Committee of the Whole

1:21We'll now call our committee of the whole meeting to order.

1:24Welcome everyone, May the 2nd to committee of whole.

1:29We're entering the corporate services committee of council

1:34and we do not have Canada today.

1:40So we'll go directly into the meeting agenda

1:43and I'll ask for a disclosure of pecuniary interest.

1:48Seeing none, we'll go straight into our service area.

1:51We have a really important report today

1:54and we'll have a presentation from Trevor Lee,

1:56our deputy CIO and our city treasurer, Tara Baker.

2:02I'll turn the microphone over to Trevor and Tara for the presentation.

2:08Good afternoon members of council in the community.

2:13I'm pleased to be here joined with our city treasurer, Tara Baker,

2:16to present this year's year end results for 2022.

2:21Overall staff are pleased with our financial position,

2:24especially in a year that was subject to so much uncertainty

2:27due to commodity pricing fluctuations,

2:29labour and supply chain challenges.

2:32Council supported two key strategies over the past two years

2:35as proven extremely successful to unlock and keep unlocked

2:39our capital programs of work delivering

2:42that would have been halted in this economic environment

2:45or could have been halted in this economic environment.

2:49Specifically the strategies are the capital program resourcing strategy

2:53that aims to right size the people resourcing delivery

2:56of our capital projects and the inflationary financial impact strategy

3:00that prioritizes capital projects to manage inflationary price pressures

3:05within the already approved 2022 and 2023 capital budget.

3:09We'll get into more detail in the following slides,

3:12but capital spending in both the number of and the magnitude of

3:16committed purchase orders are trending upwards,

3:18three outcomes committed to with these prioritized strategies.

3:22The economic environment has also considerably impacted our operating position.

3:28With the city ending in an overall surplus of 2.8% of budget,

3:32that's 13.7 million, which is slightly higher than projected

3:36based on our Q3 forecast that we presented earlier.

3:40A less than 3% variance when contending with the tight labor market

3:44escalating fuel prices, 7, 7,

3:48rate hikes by the federal bank and changing post-COVID program demands

3:52is not an unreasonable position.

3:55Staff, however, continue to look at the root cause of the variances

3:59and will be assessing any required budget adjustments

4:01going into the multi-year budget.

4:04The term surplus can be misleading.

4:07These are all required funds by the city to address our service delivery needs.

4:12Council, through the 2023 budget confirmation,

4:15used some of this surplus to make some one-time program enhancements

4:19and to reduce the capital funding providing short-term tax rate relief.

4:24These funds have also been relied upon by staff to phase in

4:28the inflationary impacts of yet to be incorporated projects into our budget.

4:33Staff have recommended directing the surplus to the reserve and reserve funds,

4:37which are then used to manage tax and rate increases over time.

4:43Every dollar put into the reserve and reserve funds will be one less dollar,

4:47not needed to be raised by property tax and rates in future years.

4:52Before I hand the presentation off to Tara, I did want to mention that all of these figures

4:56that are in front of you are based on unaudited financial information

5:00and the recommendations before you are required to be finalized for those

5:03audited statements. I'll now be happy to turn it over to Tara. Thank you.

5:07Just getting some help here. It's not moving forward if you could do that for me.

5:27Okay, great. Thank you. So good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity

5:31to present these year-end highlights. I'm going to start with the year-end capital

5:35budget monitoring report. The city spent $110.3 million this year,

5:40which is an increase of $33 million over 2021 and is one of the highest spending

5:45years and is the highest spending year in the last eight years.

5:49Purchase order commitments at the end of this year were also 45% higher than in the past year.

5:55As mentioned by DCO Lee, the contributing policies of the capital program resource strategy and the

6:00inflationary financial impact strategy are really one of the primary reasons for these results,

6:05and they're really considered positive because that's what we've really been trying to drive towards.

6:10What's interesting about the visual on the left is that through the capital prioritization process,

6:15as part of the inflation strategy, staff were able to reduce the approved budget by $11.5 million,

6:22and that full list of every project is in attachment three to the report based on prior

6:27requests from council to see that list. We've deferred a number of projects out into future years,

6:36and with a continued focus on matching budget to staff capacity to deliver, we've now slowed

6:41that increase to the budget carryover. You can see that top line, which we've seen jump considerably

6:46over the last three. We can see the budget and the actual spending almost now coming together

6:52as well, which is really the expected goal of the strategies, and we'll continue to monitor

6:56these results and enhance budget development control to ensure that we can continue with the

7:02gains that have been made. This increased spending means real community outcomes, including road

7:09reconstruction complete with sanitary and storm sewers and water mains on streets like Metcalf,

7:16Manitoba, Aramasa Road, York Road, Stevenson College, and then also the Paisley-Feeder Main.

7:23In addition to this, we've got road repaying and maintenance program that runs across the city

7:28that's doing many more kilometers of improvement in the past year. We've had energy upgrades to

7:34process and equipment to assist in the achievement of our goals, specifically at the Water Resource

7:40Recovery Center, upgrading aeration blowers in the control systems and SCADA system improvements.

7:48We've improved the Paisley-Pump Station, and we've ordered our first seven electric buses

7:54in this year, and the first one being delivered with more to come in 24. And then finally,

8:01we've also replaced 20 HVAC units with premium high efficiency heat pumps at the West End Community

8:07Center. We've also moved on to parks and park structures. We've had improvements at Handlecreek

8:13Splashpad, Norm Jerry Park, Cedarvale, and Starwood Park, just to name a few. And then we've also

8:21seen real improvement in investment in customer service through digitization and software improvements.

8:28We've launched our property tax billing software, the first phase of that, with more to come in 2023.

8:36And then our fiber optic network network built. We've now have half of the first ring built,

8:42including the cutover of certain facilities onto this new connection. So in addition to this,

8:47the city continues to manage its fleet vehicle, corporate facility, and corporate technology

8:54lifecycle that goes into that, to keeping those assets in good working condition,

8:59with over 15 million invested in 2022. By the end of 2022, Council, sorry, the city also closed out

9:0886 projects in total, and was able to release back 6.4 million of committed funding into the

9:15reserve funds, enabling this funding to now be allocated to projects in the next budget. Currently,

9:22the city is in the midst of the 10 year capital plan update, and we'll be bringing together all the

9:27capital program threads to assess affordability and the level of capital transfer requirements

9:32going into the next budget. I do need to say that with the inflationary strategy, a number of projects

9:40were deferred from 2022 and into 2024 and beyond. And on top of that, the need to incorporate inflationary

9:47cost adjustments into already planned projects and incorporating all the capital requirements

9:52identified in the recently approved master plans, we are really looking at a real funding pressure

9:58in the next 10 years. And so this is why such a large proportion of the operating surplus that

10:04I'll talk about next is being directed to capital reserve funds. All of that funding is going to

10:09be instrumental in delivering all the critical services that we provide, ROGE and bridge improvements,

10:16park and recreation amenities, keeping all of our city fleet up to standard emergency services,

10:22garbage collection, just to name a few. This is not extra money and every dollar directed to

10:26capital now will reduce the need to raise funds in the future. In this capital report, you will see

10:37two recommendations before you. The first one is for funding adjustments related to approved projects.

