Committee of the Whole

10:15Good afternoon everyone. It is just after one o'clock. It is June the third, 2025. Welcome to our

10:21committee of the whole meeting. And right off the top, we are looking to move into a closed

10:27session of council on a few items. First of all, before calling those out, is there anyone with

10:34any disclosure, pecuniary interest, any general nature thereof for those items? I don't hear

10:41or see anyone there. I do have formal regrets from Councillor Caron just to put that on the record.

10:50And so the first one is ERM implementation phase one, section 2393.1 of the municipal act. Regarding

10:58a meeting held for the purpose of educating or training the members, orientation, education,

11:02and training sessions included information relating to the enterprise risk management phase one.

11:10The second one is handling Creek Business Park, section 2393C of the municipal act regarding

11:17a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board.

11:23And the third and final one is 354555. Silver Creek Parkway, Ontario Land Tribunal update,

11:29section 2393E and F of the municipal act regarding litigation or potential litigation,

11:34including matters before administrative tribunals affecting the municipality or local board,

11:38and advice that is subject to solicitor client privilege, including communications necessary

11:42for that purpose. Who's going to help me out? Keaton Richardson. Is anyone against?

11:52Nobody. Okay, we'll see everyone in closed session and we'll do a high level summary when I come up.

2:29:34Good afternoon, everyone. First of all, we are sorry for keeping you for our normal start time for

2:29:42three o'clock. We had some in-camera issues that we needed to discuss. And now I'm going to say sorry

2:29:47one more time because we need about eight minutes or so just to kind of get ready to come back out

2:29:54here. So we're going to officially start at 3.30. And then I can do the summary of in-camera stuff

2:29:59and things like that. Okay, so official start will be 3.30 and thank you for your patience. Okay,

2:36:11this is your two minute warning, please. Okay, I'd like to start. And so I think Councillor

2:38:28Koran, I've heard that you might have joined us. Thank you online. That's great. So one,

2:38:33two, three, four, five, six, seven, we have quorum. Okay, I would like to start by again apologizing

2:38:41for our delay. We did have an in-camera meeting, which is why the delay. And so we went in-camera

2:38:50earlier under three items, ERM implementation phase. And there was no direction given at all there.

2:38:59We received information from staff. We received that information and that's all. On the second

2:39:07item, which is titled Handling Creek Business Park. Again, we received information in regards to

2:39:13that and we did give direction to staff on that item. And then on the last one, 35, 45, and 55

2:39:22Silver Creek Parkway, the Ontario Land Tribunal update. Again, a lot of information was given to

2:39:28Council on that. And based on that, we did give direction to staff on that one as well. Okay.

2:39:36So thank you again. That is the summary for in-camera. And so with that, please stand if you are able

2:39:44for recognizing our national anthem. Great. Thank you as we continue just a moment of silent

2:41:13reflection. Great. Thank you. And now our Indigenous Territory Acknowledgement. As we gather, let us

2:41:33take time to reflect on the privilege to live and work here in Guelph, a city that's built over

2:41:38rich Indigenous histories. We're guests here. We should reflect upon the responsibility to care

2:41:42for this land and the people who live here today and the generations to come. And for actions today

2:41:48can move us towards reconciliation. We should take pause and make those decisions with intention

2:41:52and gratitude. This place we call Guelph is served as traditional lands in a place of refuge for many

2:41:57peoples over time, but more specifically the Anwaranarok and the Hulna Nishoni. This land is

2:42:02held as the treaty lands and territory with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and Guelph

2:42:07lies directly adjacent to the Haldeman Track, which is part of a long-established traditional

2:42:12hunting grounds for the six nations of the Grand River. Many First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples

2:42:18who have come from across Turtle Island call Guelph home today. Thank you. Is there any disclosure

2:42:25of pecuniary interests, any general nature thereof for the items that are in front of us today?

2:42:31Here and seeing nine. So I do have official regrets from Richardson and Gibson and potential from

2:42:41Klosson. We'll see if she jumps on virtually maybe soon, but I thought I would state those out loud.

2:42:48And with that we're going to start off as we do with staff recognitions. And so I think the first

2:42:56two are going to, are you prepped for that Councillor Keaton or vice chair? I am sorry, Keaton. Over to you.

