact

3:02:38am I right yes mirga three that's right okay um and from a kind of proposed and adopted position

3:02:532025 was originally going to be if we had left everything sort of alone including today's

3:02:59it would have been 10.51 percent 2025 um originally would have been 9.8 percent

3:03:09yes but with the extra here on the other side boards and whatnot it jumped it up to 10 it

3:03:14would have you know jumped it up to 10.51 yes that's correct okay and um the city portion

3:03:23was originally going to be sorry I can't remember seven point can you remind me on that one I'm just

3:03:31pulling the numbers up um 7.39 I believe including the hospital levy yes originally the city side

3:03:41but the city portion was able to be 3.66 yes that's correct okay so just thought I would throw all

3:03:50those numbers out there try my best remember them thank you for correcting me on the one

3:03:54so um yeah 10.51 down to 6.78 as a total impact for for all the budgets thank you very much to staff

3:04:08for coordinating all of this as well and to all the staff at the outside boards we appreciate that

3:04:14and I am now looking just for a motion for adjournment I bet you councillor billings will put

3:04:18up her hand yep and councillor caton is going to second that perfect um I and I will call the

3:04:25vote on that as anyone against adjournment nobody that's unanimous as well too well thank you very

3:04:30much and have a great rest of the day