10:42These are to adjust the funding of four projects, which does not change the total expenditure budget

10:48overall, but in a more administrative in nature, how are still require your approval. Staff are

10:53looking at our capital funding and reserve policies to consider amendments to better

11:00enable a portfolio style approach and managing the capital funding that changes through the year

11:04as grants and other revenues become available. We do need to then adjust the approved capital

11:11budget funding to accommodate that. And so we feel like there's an opportunity to streamline

11:17that and do more of a report out. And so look for that coming in 2024. The second recommendation

11:23is related to additional budget required to address infrastructure that needs to be built this year,

11:30related to the concerns with the turtle populations on Malby Road. The budget for this work is

11:35anticipated at 375,000, including contingency and is recommended to be funded from the

11:41Infrastructure Renewal Reserve Fund. This is an in-year budget adjustment being recommended

11:46by staff after due diligence to consider all options. So segueing into our next report,

11:55being the year end operating budget monitoring report and surplus allocation, the city ended

12:01in a corporate surplus position of 13.7 million or a 2.8 variance before the safe restart grant

12:09funding. In total, over the past three years now, we've received 23.2 million in safe restart

12:19operating and transit stream funding since the beginning of the pandemic. In 2022, the remaining

12:26carry forward funds of 1.3 were allocated to transit and parking. In addition to the carry

12:32forward amounts, the city received another 156,000 in transit phase four funding, which has also been

12:38utilized in 2022. The total net surplus after we apply these funds is then brings up to 15.2 million.

12:48As DCAO Lee mentioned, a less than 3% variance when contending with all of the challenges we've

12:53seen this year, tight labor market, escalating fuel prices, the rate hikes by Bank of Canada,

12:59and our post-COVID program demands, it's really not an unreasonable position. So the main theme

13:10to this year was really adjusting to these economic conditions as we recover from the pandemic.

13:15And I know it seems like a long time ago, but early 2022, we were still facing facility closures,

13:21and many of our program demands were quite variable and difficult to predict. Key drivers of our surplus

13:28from a savings perspective is that we had higher than budgeted revenues across the city, but

13:34specifically environmental services with the provincial blue box funding and our solid waste.

13:42We had water and wastewater rate revenues higher just due to consumption, and then our general

13:47revenues, specifically investment income was higher due to those rate hikes that we've seen.

13:55We also had significant savings in our compensation, totaling 5.6 million or 2.4%

14:02of our comp budget, really resulting from staff turnover and then longer vacancies because of the

14:09difficulty in placing and recruiting people, really notable pressures in our planning and

14:15building departments, and then our parks department as well. Corporately, there was also a surplus in

14:20our hydro, mainly due to sustained energy conservation and efficiency measures. All of these categories

14:28are under in-depth scrutiny as part of our 2024 budget development to right size any budgets that

14:33are no longer reflective of actual trends. Offsetting these savings, we experienced deficits

14:39in a few business lines, which can be seen in the attachment one to the report. Service demand plays

14:46a really large factor in most of these overages, especially as it relates to customers utilizing

14:52the services. Corporately, we also saw natural gas rates increase in 2022 due to global energy crisis

15:01and the scheduled rise in the carbon tax. Then we are seeing the rates starting to come down in

15:07Q1 of 23, but we're still above what we budgeted at 12% higher than what we budgeted. Also, a big

15:16factor in 2022 was the price of fuel, resulting in a deficit of $2.2 million. Corporately,

15:22is the average fuel price with 57% higher than what we budgeted last year. It is our job as staff to

15:29manage the varying impacts of each business that we deliver to find the right balance of budget

15:35approval, understanding that many factors are out of our control and the point-in-time estimates

15:42are based on our best information at the time. We have a robust reserve and reserve fund strategy

15:47that is used as financial risk management and to mitigate in-year when these varying impacts

15:54stack up against us without offsetting savings. In those years, we would be in front of council

15:59through budget monitoring reports describing these risks, the actions we're taking, and describing the

16:04planned use of reserves. Our business is large, diverse, complex, and the final result of just

16:11under 3%. This slide outlines the tax-supported surplus distribution, which provides $8.5 million

16:26to capital reserve funds and $2.8 million to operating contingency and specific purpose reserves,

16:31providing stability as we navigate through 2023 and 2024. We are experiencing pressures in both our

16:37operating contingency and capital reserves, so staff believe this is the most prudent option

16:41this year, even though we are not fully bringing the contingency reserves to target. Through the

16:4723 budget council did utilize $1.3 million of the surplus towards programs and one-time items,

16:56and so you can see that we are replenishing that through this recommendation. The city has formally

17:03received a request from the Gulf Police Service Board to transfer their surplus, $2.1 million,

17:10to the city's, it's a shared WSIB reserve, the Police Capital Reserve Fund, and then the Police

17:17Operating Contingency Reserve, and staff are in support of this request. We are working towards

17:24providing the boards more autonomy and ownership over risk management in our multi-year budget

17:29environment. Please note that the request from GPS does include an amount that's $260,000 above the

17:37council approved contingency reserve target in order to fund a proposed one-time program.

17:42More information will be coming to council directly at the end of this month from the

17:47GPS Board for your consideration. The transfer to the City Building Reserve Fund, the Growth Reserve

17:54Fund, and the Infrastructure Renewal Reserve Fund is recommended to inject one-time funds to help

17:58mitigate escalating inflation costs on the capital program. The allocation is based on the approved

18:042023 capital funding splits, and then further this will assist us in funding the growth revenue gap

18:11created from Bill 23 and paying for the infrastructure needed to support housing. The non-tax surplus

18:24and deficits related and the allocations are included on this slide. All of our non-tax supported

18:31businesses have financial models and reserve funds that are managed separate from the tax

18:35business, and as such the surplus and deficits are segregated accordingly and with stay within

18:40those business units. Parking services continues to have revenue shortfalls as the demand and

18:45service has changed, and you heard a lot of that from the the parking master plan education session

18:51earlier this year, and overall this deficit is recommended to be funded through the Safe Restart

18:57Operating Grant and Parking Contingency Reserve. The transfer of surplus from courts, water,

19:05wastewater, and storm water to the respective capital reserve funds is recommended to help close the

19:10funding gap for infrastructure renewal and growth pressures. The resulting reserve fund balances

19:16will be considered in the rate reviews that are currently underway and present and will be presented

19:20to Council later this year. The transfer surplus from building services to their operating contingency

19:26helps mitigate fluctuations in building permit revenue based on current conditions,

19:31similarly to the other rate reserves. The balance is then factored into permit pricing or other

19:38pricing into future years. So moving into our final report, all three reports kind of speak to each

19:49other in a bit of a cycle. So this is our long-term financial statement reserve and debt report.

19:56Well overall reserve fund actual balance is increased by 28 million during 2022,

20:04including the surplus allocation. Once you factor in budgeted commitments not yet incurred and the

20:12balance really is just increasing by six million overall, which is really positive,

20:20and so I'll talk about that in a bit, and while it really relates to the spending that we talked

20:25about, we're increasing our spending and we're spending that money, which means that we're not

20:29seeing that big jump up in our reserve funds, which is really good. There are a few takeaways that we

20:36wanted to highlight. The bottom row, which is not white but kind of dark at the bottom, is our

20:46tax-supported reserves. This category includes contingency as well as program-specific and

20:51strategic reserves. The balance in the corporate contingency group decreased by 2.8 million,

20:59and it's sitting at 72 percent of target right now, and is consistent with the council's use of

21:05these funds in 2022 and 2023 to reduce the tax rate and add some new programs on one-time basis.