2:43:08Thank you. So corporate services would like to do some recognitions. Item 5.1, the top women in

2:43:16safety 2025. We'd like to give recognition for Carolyn Forsyth, who's been recognized as one of

2:43:22the top women in safety in Canada by Safety Magazine. Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine

2:43:29is the premier workplace in health safety publication in Canada. The publication covers a

2:43:34wide range of topics ranging from office to heavy industry and from general safety management

2:43:40to specific workplace safety hazards. In March the top women in safety report was published and our

2:43:46very own Carolyn Forsyth was recognized as one of the top 70 women in safety across Canada.

2:43:52Caroline has been employed by the City of Guelph since 2011 in the role of health and safety

2:43:57specialist and her drive and enthusiasm for worker safety is infectious and deserving of this wonderful

2:44:03recognition. Please join me in congratulating Carolyn on this accomplishment. We also have

2:44:17item 5.2 in the municipal administration program, AM CTO. We would like to congratulate

2:44:24Kerry Murray Sprague on the successful completion of the AM CTO municipal administration program.

2:44:32The AM CTO MAP is a comprehensive development program for careers. It provides knowledge on the

2:44:40evolution of local government, municipal administrative structure, municipal financial

2:44:45management and management and municipality. Please join me in congratulating Kerry on this

2:44:50accomplishment. Thank you so much. Go ahead. There's a third that's not me.

2:45:02Yeah, no problem. Well done and we're going to go over now to chair Downer for another one.

2:45:09Okay and I'm happy to announce that Mila Cunningham, administrative assistant to our Guelph-Wollington

2:45:14Paramedic Service, has recently completed the courses required to attain certification in business

2:45:20administration with York University. This program builds on Mila's experience and adds valuable

2:45:26skills in strategic decision making, managing budgets, critical thinking, communication and other

2:45:31general management skills. The comprehensive programs includes the topics of business strategy,

2:45:37accounting analysis and the use of financial information, human resource management and

2:45:42project management. Wow, that's a lot. With the knowledge and skills gained in this program,

2:45:48Mila will be even better able to help the paramedic service and the city of Guelph reach

2:45:52our strategic goals and objectives. So please join me in congratulating Mila Cunningham on our

2:45:57recent achievement. It's great. Well thank you Vice Chair Keaton and Chair Downer. If you want to

2:46:07maybe join me we can do some pictures over by the Guelph banner there and for our our employees

2:46:13that were recognized. Come on down and I'm happy to meet you down here. All right, congratulations

2:49:25again everybody. We're going to kick off this committee the whole meeting with a presentation

2:49:30speaking of employees on our employee engagement update. Andy is here so come on come on up.

2:49:42Gary's coming too, great and they will walk us through this presentation on the engagement update

2:49:52and thank you for coming. So Andy is our general manager of human resources and of course

2:49:57Kerry is our manager of talent and organizational development. So thank you very much. I'll turn

2:50:04it over to you. Yes, okay. Well Mayor and members of council thank you. Stay 17 for me so I'm

2:50:15pleased to be here with Kerry to share the results and insights from our most recent

2:50:20employee engagement pulse survey. This presentation represents more than just data. It really

2:50:25reflects the voices of our employees and their experience working for the city. Employee engagement

2:50:31is a critical driver of organizational success. Engaged employees are more productive, innovative

2:50:37and committed to delivering high quality service to our community. As outlined in our strategic

2:50:42plan to be an employer of choice through enhancing our organizational culture of inclusion and

2:50:48belonging to attract and retain talent. This is a valuable opportunity to engage with council

2:50:54on how we're listening to our workforce, acting on their feedback and continuously improving our

2:51:00workplace. By sharing this information with you today we aim to strengthen transparency,

2:51:05demonstrate accountability and highlight the tangible steps we are taking to support our

2:51:09workforce. So we look forward to your questions and insights as we continue this important work

2:51:14together. Now I invite Kerry to come up and provide more details. Okay. Thank you Andy. I'm

2:51:28pleased to be here to present today on the topic of employee engagement. The purpose of this

2:51:33presentation is to provide council with an overview of the city's employee engagement,

2:51:38history, process and results. I anticipate the presentation will be about 15 to 20 minutes and

2:51:44then we'll have time for questions and comments at the end of the presentation. So we are going to

2:51:50start with just an overview of what will be covered. So I'm going to talk about what is employee

2:51:56engagement, why is it important to the city, a little bit about our history. So we did start

2:52:02measuring and actioning engagement in 2012 and I'll talk about our survey methodology as well.

2:52:06And then we'll focus on our 2024 Pulse Survey results. We'll look at the overall results,

2:52:13our high and low engagement drivers and a couple of examples of how we use engagement data to

2:52:18improve our workplace. And then I'll finish with next steps and any questions and comments that you

2:52:24may have. So first of all, what is employee engagement? This slide is actually the very first

2:52:33slide in our reports, our employee engagement reports that come back from the vendor. And on

2:52:39this slide you'll see the difference between satisfied employees on my left and engaged employees

2:52:45on my right. So satisfied employees feel content and generally happy that their needs are being met

2:52:53and they are meeting minimum performance expectations. Employees can be satisfied for a lot of

2:52:59different reasons. So for example, they might be satisfied because an organization's benefit plan

2:53:05meets their needs or that they only have to do minimal requirements to get their job done. So

2:53:11that's satisfied employees. What we're looking for is engaged employees. So that's on my right.

2:53:16Engaged employees feel energized, passionate and dedicated. They are highly involved in their

2:53:22work and in the organization. Engaged employees often exceed performance expectations and they

2:53:28look for opportunities for improvement. So that is what we're measuring on our surveys.

2:53:34Why is engagement important? Why? Okay, it's not working. Help. So I need to go to the next slide.

2:53:51Is it me? So thank you. So engagement is important. As Andy mentioned in his opening

2:54:01remarks for a number of reasons and you see some of them on the slide here. So certainly

2:54:05employee performance is related to engagement. The higher engaged employees, the better

2:54:10performance. Engaged employees are more committed, innovative and they deliver better customer

2:54:16service. For the city, engagement is a strategic priority and so it's connected to future wealth

2:54:23foundations and being an employer of choice and the engagement measure is actually a key

2:54:28performance indicator for the strategic plan. It's also related to our 2025 corporate priorities

2:54:35related to our people and service. Compared to organizations of lower employee engagement,

2:54:42if you have high engagement, you experience lower absenteeism, higher retention,

2:54:46better employee well-being and better customer engagement as well.

2:54:51Regularly measuring and actioning employee engagement surveys is a routine practice of top

2:54:56employers as well. So a little bit about the city's survey methodology. So we've been measuring

2:55:03since 2012 and we've spent a lot of energy building trust and reliability in how we do that.

2:55:10We use the same six questions, each survey to measure actual engagement. So the questions

2:55:15don't change and there are reporting controls with our survey to protect anonymity. So when

2:55:22employees fill in engagement surveys, their responses are always grouped with a number of

2:55:28other surveys. We use an external vendor to ensure employees trust the process and that's

2:55:35a Canadian vendor based in London, Ontario and a number of other municipalities use the same

2:55:39instrument as us as well. Another thing that's unique about our process is that we have a leader

2:55:46driven process. So leaders at the City of Guelph work to encourage teams to fill in their surveys,

2:55:53participate in the process. They share their results and find ways to get more employee

2:55:58voice to make action plans. They work with their teams to develop ideas for improvement

2:56:04and resources training and supports are available for them. HR still leads the actual setup of the

2:56:10survey and that sort of thing but really it's our leaders who are encouraging folks to finish,

2:56:15to do their surveys and to do the action planning. So let's take a look at our history with

2:56:22engagement and so you can see our first engagement survey was in 2012 and you can see our results

2:56:30there on the top line of the table. So back in 2012 we had 41% of our staff were considered engaged

2:56:37and we had 37% of our workers were considered disengaged based on how they filled in the survey.

2:56:44You can see that we measured again in 2014 and our results didn't change a whole lot on that next

2:56:50survey. In 2016 we measured again and then finally in 2019 you can see some change in our results

2:56:59there and the change didn't happen in the engaged number but we did see a significant reduction

2:57:05in the number of disengaged employees. In 2021 that was a pandemic pulse check survey so it happened

2:57:12right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and we saw our engagement increase by 18%

2:57:19and disengagement dropped by half and then our most recent survey we see that our engagement numbers

2:57:26are continuing to hold steady so 58% of our employees are engaged and around 9% are disengaged.

2:57:35So what's interesting to me is you know it took a while to move the needle on engagement.

2:57:41Each year we would survey, we would share the results, we would action plan,

2:57:46try some things corporately and departmentally and to our credit we kept measuring and we kept

2:57:52working on it and over time we see the results of those efforts. So let's go to our 2024

2:58:04pulse survey highlights. So we surveyed last year, the survey was open over a two-week period

2:58:12from May 29th to June 20th. It's actually covers three weeks so we go a Wednesday to a Wednesday.