21:13We'll continue to monitor the balance of those of that group. The increase in the white bar is

21:20mostly due to an increase of 4.9 million in the strategic reserve group related to the sale of

21:26property specifically in the Hanlon Creek Business Park. That reserve continues in a deficit position,

21:33but has been replenished really significantly this year, so really good news there. The green and

21:39yellow bars represent the tax and non-tax capital reserve funds. Together, these two groups have

21:47very similar balances at the end of 2022 compared with the year before, as you can see on the screen.

21:55However, once you factor in commitments, the tax and non-tax supported capital reserve decreased

22:02in 2022 by a combined 30.5 million, ending the year with about 65.8 overall, and the bulk of this

22:10really sitting in non-tax. We only have about 11 million in tax capital funds that are uncommitted

22:18at this point and available for contingency. The sufficiency of the ongoing tax supported

22:24transfers to capital reserve funds will be a focus area for the multi-year budget within the context

22:29of the high inflation and legislative changes and other council decisions that are being captured.

22:38And then finally, the orange bar at the top represents our obligatory reserves, which is

22:44our development charges and other statutory reserve funds like parkland dedication and

22:50grants such as our Canada Community Building Fund, or federal gas tax, as many of us are familiar with.

23:00The year-end balance in the oblige reserves grew throughout 22 by 23 million, which most of this

23:06increase is in the DC funds. The year-end commitments against DC reserves also decreased,

23:13which is really in line with the capitalization prioritization where we're really focused on

23:17infrastructure renewal priorities. So I think that's also very much expected in terms of our year-end

23:24results. And we should see with the updated 10-year capital plan, kind of the growth projects

23:33and those commitments coming back in. It is important to note that the uncommitted balance

23:38in the DC reserves, this is again, this is the actual, but you put the commitments in, the DCs

23:45are actually in a negative position of 31.8 million, and we have 73 million of DC debt on hand,

23:53which offsets that and why you're seeing the positive balance before you. Okay, so

24:05development charge reserve funds, this reserve report satisfies the legislative compliance requirements

24:11of the Treasurer through the disclosure of development charge activity for the year.

24:15These schedules are included in attachment two and three and will be submitted to the ministry

24:19and available on our website. The notable items here are the exemptions, DC exemptions, which

24:27totaled 6.9 million in 22 compared to 4.1 million in 21. That's a 68% increase year over year with

24:35the expanded exemptions provided under bill 23, which received royal assent, really only contributing

24:42to 580,000 of that number. So you'll see the bulk, it's a lot of the accessory units that's making

24:49up that exemption number. And we do have to make up those, those lost DCs. And so that's really

24:56when we talk about the growth strategy and bringing the increase to the growth transfer,

25:03it's really in alignment to paying for those exemptions. And we do expect that to continue

25:08to grow, especially with bill 23 and the changes before us. Interests earned on DC reserves also

25:17increased significantly year over year. As we saw those rate hikes at the Bank of Canada, and this

25:22really helped improve the rate of return and increased interest earned from 2.3 to 4.1 million

25:30specifically in this group of reserves. And DC collections stayed pretty close to the level

25:38seen in 21, while capital expenditures did decrease overall because of that prioritization

25:45work that I did previously speak about. Moving on to Parkland Dedication Payment in lieu, this

25:54report also meets the Planning Act legislative requirement for that reporting. And this, these

26:03findings are solely related to the dedication, Parkland Dedication Bylaw and not other forms of

26:08Parkland acquisition through subdivision. Collections in 22 totaled 2 million, which is approximately

26:17what we collected in 21. The city did not receive any conveyed land related to 2022.

26:23There were no acquisitions in 22, but the updated Parks and Rec Master Plan currently in progress

26:28will help inform the plan for utilizing these funds. Finally, we did want to add this new

26:39slide because this was our first year of collecting the new community benefit charge

26:44with council's approval of that bylaw in late 2022. And so one quarter, this represents one

26:53quarter from September to December 22 of collections totaling 454,000. And there's not yet any

27:02expenditures from this reserve fund. And we will be incorporating this new revenue stream into the

27:092024 budget to utilize those funds appropriately with the projects that were approved as part of

27:16the CBC study. And the last, the last piece of my presentation, we're going to talk about debt.

27:25So finally, as you know, in 2021, we issued debt totaling 49.1 million for the Baker District

27:34and Sothin Community Center projects, which was secured at a really great cost of only 1.92%.

27:43This is part of the reason why the debt servicing cost to own source revenue metric has

27:49kind of worsened there in 2022, because this was the first year we had the full principal

27:54and interest payment on that debt. In addition to this staff action to lump summary payment of the

28:00balance of a CBC loan that we had inherited as part of the Sleeman Center transaction many,

28:08many years ago, that was sitting at a significantly above market interest rate of over 6%. And so

28:15that was now paid off, which was financially beneficial overall to the city. In total, we

28:24repaid 14 million in debt and 3.2 million in interest with approximately half of that being DC

28:30funded. At the end of 2022, we have 124 million in total debt outstanding, which is well within

28:38our target ratios of less than 55% of direct debt to operating revenue and less than 10% for debt

28:45servicing cost to own source revenue. And so that with that is the summary of our 2022 position,

28:56and happy to take any questions. Great. Thank you very much, Ms. Baker and Mr. Lee. And we could

29:04also have titled this item on the agenda, Why Guelph has a AAA credit rating?

29:09Yeah. So we'll open it up to questions just before we start. I know sometimes we like to get the

29:15motion on the table. We're not going to do that right now because the motion is about

29:20where to transfer the surplus. And I want to open it up to questions about the overall

29:24presentation first, just so that we don't have to restrict discussion to the motion.

29:30Any questions about the overall presentation, Councillor Allt?

29:33Thank you very much. And thank you to Mr. Baker, Ms. Baker and Mr. Lee.

29:39I appreciate your comments about the 2.8% being something that we can use to offset next year.

29:49However, I want to be very careful on this as well. If we were to have people that were to ask

29:57us about that 2.8%, what would we be able to say? Would this be able to offset an entirety

30:04any potential excessive tax increases caused by bill 23, such as an impact on development charges

30:11and other revenue we might normally anticipate? Or are we still looking at the potential for

30:16a higher than what would have been a business as usual tax increase in the next coming year?

30:27So through the chair to Councillor Allt, we like to say our advice is that we find one time,

30:38so these are one time revenues, right? One time surplus money. And so we really encourage that

30:45matching principle of trying to find one time expenditures to utilize those funds. And so

30:52bill 23 is a great, great example, although those are going to be ongoing, I think you can do a lot to

30:58mitigate that impact in one year and spread it out. And so I mean, I would say it's still too

31:06early to say where we're sitting for 2024 to 27. But I mean, the projected forecast that was provided

31:14to Council in the last budget, we were sitting in that 6% range. And so there's still a lot of work

31:19to do. But yeah, these surpluses definitely can help us find ways to help reduce that impact and

31:31face pressures in overtime. Thank you. I just don't want anybody in the public to go away

31:37believing that we've solved any potential tax increases with a surplus from this year. Thank you.

31:44Councillor Busuttil. Thank you. And thank you to the staff for the presentation. I just said a

31:49question, I think it was slide number 11 about the community benefit charge. And I know it's just

31:55the four one quarter amount, but you mentioned the CBC project study and the projects approved in

32:02that study. Can you just kind of animate that for me? What kinds of projects those are?