2:58:18We had a 75% survey response rate so that was over 1100 surveys. In addition to the six engagement

2:58:28questions that we measure year over year we also every year look at different drivers of engagement

2:58:33and so those change depending on the needs of the organization. So in 2024 these were the ones

2:58:41we measured. We looked at questions related to career advancement and development, department

2:58:46collaboration, employee empowerment, inclusion, manager relationships, senior leadership, working

2:58:54environment, work-life balance. Yeah so we looked at those ones there and we benchmark against other

2:59:02public administration organizations. So that's who we compare our results to.

2:59:14Oh sorry, this one. There we go. Here are the city's overall engagement results from the 2024

2:59:29survey. So the first bar on my left is the 2024 results. So you'll see that the top part of the

2:59:37bar, the green part, is our number of engaged employees so it's 58.1% and then at the bottom

2:59:43you can see in the red shaded area that's the number of disengaged employees so 9.2%. The middle

2:59:50bar is our 2021 results. So you can see how our scores compared to the last time we surveyed

2:59:56and then the bar to my right is the public administration bar. So you can see that the city

3:00:03exceeds the public administration benchmark by, it's about 3% or so, and our disengagement is

3:00:11also lower than the public administration benchmark as well. Here again from our 2024 survey you can

3:00:23see our two highest engagement drivers. So the highest engagement driver was the questions

3:00:29related to inclusion and those questions measure the extent to which employees feel

3:00:33emotionally safe at work, comfortable being themselves in the workplace, and ask the question

3:00:39of employees around the city embracing, accepting, respecting, and valuing diversity. So that was

3:00:45our highest driver. And then the second highest driver was manager relationships and those questions

3:00:50are related to, you know, does your manager show appreciation for the work that you do

3:00:55and does your manager keep you informed about decisions related to you?

3:01:02Our two lowest engagement drivers, so one was related to senior leadership and it was the extent

3:01:07to which employees felt there was open, honest, inspiring communication and response to employee

3:01:13feedback. Another low driver was related to career advancement and development and so

3:01:18employees were asked questions related to, you know, do you receive the training and skills

3:01:22in the last year to do your job better and are you supported for, you know, if you have career

3:01:27advancement aspirations? So those questions were rated lower as well. All right. So I want to move

3:01:36into a couple of examples of how we use the data over the years. So I'm going to do a corporate

3:01:43example because we have corporate action planning that happens and also a departmental or a team

3:01:48example. So the first example I'll speak to is the Leadership Academy program and I think you've

3:01:55seen a number of cohorts graduate here through the Council Recognition Activities. It's a nine-month

3:02:01interactive program and that program was developed after our 2021 survey. So we use the results of

3:02:08the 2021 engagement survey to determine some of the content of that program. So for example,

3:02:16we had lower scores on communications and so we made sure we built a communications course

3:02:22into that program. We had lower scores on inclusion so there's an inclusive leadership

3:02:27behaviors force in that program as well. So the program has other components but probably,

3:02:34I would say about 30 to 40 percent of the program directly relates to what we heard from our employees

3:02:39in the 2021 survey. What's interesting is the program didn't run before that survey so it's,

3:02:47so it's, so if you're doing a research it's nice that you have before and after data

3:02:51and I've been able to look at the leaders who've graduated through that program and the employee

3:02:57engagement results from 2021 versus 2024 and it's not a, like it's not a correlation exactly,

3:03:04but we are seeing that leaders who've graduated, so it was about 50 leaders that we looked at,

3:03:09engagement on their teams is about 6 percent higher than engagement on teams where the leader has

3:03:15not graduated from the Leadership Academy. We're also looking at specific questions and so I can

3:03:21see that, I have it written down, sorry teams are 7 percent more engaged than folks who haven't

3:03:28been through the program. The manager relationship driver that we measured 2021 and 2024 is 4 percent

3:03:35higher for folks who've graduated from the Leadership Academy. The inclusion driver is also

3:03:414 percent higher for folks who went through the Leadership Academy and took some of the training

3:03:46on inclusive leadership behaviors and we also see scores higher on department collaboration

3:03:53for teams who have a leader who've been through that program. So it's a nice corporate example

3:03:58where we use the data from 2021 to inform the design of a program and we're able to then take a look

3:04:05at teams with leaders who've been through the program and see if there's some, some impact.

3:04:11So that's the corporate example and I'll speak to a team example as well. This, this one I,

3:04:18this is one of my favorite ones. So this is a division at the city of Guelph and it's a larger

3:04:24division, it's about 50 people on this work team and the division manager has been consistent since

3:04:322012 and he brought me this chart and he had graphed this out and this is one of my favorite

3:04:42charts. I have it posted in my work area to look at and we talked about what has gone on on his team

3:04:48over time. So if you look back to 2012, what really stands out on that very first row of data is the

3:04:5562% disengaged employees and I worked here in 2012 and I recall

3:05:05there were a lot of harassment complaints, there was a lot of turnover in leadership positions,

3:05:11we couldn't seem to keep supervisors in the area, just a lot of challenges in the work area

3:05:17and you can see over time how those results have moved and right up until the last survey where

3:05:23they're almost at the levels of the city overall and they've action planned, they had cross-functional

3:05:31groups come together to develop plans but it was more than that how they used the data to improve

3:05:36the team over time. So I remember we got very excited in 2019 when the disengaged number dropped

3:05:45dramatically, we knew that things were starting to move and that they were on the right path.

3:05:51So this is a great example of how engagement data can be used at the team level and when you talk to

3:05:58this particular manager, I remember him saying to me, I can't really explain it to you Kerry,

3:06:03but it just feels different when you walk into our work area, it just feels different, it's very

3:06:09different. So you know before when there was so much disengagement, you know sitting down at the

3:06:16lunchroom table, there you know a lot of disengagement and now it's just just about one in ten. So a

3:06:22really great positive success story. So just to wrap up before we have questions, where we're at

3:06:31right now, we're analyzing results from the survey. The results were shared with employees

3:06:36quite soon after they come back to us, so they were shared in and around October of last year.

3:06:42We're developing insights and actions, we do have corporate action planning going on and so

3:06:48our welcome workplace team is working together to build on that really strong driver of inclusion

3:06:55and so they're working away on a plan for that. We have the leadership team is working on

3:07:01departmental collaboration and we have an upcoming meeting with all leaders in the city on June 18th,

3:07:07focused on learning and a workshop on working better on departmental collaboration and we also

3:07:15have team action planning happening as well. So at last count there were 15 different action plans

3:07:20for departments related to their survey. Our next survey is committed to already by executive team,

3:07:28so we'll be reserving in 2026 and with that I will turn it over for questions.

3:07:37Thank you very much. Is there any, excuse me,

3:07:45is there any, first of all it would be great just to, others just a presentation, is there any

3:07:51questions? Caller and Alt please. Thank you Thira Worship. Thank you so much for bringing these

3:08:00results. It's very impressive. You mentioned that retention has improved, so could you tell us a

3:08:08little bit more about that? How much correlation is there? How close is the tide keeping our employees

3:08:14to seeing that this engagement dropping? Thank you. So through the mayor to Councillor Goller,

3:08:21so we, so when you look at the particular team the retention has improved. I don't have the stats

3:08:28exactly. I can only speak anecdotally to the turnover of the supervisors in that particular work

3:08:34team. Overall I don't have the retention number for the city right now, but I believe we're sort of

3:08:41at or below the benchmark when we compare ourselves to other municipalities. Okay, that is fantastic and

3:08:47as a follow-up are any of these activities mandatory? Like you mentioned leadership academies,

3:08:52that's something that every leader must do? Through the mayor to Councillor Goller, I don't

3:08:58know if it's exactly mandatory, but we do intend to put all leaders through the program and we've

3:09:02actually opened the program up to aspiring leaders because of that career advancement and development

3:09:08driver. So we're including more people in that program. So I hesitate to make things exactly

3:09:13mandatory. It's strongly encouraged, highly encouraged I would say. Yeah, it is mandatory to

3:09:20share your results from the survey though, so that's not optional. You have to get your survey

3:09:23results, roll them out and take some action and document it. So that is required. Thank you very

3:09:29much. I appreciate it. Thank you, worship. Thank you and Councillor Allt, you kind of helped with

3:09:35his question, so we're good there. Seeing nothing further, I just want to just close on a comment.

3:09:42Just thank you very much. I know there's a lot of work that goes into everything HR and everything

3:09:48engagement. The issue of retention and attraction comes up all the time when I speak to other mayors.