32:08Sure. So through the chair to Councillor Busuttil, the community benefit charge is led to the projects

32:20that were included in that study are specific to projects that are needed in higher density areas

32:28to help create the amenities for those really dense areas. And so the projects we had included,

32:35I don't have them at the top of my head, but I know some of the parks in the downtown,

32:40specifically Wellington Park was included in that study. There was some transit,

32:45I believe transit amenity improvements. There was a number of things and we were trying to

32:49isolate at the time projects that were not captured within the DCs. But other pieces

32:59of our service delivery that we require and a lot of it in that downtown core where

33:07we were expecting the density. I can follow up and send the link after this meeting with the

33:12link of that study and it has the full project list in there. Great, thank you.

33:23Thank you very much, Chair Caron. I've got a couple of questions for staff. The first

33:27one is just to be sure that I understand. So through you, Chair, the slide that we

33:34put up in the receipt says the city closed 86 capital projects and returned a surplus of $6.4

33:40million back to the reserve. So does that mean the projects were completed under budget? And the

33:47reason I ask is there's a lot of scrutiny when projects are over budget. So I'd like to know,

33:51I mean, is this a good news story that we should be offering our congratulations for?

33:57So through the Chair to Councillor Oror, yes, so that's a mix. There is definitely

34:03that a good proportion of that, our projects that came in under budget and those were closed and

34:09the money was returned to reserves. And in some cases they were also administrative project reductions

34:19where parts of projects were incorporated into other projects and not the full amount of that

34:25funding was required, efficiencies created. And so again, you'd see the closure of those projects

34:32and the money returned to the source so we can then apply it to the next budget.

34:36That's great news. Thanks very much. Through you, Chair Caron, to Ms. Baker,

34:43can you remind me what the policy is for interest that's earned on the reserves?

34:48So that's a significant amount. Does that go back to that particular reserve? Does it go back

34:52operations? Where does that go? I'm sure. So through the Chair, our reserve fund policy,

35:00specifically for interest, there's a number of our reserve funds that are,

35:05that as part of policy earn interest. And so each year based on the average balance of that

35:13reserve fund, it's mostly the reserve funds, the capital and our obligatory reserve funds that

35:18earn interest. We then take our portfolio of investment earned and based on the rate of return

35:26earn, we apply that interest to the reserve funds based on the average balance in that year.

35:33And so that interest is then available in the next year for then application to the capital

35:42program. So it's an extra stream of revenue. And so in the years like we've had, that's

35:47absolutely a significant benefit. And we'll be capturing that as we're doing our updated forecast

35:56given the rates that we're experiencing right now. Great. So then when we draw down those

36:03reserves for big capital projects like the South End Rec Center or big expenditures,

36:07we should see those interest rates or the return on those investments probably come down as well,

36:12right? We can't bank on that type of investment return. So through the Chair,

36:20yes. So we can't bank on them. And so as we start spending those reserve funds too,

36:26because it's based on the average balance, then our investment portfolio as a whole is declining.

36:32The rate of return should stay relatively the same or hopefully we'll see it increasing. I mean,

36:37it lags the market conditions because of the longer term nature of some of our investments.

36:42And that's a hedging mechanism, which is good. And so we still should see the rate of returns

36:50escalate in the next couple of years lagging behind the market rates today. But then we'll see that

36:56lag, that decline. When things start to decline, we'll see that lag as well. So we factor that into

37:02our projections through the forecast. Thank you. And through you, Chair Kron, I've got a couple

37:07questions about water, wastewater, and stormwater. So I thought that the reserves for water, wastewater,

37:18and stormwater were already at 100%. So can you help me understand why we would then be

37:24transferring more from this year's surplus into those capital reserves? I understand we've just

37:31accepted master plans and there's a lot of growth. But my concern is, are we collecting more than we

37:38can spend for water, wastewater, stormwater? Are we collecting too much on rate? And

37:47how do we know that we're not collecting too much on rate? So through Chair Kron,

37:58I would say, so first and foremost, we're not collecting too much. The long-term capital plan

38:09for those three service areas, water, wastewater, storm are quite significant. And so part of our

38:16long-term strategy is to over time manage that over the long term. So you're not seeing rate

38:23increases in any given year. So I would say we're certainly not over collecting. All of that has a

38:29purpose. Specifically with the targets on those capital reserves and the comment about that the

38:39reserves are sufficient, we have those targets do need to be reviewed and we are reviewing them

38:49in this year as we're going through the studies is that they've been really focused, those

38:57water, wastewater, storm on infrastructure renewal targets. But we use those reserve funds also for

39:03growth requirements. We use those reserve funds for energy efficiency and service enhancement as

39:13well. And so we need those targets to capture the full amount of what is being included in those

39:18rates. And so part of the work that we're doing this year is to look at those targets and ensure

39:23that we are bringing those back, like making them reflective of what's actually happening. And so

39:29you'll see that as part of when we bring back the rate model and the long-term financial plan

39:35for water, wastewater. And my last question, Chair Kron, is do we have trend data? And I know COVID's

39:43terrible comparator and it's right in the middle of sort of an ability to take a look at trends.

39:48But do we have an ability to look at surpluses by service area over the last five years? So are

39:57there areas that are consistently having surpluses? And I understand like there were, you know,

40:04issues with the labor market and there were issues in supply chains. So I understand all those

40:08things. But are there areas where there's sort of structural rather than situational surpluses?

40:14And is it possible for Council to have that information to consider as part of the multi-year

40:19budget preparation? So through the Chair to Councillor O'Rourke, we absolutely have that information.

40:29We've actually started already for the development of this budget, that structural review,

40:36essentially making sure that business has changed a lot over the last three years,

40:39especially with the pandemic, to take a look at those trends. And so we can include that in the

40:46package and the materials as we're releasing the 2024 budget as a bit of background material,

40:53if that would be helpful. Thanks very much. Thanks, Madam Chair.

40:58Any other general questions about the presentations?

41:00Councillor Katelyn. Thank you. Through you, Chair. So I appreciate the need to be cautious for

41:09reserve, especially in lieu of Bill 23, reducing our ability to fund infrastructure through

41:14development fees. So I'm glad you mentioned that. I was just wondering, and I know you'd said that

41:20there's going to be a presentation later on in the month, but I'm just curious,

41:24do you know what the extra police reserve requests to support?

41:33So through the Chair, I believe that, I don't know a lot. I know that it's related to the downtown,

41:41specifically some extra work in the downtown, and maybe I would request possibly if one of the

41:47board members would like to speak more, that sit on the Gulf Police Board. Madam Chair,

41:55is that okay if I respond? Thank you. Through you, and thank you, Councillor Allf

42:00for pointing at me when our CFO, so maybe one of them wants to answer. Yes, our CFO is correct.

42:10There has been a request to do a pilot project of two officers dedicated to the downtown,

42:19and the board and the chief and the senior leadership team is looking to collect data now

42:28over the rest of this year through the deployment of those two officers

42:32dedicated to the downtown to see whether or not there's justification moving into the multi-year

42:37budget. Through you, Chair, follow-up question. How is that different from the downtown ambassador

42:47program that we just approved funding for? Yeah, through you, Madam Chair. So that's

42:59called the Welcoming Streets program, and so yes, that's grown from, well, nothing to now three that

43:06we are supporting as a council, and so there's three of those on the more social services side

43:12of things, but then on the enforcement side of things, the police have felt that there's some

43:20relevance to have two officers dedicated at this time and to collect that data. I hope that helps.

43:28Yeah, thank you. Councillor Gibson. Thank you, through you, Chair Caron. I have to jump over

43:38from screen to screen there. Thanks for the presentation, Ms. Baker and Mr. Lee. I appreciate

43:44very much. I just had a couple of questions to build on Councillor O'Rourke's comments.

43:51The, I guess it's item I, no, item M and OMP recommendations, and there are the surplus

43:59transfers to various water, wastewater, stormwater files. Those are primarily utility-based

44:07surpluses, I understand that, but in our cap, in our budgets for those utilities, do we not already

44:13budget for a reserve transfer? It's surplus in excess of already sort of anticipated reserve

44:24transfers within year. I can't remember. I haven't looked at the budget in a while, but I seem to

44:29recall that in our budget, we actually do budget for some transfer to the reserve funds for

44:35infrastructure and also is this above and beyond those reserve transfers that are already budgeted

44:40for? So, through the Chair, Councillor Gibson, yes, yes, these are above and beyond the transfers

44:46budgeted. Okay. And so, speaking again to Councillor O'Rourke, we are close to 100% on those reserves.

44:53We're adding $3.4 million more into those reserves. Will staff take that into context when we are

45:00setting the pace of the, say, the stormwater infrastructure renewal levy that we've placed

45:06on the community? Is that something that we is going to allow us to revisit that this year in

45:11terms of our pace? Through the, through the Chair to Councillor Gibson. So, we are, we're

45:20actually undergoing right now a rate study. You'll be seeing an information report come to you in

45:26September that talks about the structure of the rate study to make sure that we are providing the

45:33right lens to it to make sure that we're doing best practices. So, that information report will

45:39be coming in September. And then from there, we'll be working with finance again, as Ms. Baker has

45:45mentioned, making sure that we're, we have the right targets for those, for those reserves and to

45:50make sure that the rates are set appropriately. Okay. Thank you. I maybe just one, one more comment

45:58on that then. It's very hard, not just politically, but visually, optically in the community to be

46:03taking reserve funds out of water, stormwater, wastewater for other causes in the future. So,

46:09I'll just speak my, I'm a little nervous about putting this money into that reserve right away,

46:14not knowing the demand yet, because it's optically is very hard to ever pull it back out just,

46:20just for the record. That being said, I'll support the recommendation. The second question I had was

46:25on the infrastructure renewal reserve, $4.5 million. And I'm assuming in addition to the

46:32reserve transfers that we've already made for the year, I know we're doing strategic planning,

46:38and I know staff have their work plan, but do our staff open to council weighing in on,

46:46on priorities that perhaps would be good use of that, those funds, $4.5 million, that I'm assuming

46:52those are sort of infrastructure renewal, but also one time capital costs. I know that we missed,

46:57we missed some things on the last budget. I'll just, for example, the bike skills facility or

47:01a new skate park or things, we missed those things. We purposely delayed them because of

47:06tax pressures. And now that we've got this $4.5 million in additional

47:11surplus, is there an opportunity for council to weigh in and sort of ask staff to go look at some

47:15things? So, through, through our chair to Councillor Gibson, I would say it's the staff

47:27recommendation that this money is allocated to the infrastructure renewal reserve fund

47:34through the 23 budget. There was a reduction in that capital transfer, and that included

47:43with the, the projects that have been deferred, and you can see the attached list there in Appendix

47:50three or attachment three to the report. We have, in addition then to the master plans and all the,

47:57the additional infrastructure that's going to be required. I would recommend it as our

48:02professional advice that, that the funding goes to that reserve fund and we'll be allocating it

48:10and likely fully allocating it in the next, in the proposed budget that you'll see this fall.

48:20Okay. Any further questions, general questions? Councillor Billings.

48:26Um, this is under the operation variance report. And the one thing that kind of jumped out was

48:38under, under fire, the negative variance. And it's, and it stated that it was mostly due to

48:45overtime. So, I was just wondering a couple questions. I'm thinking of another specific

48:51emergency services budget where overtime is already built within the budget. So, I'm assuming,

48:57I don't want to assume that this is over and above what was already in the budget for overtime.

49:01So, that would be my first question. Through the chair to Councillor Billings, I can confirm that,

49:09yes, there is an existing overtime budget within fire. This is over and above the existing overtime

49:14budget. And we've taken a number of steps to look at the root cause analysis of where that

49:20overtime is coming from to make sure that we need to address it going into the 2024 to 2027

49:26multi-year budget. Okay. And then so through you, Madam Chair, would one of the pressures

49:32do you have anything to do with like legislation or, or no? Through the chair to Councillor

49:39Billings. That's certainly one of the many things that we're looking at to see what that

49:42root cause is of the overtime. Okay. Thank you, Colleen. Great. No further general questions.

49:51I have one quick one. Our staff already working on a new DC bylaw. And when will the new DC bylaw

49:57be brought to council? So, to Chair Caron, the DC bylaw is underway. We've had a one-pure review

50:10stakeholder meeting. The second one's coming up next week. And it will be before council in draft

50:16form at the end of June within the final approval in October is the plan. We have four recommendations

50:26on the agenda. I'm going to ask for a mover for recommendation one only, only because there's

50:3219 clauses to that. And I think let's do that one first. So, Councillor Allt, moving seconder for

50:39that. Mayor Guthrie, thank you. Any questions, comments on recommendation one and its 19 clauses?

50:49Councillor Downer. Just, you know, I will, this is just an addition. It's not an anything

50:55particularly in front of us, though I'm always impressed at how our staff manage the city finances.

51:01I have to say that. And every report that comes forward. So, kudos to, you know, it's amazing

51:09the position that we're in given this the times are in. What I did want to say is that at the end

51:15of the month, when this comes to council, I anticipate having a motion regarding in response

51:22to bill 23 around heritage, a one-time funding. So, and I've talked to Ms. Baker and Ms. Walke

51:30about this and but I want to get more information gathered before I bring that forward. So just

51:34putting everybody on notice around that. Okay. Thanks for the heads up. We'll see that at council

51:39at the end of the month then. Okay. We'll call the vote on recommendation one, clauses A through S.

51:45Is there anyone against? None that motion carries. So recommendation under 4.1.2,

51:54the monitoring report. We have two recommendations there. Councillor Allt would like to speak to

52:01it. Let's get a seconder. Seconder, Councillor O'Rourke and questions or comments about recommendation

52:07two. Thank you very much. It's a very quick comment and that's with regards to clause two,

52:12375,000 be approved for wildlife protection. I was having the extreme pleasure of gathering

52:21garbage out in that area on Saturday in the pouring rain. And there were a number of people

52:27from that area who were just over the moon, what the city is doing in that area to protect the

52:32turtles that are arguably an endangered species in that area. They will be thrilled that we are

52:38actually taking some concrete action. Thank you. And Councillor O'Rourke.

52:44Thank you, through you, Chair Caron. Just a quick question on a specific piece in one of the

52:48attachments. So that capital prioritizations got the Gordon Street improvements decreasing by 1.68

52:55million. And then moving further, is that just a timing question that it was in this year's capital

53:02budget and it's been shifted out because of the timeline? So through the chair, yes, a majority

53:09of most of those shifts is about timing and the staff capacity and just the right sequencing

53:16related to those projects. Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks. No further questions or comments. I will

53:24call the vote on these two recommendations. Anyone opposed? Seeing no opposition. Those two motions

53:32are carried. Moving on to our long-term financial statement, reserves and debts. We have one

53:37recommendation there moved by Councillor Allt. Let's make it a and Mayor Guthrie. Any comments

53:44on that? Seeing none, I'll call the vote. All in all again, all opposed. That then carries.