3:10:02It is constant. The entire municipal sort of industry or sector is better way of saying it,

3:10:09is really experiencing. A lot of retirements are happening, especially with

3:10:17some certain departments. There's a lot that are moving within the sector or the private sector is

3:10:23trying to be enticing to some of the positions. So to create such a good workplace for us here

3:10:31that's engaged and that feels valued is, it is highly important and I heard you mention it in

3:10:41correlation to our strategic plan. So I just want to say thank you to you and to all staff's

3:10:47leadership on this. And there is a tone at the top like issue in any cultural issue for

3:10:55organizations. Like Tara, you set that tone amazingly with the executive team and all the other

3:11:02managers. You do a really great job. I hope that we at 13 try our best to do the same thing here

3:11:10because potential employees and current employees, they look at both sides, the administration and

3:11:15the politician side when they're trying to decide whether to stay or come. So I think we're doing

3:11:24a good job here and I think you guys are doing a really good job as well. And to everyone that did

3:11:30the engagement, which was like a 75% goal or not goal, but it was achieved, that's great. Hopefully

3:11:37we can continue to punch it up a little bit more. And it's a good sober reflection I think about some

3:11:43of the disengagement comments. Like we all need to hear that. If we don't hear it, we can't be

3:11:50better. So we hear it so that we can try to do better as we move forward. And it's a good thing

3:11:56to say that do this presentation publicly too. I mean people that are maybe looking at wanting

3:12:01to come here, they can see like the good work that we're doing and the good atmosphere that we have

3:12:05here. So that's all because of you guys. So thank you very, very much. Really appreciate the presentation.

3:12:12All right. Well, we're going to keep moving along then.

3:12:16Let's go to corporate services and vice chair,

3:12:22Kate, you're going to take over, right? Okay, perfect. So why don't we just take a couple

3:12:26minutes. We'll just switch spots and you can come sit here and then we'll get going under that

3:12:33portion of the agenda. It is four oh five. And just before I call the next item,

3:13:41as is my first time chairing, I just want to let you know that I do use she and they pronouns, but

3:13:47for my titles for chairing, I don't use the prefix madam or miss. So if you'd use mix vice chair,

3:13:55vice chair, Kate, or the vice chair, that would not be great. Thank you.

3:13:58And I'm going to call item 8.1, the community benefit agreement program. We're going to start off

3:14:06with a staff presentation by Alex Goss, manager of equity and community investment. Good afternoon.

3:14:27I'm pleased to be here alongside my colleague Alex Goss to speak with you about the staff

3:14:31recommendations resulting from the community benefit agreement program review. Today's report

3:14:37is focused on the CBA program, which fits under the umbrella of our larger community investment

3:14:41program managed by the equity and community investment team. I'd like to acknowledge the

3:14:46speed at which this report came to you and purposefully to be here in advance of the budget

3:14:53process. And I'd like to recognize Alex Goss, Stacy Denigin and Michelle Wood, and all of our

3:14:59departmental CBA liaisons across the organization who work so collaboratively to advance this work

3:15:05in the first half of 2025. And lastly, a reminder that today's discussion is not about any specific

3:15:11CBA opportunity or recipient. Today should be focused on the governance of the program as a whole.

3:15:18We welcome follow up questions offline about any specific CBA, but would like to focus today's

3:15:23conversation on the CBA governance program. So with that, I turn it over to Alex Goss.

3:15:32Great. Thank you, Jody. So community benefit agreements or CBAs, as I'm going to refer to them,

3:15:43are city led agreements for partnerships to achieve key strategic objectives

3:15:49where a community partner is better positioned than the city to achieve the outcomes. CBAs began

3:15:56over a decade ago as a way to bring additional accountability and transparency to a variety

3:16:02of partnerships and agreements that existed between the city and community partners at the time.

3:16:09A review of the CBA program was initiated through the 2025 budget process as questions about program

3:16:15clarity were erased. The review was an excellent opportunity to strengthen the program, build

3:16:22additional clarity, transparency, accountability and overall trust in the program at Council,

3:16:29staff and the public level. Following the adoption of the budget, we sought support for my consultant

3:16:36and collaborated with the wealth based consulting firm collective results to support this review.

3:16:44So starting in early 2025, the consultant reviewed existing CBA templates, tools, reports

3:16:53and documents. And they also looked at practices from other municipalities and reviewed the current

3:16:59CBA process from start to finish. The consultants also engaged with stakeholders to better understand

3:17:04their experience and thoughts on the program related to assets, gaps and potential improvements.