53:55We're into service area chair and announcements DCAO Lee any announcements? That's a no. Then this

54:02portion of committee the whole is concluded. We'll go offline for about two to three minutes

54:09while we research public services. Thanks everyone. Okay, I'm going to call the meeting back to order

56:59for the public services section. And there's only one item on this and that's regarding the e-scooters

57:07a motion that Councillor Goller was bringing forward. So I'm going to have Councillor Goller

57:14to speak to this item first and then we'll have the one delegation that we have and then we'll put

57:20the motion on the floor for discussion. Thank you. Through you chair, I would like to move a motion.

57:29If you could wait for the motion until after the delegation, but if you could just speak to it now

57:33to create some kind of a context for the delegation. Thank you for that clarification chair. I intend

57:40to to move a motion that direct staff to come forward with a bylaw that would

57:48allow the use of private e scooters in the city of wealth. At present, there is a provincial

57:54pilot and unless municipalities have approved bylaws allowing the use of e scooters within

58:02municipalities, they are forbidden. So with the increase of community members using e scooters,

58:09I think it would be beneficial for the city of wealth to get ahead of this,

58:14make them permissible and set clear rules about where and where they're not supposed to be used,

58:20speed limits, so we can regulate and monitor and then as per the terms of the provincial pilot,

58:28the only other responsibility for the city would be to request that police services

58:34provide information to the province relating to to e scooters between now and the end of the pilot

58:42at the end of 2024. Okay, thank you. So we're going to go to our delegation first.

58:50If Adrian Salvatore could come forward. Thank you. And he's speaking from the

58:58wealth coalition for active transportation. Good afternoon esteemed members of council,

59:10respected staff and my fellow members of the public. My name is Adrian Salvatore and I'm here

59:14today in my capacity as the vice chair for the wealth coalition for active transportation.

59:20We are strongly in support of this motion to permit e scooters in our community.

59:27As our organization's mission is to increase the quality, quantity and safety of active

59:32transportation infrastructure in wealth. We consider e scooters a valuable part of the

59:39active transportation family and we welcome them. While engaging with our members and the community,

59:45we heard of many interesting and novel uses for e scooters. The high degree of portability

59:51means that e scooter owners are more comfortable taking their scooters to work where they can

59:56store them indoors. Bike theft is a great concern for many cyclists and e scooters

1:00:03completely get rid of this issue. Others mentioned the portability of e scooters as it allows them to

1:00:10use it as sort of a last mile solution where they can put it in the trunk, take the car to the

1:00:15car park and then use the e scooter to get to their destination. The idea is further supported by

1:00:23Ottawa's 2022 electric kick scooter pilot report where nearly a third of respondents indicated

1:00:29that the most common reason for using a shared e scooter was to connect to another mode.

1:00:36We have no doubts that these and other use cases will increase the utilization

1:00:40of our active transportation infrastructure and support the city's mode shift goals.

1:00:46With it bringing the environmental benefits such as reduced pollution, alleviating traffic

1:00:51and creating less waste. Permitting e scooters will also help us work towards our equity goals

1:00:57in the transportation master plan. It provides an option for individuals who may not have access

1:01:02to a personal vehicle and whose trip may not well be served by transit. The cost of ownership of

1:01:08e scooters is significantly lower than private vehicles and thus may provide an option to those

1:01:13with financial barriers. Ultimately we see e scooters as another transportation alternative

1:01:19that will provide choice to our neighbors and allow them to meet their transportation needs

1:01:23in more economical and sustainable ways. They're also quite fun to ride. That point should not

1:01:29be overlooked. The same 2022 e scooter pilot report from Ottawa when e scooter users were

1:01:36surveyed on why they chose an e scooter over another mode. The most common response is included

1:01:41that e scooters were fun. We should aim to make getting around our lovely city enjoyable.

1:01:47Though we recognize there are some concerns with these scooters namely sidewalk clutter

1:01:52with personal use we don't perceive this to be a concern. Moreover in conversations we've had

1:01:57with cyclists the vast majority of our current e scooter users on the road are courteous and

1:02:02respectful. To summarize we strongly support this motion and hope that council seriously

1:02:07considers moving towards permitting personal e scooters here in Guelph. Thank you Councillor

1:02:12Guller for bringing the motion forward and thank you all for your time. Thank you. Are there any

1:02:16questions of the delegation first to a councillor Allt and then councillor work? Thank you very much

1:02:23Mr Salvatore. I'm going to treat you like an expert because I think you are. Are there areas

1:02:29where you believe e scooters should not be used and you made some reference to sidewalks? I'm

1:02:35very concerned about bikes, e scooters, anything like that on a sidewalk because I've heard from

1:02:39too many people that they are fearful of them. I was wondering if you could comment on that as

1:02:43somewhat of an expert. For sure thank you for the question. Now my understanding actually of the

1:02:48provincial pilot is in Ontario that the e scooters are not permitted on sidewalks and of course

1:02:53in close proximity with pedestrians that I see as potentially an issue. Most of our e scooter

1:02:59riders who are currently on the road right now are using the cycling infrastructure where they're

1:03:03at comparable speeds to bicycles I believe limited to 28k an hour so I don't perceive any issue with

1:03:09that. Just to follow up thank you for that by the way. The other concern is I know I'd be tempted

1:03:16to do this. What about trails in parks and similar? On that I believe it best to defer to

1:03:26whatever staff investigation turns up. Okay we'll do that thank you. Thank you councillor work.

1:03:33Thank you chair downer. I have a similar question so through you to Mr Salvatore.

1:03:38So we're moving towards multi-use paths or cycle paths so I was wondering what the

1:03:44the preventions are in terms of conflict with pedestrians or younger cyclists or people with

1:03:52you know less mobility especially as we move towards our AAA facilities. I'm just wondering

1:03:56if you have any research that points to how that works on a multi-use path. For sure thank you for

1:04:03the question. I believe in most cases actually e scooter riders are recommended to keep their

1:04:09speed when in proximity of pedestrians to a pedestrian speed and I think something like

1:04:14that would be a good solution in multi-use paths here. A lot of it comes down to education and I

1:04:19believe the motion as it will be put forward addresses some of that with the Guelph police

1:04:23services as well. Perfect thanks. Are there any more questions? Okay thank you Mr Salvatore.

1:04:30Thank you. Okay councillor Goller do you want to put your motion on the floor with a seconder?

1:04:35If I may a chair downer I would like to move my motion. I believe that councillor

1:04:41Ault will be happy to second and if I could have staff to put it up there's three parts to this.

1:04:48First part is that staff be directed to bring a report and draft by law or by law amendment to

1:04:55the traffic by law to the July 5th 2023 committee of the whole meeting to permit the operation of

1:05:00personal use e scooters meeting all provincially required conditions and regulations and including

1:05:06any other recommended conditions. With this one the word is a little bit it's open because we can

1:05:12either move a by-law that talks about this or we can modify the city's transportation by-law so

1:05:17we'll traffic by-law so we'll let staff choose which is the best approach. The second part of

1:05:24this motion is that due to the provincial e scooter pilot and you know in January 1st 2025 and the

1:05:29opportunity to regulate e scooters in 2023 City Council acknowledges that the city will not undertake

1:05:36the normal public consultation. City Council encourages the public to provide feedback to

1:05:42council directly and to delegate to the July committee of the whole or City Council meetings

1:05:49and the third item that City Council requests that wealth police services provide input into

1:05:55the July staff report related to enforcement of the proposed by-law impacts for provincial

1:06:00reporting requirements concerning crash data and recommendations regarding an e scooter public

1:06:06education campaign. Thank you are there any questions? I'll just start at Councillor Bousatel and then I saw

1:06:16Councillor Caron. Okay thank you and through the chair I'm a little bit confused around

1:06:24normal public consultation if I can have a clarification on what that really means is there

1:06:30a requirement legislative anything around the consultation in this process and I guess my

1:06:37concern is July is summertime kids are winding down people aren't paying attention just around what

1:06:42exactly is what what does that mean what is not happening. So through the chair to Councillor Bousatel

1:06:48we will not be doing any public consultation on this in order to deliver this back to you by July

1:06:53so normally for a new by-law like this there would be we would either consider sometimes

1:06:58working groups if there's interested stakeholders we would do some form of public consultation

1:07:04in line with our community engagement framework and we will not be doing any

1:07:10surveying public consultation we won't be doing a have your say we won't be looking for public

1:07:15feedback on this simply because we don't have time. Assuming this is ratified at the end of May

1:07:2131st our agenda is due roughly June 15th for in order for you to consider it in July so and

1:07:28because we can't take action until the end of the month when this is ratified we only really

1:07:33have two weeks to produce the by-law and get it back on the agenda for July so that simply means

1:07:39that as Councillor Gowley's motion indicates the sole time for the public to engage back and give

1:07:43you through the city or yourself's feedback would be at that July committee the whole meeting.

1:07:48Thank you and through the chair I guess to the mover and seconder my question is is what's the

1:07:54rush in this I as someone who's deeply committed to public engagement and consultation I don't

1:08:00understand that it's it feels like you know Solomon's choice. Caps will go I would like to

1:08:07respond to that. Thank you and through chair downer to Councillor Busuttil very fair question

1:08:13my concern here is that to do adequate public engagement on this it would be a process that

1:08:20may take six months to two a year and in this case as the provincial pilot will only last until

1:08:28the end of next year we would be sending staff to do a substantial amount of work

1:08:35for what would be in place for a relatively short period of time and then starting in 2025

1:08:42there will be province-wide guidelines that will trump what what we come up with here at the city.

1:08:49My other reason for this is that they are being used I'm receiving now complaints from constituents

1:08:55who say that someone in an e-scooter flew past them on the multi-use path and I think that we have

1:09:02the option to either speak to police services and request enforcement that these be not be allowed

1:09:09in the city but then that goes counter to our intentions to increase forms of active transportation

1:09:16so in this way we can look at what the other municipalities that already have a violent

1:09:22place what they have done look at those best practices that they have selected and put something

1:09:29in place on a temporary basis. My my intention here is that we don't lose this year to have a

1:09:37awareness campaign of you know you should be going at this speed don't use them here use them here

1:09:43and we would be able to curb unwanted use sooner this way. Thank you for the explanation.

1:09:55Thank you and I've got Councillor Caron next. Actually my question was similar to Councillor

1:10:02Bousatil it was about the consultation I actually have a very minor friendly amendment and that

1:10:07is to change the word consultation to pre-consultation and the reason for that is we're doing consultation

1:10:13on the potential to bring forward a bylaw. I don't want that to preclude us from doing consultation

1:10:21on the effectiveness of the bylaw after the fact because we may want to feed into the the pilot

1:10:28project the provincial pilot project we we want to assess the success of the bylaw after we've

1:10:35had a period to test it so if you could I would amend the word to pre-consultation if I have a

1:10:42seconder and that's just to give clarity so that we we don't end up in a situation where

1:10:47we're letting the public know that you won't have an opportunity to comment at a later date.

1:10:56Under item two we'll not undertake the normal public pre-consultation and that is that is

1:11:03just related to the development of the bylaw only and I think I believe DCAO Clackbush has

1:11:10some comments. Thank you through the chair allowing me to jump in so I just wanted to also

1:11:16clarify the provincial pilot is a five-year pilot and we're three almost three and a half years in

1:11:21so the amount of feedback that we are going to be able to provide will be very limited. We opted

1:11:26not to to participate in the pilot as and I will speak certainly Ms. Holmes can comment further.

1:11:33We absolutely support and agree that e-scooters long term as part of our active transportation

1:11:38goal staff do not disagree with that but we made the decision not to bring it forward to participate

1:11:43in the pilot simply due to staff resources and our ability to to do the pilot and to participate in

1:11:48it and certainly even what we'll bring back in July will probably be a fairly narrow bylaw

1:11:54permitting this simply because we don't have the staff resources to to allocate and we only

1:12:00will have in essence a year and a half left in the provincial pilot and so this will be a very

1:12:05minimal it will be a opt-in with limited ability of staff to really provide much feedback to the

1:12:13province both because of our resourcing capabilities and because we really are at the end of the

1:12:18provincial pilot and we fully expect that they will likely either legalize it as of January 1st

1:12:232025 or not and that that will be decided for us one way the other January 2025 so I just didn't

1:12:29want to leave council with the impression that we have the capacity to do a specific amount of

1:12:33community engagement we would simply be bringing this bylaw in subject to your approval of course

1:12:39in July and then letting it ride out for those remaining 18 months of the provincial pilot.

1:12:44Okay thank you so we have the amendment on the floor with a seconded by Councillor Allt.

1:12:49Are there any questions on the amendment? Is there any comments on the amendment?

1:12:57Seeing none is there any one I'll call the vote is anybody opposed to the amendment?

1:13:03I see none okay so we can go back to the main motion and I have Councillor Claasen,

1:13:10Ault and Kate next okay thank you through you chair downer to staff I just had a question

1:13:17because I know that you worked with Councillor Goller on this motion was there any consideration

1:13:22for e-skateboards just because this is something that I've seen and I know that this is very

1:13:27specific to the scooters but I'm wondering if there's no I'm seeing you shake your head.

1:13:33No through the chair this was simply in response to Councillor Goller's request about e-scooters

1:13:39I would hope and suggest that when the province looks at this broader that they will give us

1:13:43clear direction on all e-modes of transportation because I think you know e-bikes that are motorized

1:13:51as opposed to pedal assist e-scooters e-skateboards there's a number of different e-things and I

1:13:58think we'll see more and more of them and so I'm certainly hopeful that the province will give us

1:14:02some clear direction because ultimately the province is in charge of the Highway Traffic

1:14:05Act and generally is responsible for telling us what vehicles are allowed on roads.

1:14:12Okay thank you.

1:14:15Would there be any benefit to adding e-skateboards into the motion for folks who already

1:14:22are potentially doing it? I would just say except it's not part of the pilot so it would be kind

1:14:33of contrary. Okay thank you. Yeah but something that we should consider again. Okay is that what

1:14:41you were going to say Councillor Goller? Okay then I would I have Councillor Alton.

1:14:47Thank you very much Chair Downer. I wanted to reinforce what Councillor Goller was stating

1:14:54and also to make a comment about the e-scooters because originally I was inclined to do that

1:14:58but then I realized when I was looking more closely that the e essentially covers anything and I'm

1:15:04ecstatic about that so I think that we can move forward recognizing that other than hoverboards

1:15:10we're going to catch everything on this but more importantly I think what we need to recognize is

1:15:15that that we're trying to be both future ready and at the same time we're catching up to the

1:15:19technology and the demand that is currently out there. We are receiving complaints. I've received

1:15:26a number of them and it's primarily from people that are very concerned for their safety as they

1:15:31get buzzed. I think we do need to be forward thinking and very safety-minded. Good on the province

1:15:38for looking at this. I think it's an inevitability because not only is it a mode of transportation

1:15:44that's environmentally friendly it's also a business and we have whether I like it or not and I like

1:15:51the business side of it. We have a provincial government that at this point is all business.