3:17:11This included a variety of focus groups, interviews, surveys and workshops with Council and the mayor,

3:17:20with staff and with CBA recipients themselves. The engagement identified some common strengths

3:17:31and assets of the program showing the continued value of CBAs to support work done in partnership

3:17:37with the community. And the engagement also uncovered several gaps and barriers to the CBA

3:17:43program that point to a number of areas for improvement to build greater clarity, transparency

3:17:50and accountability into the program. These findings led to the recommendations being put forward in

3:17:55the CBA review report for your approval. While the report covers many more details about the

3:18:05recommendations, I'm going to focus the rest of the presentation on a few of the highlights.

3:18:11For structure and purpose of the program, there are two pivotal recommended changes to the CBA

3:18:18program as a result of the review. These changes in particular have a trickle down effect through

3:18:24several of the recommendations and you might see how it impacts some of the other recommendations as

3:18:28well. The first is to reframe CBAs as city-led agreements for prioritized work. Being city-led

3:18:38clarifies that many of the processes around CBA identification, budget and appropriateness

3:18:44are to be determined at the city and departmental level. For example, the initiation of a CBA going

3:18:50forward would start by identifying the need and priority of the departmental level and emphasizing

3:18:56the work that is needed instead of simply the organization doing the work helps focus reporting

3:19:02and outcomes and CBA selection on the work that is needed. As a practical example of this would be

3:19:11reframing the Guelph Legion CBA, which names the organization. That would be reframed as a

3:19:18remembrance to CBA supporting the commemoration of veterans and those whose lives were lost.

3:19:23As a result you can see CBAs become more focused on the importance and impact of work instead of just

3:19:29the organization. The other significant recommendations in this section are about

3:19:35additional transparency around process and governance and they're also reflected throughout

3:19:40the other recommendations as well. Related to CBA opportunities, selection of budget,

3:19:49the recommendations propose new processes that align with key city planning milestones around

3:19:54strategic plan, key master plans and multi-year budgeting. New and expiring CBAs will be integrated

3:20:01into departmental budget processes and prioritization for greater departmental ownership and accountability.

3:20:08While staff, departmental liaisons are not new to the program, the recommendations would formalize

3:20:15liaison rules more consistently to strengthen those departmental connections and to allow for

3:20:21some arms length separation between liaisons and CBA, the CBA staff advisory group. So the advisory

3:20:29group will be established from across multiple departments to assess CBA appropriateness,

3:20:36program compliance and determine which CBAs may be appropriate for a public expression of interest

3:20:41process. And related to creating greater accountability and improving reporting,

3:20:51staff will work with legal to update the CBA agreement and template with clear processes and

3:20:57timelines built in while building mutual understanding and expectations with CBA recipient

3:21:03organizations. New accountability measures will be developed with support from internal audit,

3:21:08including the development of a quality audit program for CBAs. Additionally, essentialized

3:21:14feedback mechanism will be developed for end users to report concerns or issues with CBA funded

3:21:20work and activities back to the city. Finally, a new evaluation framework will be developed with

3:21:26support from corporate performance and strategy to align data, objectives, outputs and outcomes

3:21:33with the strategic plan and to better demonstrate the community impact of the work being done on the

3:21:38behalf of and in partnership with the city. Implementing the recommendations will enhance

3:21:43the governance processes, budgeting and evaluation of the CBA program and with your approval,

3:21:50the equity and community investment team will operationalize the recommendations to align with

3:21:57the 2026 budget process where possible and fully implement into 2026. So thank you very much for

3:22:07your attention and for having to answer any questions you might have. Thank you very much.

3:22:15First, we should put the motion on the floor. Yes. The recommendations outlined in the

3:22:23Community Benefit Agreement program 2025-2020. Staff report dated June 3rd, 2025. Be approved.

3:22:31Will anyone move that for me? Councillor Goller? Seconded by

3:22:37Councillor Allt. And we have questions. So we have Councillor Goller. Go first.

3:22:45Thank you and through you, Chair Katelyn. Thank you very much for the presentation.

3:22:50I'm really excited to see the review and the update to our community benefit agreements.

3:22:56I wanted to ask something that I didn't see explicitly mentioned was consideration about

3:23:03governance and having city representation on boards. And I'm thinking for some of those

3:23:07community benefit agreements that are more substantial, will that be a consideration as

3:23:12part of the review? How we can participate in their board membership or other measures to

3:23:19be part of that governance for those organizations? Yeah. Thank you for the question through the

3:23:25Chair. Certainly in the recommendations, we talk about an increase of accountability for

3:23:33some of those larger CBAs. Currently, there are certain agreements where staff are involved in

3:23:40the structure of an organization. So that is something as we start to operationalize some

3:23:46of the recommendations. That's something we could certainly consider. And what would that

3:23:53look in terms of a process? Would it be that you go through, you make some recommendations,

3:23:59and then it comes back to council for approval? Or what would that look like?