1:16:00Thank you Councillor Caden. Thank you through you Chair Downer. I agree with all of the points

1:16:07that have been put forward as to how e-scooters are like dark current and if not future in terms of

1:16:15transportation. I also agree that sidewalk accessibility is very important so I wanted to

1:16:21make sure that that is something that we're deeply considering when we make these policies

1:16:26but I also had a group of folks who are contacting me about children on e-scooters saying that the

1:16:32roads and the bike lanes are not safe enough for them to be on within a certain age group so I just

1:16:38kind of wanted to call that out and hope that we're keeping that into consideration because I don't

1:16:43want to trade harm for harm with thinking like people thinking they're five-year-olds on their

1:16:48little razor scooters have to go on the street when they could be on the sidewalk if there's no

1:16:54people on it. Okay thank you so Councillor Warp did you and Mayor Guthrie do you have comments

1:17:04questions? Thank you Chair Downer just a couple questions for staff. I'm just wondering what the

1:17:11staff capacity is to do this sort of within six weeks basically and also whether Gulf

1:17:17police have already indicated that they also are ready to collaborate over the next six weeks that's

1:17:22really fast turnaround for bylaw. So through the chair I'll start and then I'll pass it to Ms. Holmes

1:17:29so we're definitely concerned because it isn't actually six weeks because we can't act on this

1:17:33until after May 31st because we have to wait till council ratifies it on May 31st because we can't

1:17:37assume you're going to ratified at the end of the month so procedurally we actually can't take action

1:17:42until June the 1st so we understood and we worked with Councillor Goller and we committed to the

1:17:48two-week turnaround but I will be honest it's not going to be we're going to pull a bylaw together

1:17:54using what we've seen in other municipalities and other best practices to bring back to you.

1:17:59I did have an initial conversation with Chief Kobe to let him know that this was on the agenda

1:18:04but beyond that I don't want to speak for him I would imagine he will provide us content for

1:18:09the report that comes back to you also if they have concerns about their capacity because they're

1:18:13going to have to deal with some of the reporting on the crash data so there's the initial work on

1:18:18the two weeks to get you the report in time for the consideration in July but then I think there's

1:18:23also what our police services and our traffic team are going to need to then do to actually manage

1:18:28the bylaw so I'll turn to Ms Holmes to maybe speak more on that. Thank you so through the chair to

1:18:33Councillor Work so when we have a request like this that come in there are obviously staff resource

1:18:41concerns so we are going to have to pull staff off of things that they are working on now in order

1:18:46to put a rush and make this report a priority to make sure that we're trying to incorporate everything

1:18:52we can so that you have a full sum report to look at in July so we'll be working on that I also

1:19:00wanted to point out as well further to Ms Clackbush when she was talking about the resources to

1:19:06manage this afterwards just for warning that in the report again we do not have a staff resource to

1:19:11look or to manage a program like this as we go through the the province's pilot there are reporting

1:19:20requirements for which we have nobody right now in place to manage so until such time that we can

1:19:27get to you I presume through the multi-year budget where we're going to be asking for a resource that

1:19:33by the way has been presented in the last two years and hasn't been hasn't been approved we will have

1:19:39to pull staff off existing work in order to be able to manage this but we will flush that out as

1:19:45best we can in the report that comes to you in July. Okay thanks I appreciate your candor chair downer

1:19:51through you to staff I've got two more questions one is I think the legislation is uh teenagers

1:19:58for kids 16 and under have to wear a bike helmet right so I'm just thinking about the broader public

1:20:06health implications also so will the bylaw be parallel to that to to require riders under the

1:20:12age of 16 to wear helmets? So through the chair to councillor work yes that's one of the sort of

1:20:19preliminary and when we've done so our initial thinking and looking at other jurisdictions

1:20:23I will say and hopefully chief Kobe doesn't mind me sharing this one of his initial responses which

1:20:28is why working with councillor goller we added in the piece I think about the education campaign is

1:20:32chief Kobe's concern was right now it's not legal by making it legal they feel that there is a need

1:20:39to make sure that they are educating about risks for under children helmets etc because by making it

1:20:47legal in Guelph they want to make sure that we haven't sort of encouraged things that could be

1:20:52seen as unsafe so again that was just based on a really preliminary verbal conversation I had with

1:20:56chief Kobe but that's one of the reasons why I know they want to have the opportunity to provide

1:21:02feedback into the report so that they can speak to those safety concerns as well. Thanks and then

1:21:07just a comment I guess because I really like the intent and the motion especially if we harmonize

1:21:15it with surrounding municipalities because we've got the two way all they go so somebody at the

1:21:20Kitchener can zip over to their train station carry it onto the go and we fix that last mile

1:21:26problem so I quite like that I just want to make sure that it's done in a way that's safe right thanks.

1:21:33Okay thank you so I was going to Mayor Guthrie next but Councillor Gowley you have an answer to

1:21:40an additional comment if we could just if you could. Mayor Chair Downer just so that we're on

1:21:46on the same page today according to the province whatever we approve riders must be at least 16

1:21:54years old and they have to wear a helmet if they're under 18 so anyone 16 or 17 will have to wear a

1:22:01helmet anyone under 16 will not be allowed so we can we have to follow the provincial guidelines

1:22:08so just to clarify that. Okay thank you Mayor Guthrie. Okay are there any more questions than before

1:22:18okay comment. Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair through you yeah I just before you call the

1:22:25vote I just think this is I think this is great I will say that I'm disappointed that we're not

1:22:33moving to an opportunity for ride share program I did just come back from Denver on a conference

1:22:39there and I talked to so many Denverites I don't know if that's what they're called but

1:22:46who absolutely adore them they weren't scattered all over the place I talked to actually the company

1:22:53that provided them because they had vans at night and during the day that would go out and

1:22:57and take care of them and people absolutely adored them I think private use is our first step

1:23:05Madam Chair but we need we we are behind like we are behind we should not have said no

1:23:13to this a few years ago we we look at all the surrounding communities that are already way

1:23:18ahead of us on this and you know who's ahead of us on this the citizens they're already doing it

1:23:25so this is going to bring them into compliance which is part of our role here to bring people

1:23:29into compliance and under the regulations that they should we should have in place for safety

1:23:34and other considerations as well so I really do hope that this comes together and and we get some

1:23:39good data from the private use but I really hope that we have a conversation soon about other

1:23:45rideshare programs both e scooter and bicycle for that last mile and we I know that there's

1:23:51lots of companies that would love to do an RFP for our city because I've been asked by many of them

1:23:57over the last few years and it costs us zero dollars zero they handle it all and and it's

1:24:07another way of people being able to get around in an environmentally and cost effective way

1:24:13so I really hope this is our first step madam chair as we go on to other steps

1:24:17in the future as well I think we we need to catch up are there any other comments

1:24:26questions comments okay I'll call the vote is there anyone opposed that carries okay I have no

1:24:36announcements are there any staff announcements was there an issue okay I don't believe there's

1:24:53any staff announcements there so thank you everyone that's the conclusion of our committee of the whole

1:25:00I'd be our Guthrie moves adjournment seconder councillor classon does anybody opposed no thank you

1:25:10we are adjourned