3:24:07Through the Chair to Councillor Goller, we will begin to action these if adopted by council today.

3:24:12So certainly an example of a mechanism that's already in place is that with some

3:24:18agreements where appropriate, staff sit on the board for some of our larger CBAs.

3:24:24And as those agreements are negotiated going forward, we would look for opportunities to

3:24:28strengthen the city's relationship with those organizations. Being a member of the board

3:24:32in some capacity may be one of those going forward. Okay. Okay. I appreciate that. So

3:24:38to be clear, we're not doing a wholesale review of every CBA at the moment, but as

3:24:43each of them renews, we'll review that one. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair.

3:24:49Thank you. Councillor Boussadil. Thank you. And through you, Vice Chair Keaton.

3:24:56Thank you for this. I think this is great. I think it elevates it in the community's eyes,

3:25:01transparent, consistent communication and everything else. It's very good. I have a question. I love

3:25:07the department's name, by the way, equity and community investment. I love that equity lens

3:25:13to this. And with that in mind, I just have a question. When I look at page, you know, three,

3:25:19mainly when you're talking about equitable access opportunities and awareness of the CBA program,

3:25:25more city support for CBAs and the bullets, which is all very great. Can you tell me,

3:25:33is there an intentional awareness of more of the marginalized groups? And I know myself

3:25:40during this consultation process, I talked about, you know, just even now, you know, Jodi,

3:25:46you were talking about staff sitting on boards and so on. There is that mutual learning and skills

3:25:51transfers, transferring. And there are some groups that do valuable things in the community,

3:25:58but don't speak the talk and could really benefit from that. So is there a process, CBA being aware,

3:26:06communicating and so on, but being able to submit their proposal, the budget, know what even a KPI

3:26:13is, those kinds of things? Is that woven into this? Yeah, thanks for the question and through

3:26:21vice chair to the counselor. Yeah, absolutely. So the equity piece came up through some of the

3:26:27engagement as a piece that we heard from different stakeholders, including recipients themselves.

3:26:34And really, I think looking at the recommendations is partly about reducing barriers

3:26:41for equity, deserving communities in the process and in some of the documents that are produced.

3:26:47But it's also about transparency and having some open public processes that come into this

3:26:54to be able to open the door for groups that maybe don't have the connections that other groups have

3:27:02in the community and be able to make a connection into the city in a more public way.

3:27:08Thank you. There are any other questions? Oh, comments?

3:27:21Thank you, Vice Chair, Kate. I just wanted to say this was really good. I thought the consultant

3:27:29team did a really good job. I thought all of you who helped alongside this and framed everything

3:27:36the way you did through the process ended up with like a really solid report.

3:27:42By reading it, I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of it I never thought of, which was maybe

3:27:50isn't a surprise to everybody else, but it was to me. And I just thought that they were all valid,

3:27:56very valid things that we need to change to move forward. And yeah, it's just been,

3:28:03it's healthy to do these checks and balances every now and then. I just thought it was,

3:28:07I thought it was really well done. So just publicly to say thank you and to the consulting team as

3:28:12well. I thought they did a really excellent job. Councillor Busuttil sort of captured everything

3:28:17I also wanted to say. So happy to support this framework moving forward. Any other comments?

3:28:28Well, just take advantage of my final comment. I just wanted to say thank you very much. I really

3:28:33appreciated the engagement process and I think it's a great report. So I look forward to the

3:28:38changes that are going to be made. So let's call the vote. Is there anyone opposed? That's unanimous

3:28:48and that carries. Thank you. And next we have service area chair announcements. Do we have anything

3:28:56from corporate services or the CAO department? No? Okay. I have a quick announcement. I just like

3:29:04to say happy national Indigenous History Month and happy pride. We've got lots of great events that

3:29:10are happening in the city. So please go and check some of them out. Thank you. And next up we have

3:29:24the public service or the, we're going to go IDE with chair Klosson. So we'll just take a moment

3:29:33to switch off and then we can begin there. Thank you. Councillor Klosson. Yeah. I'm just

3:29:58wondering, it's Cam. Did you want to try to chair from there or did you want me to just jump in so

3:30:05I'm in the room? Because it's quite difficult. Yeah. If you wouldn't mind for this one, I just had to be

3:30:12home for childcare. No, we get it. Yeah. Yeah. If you wouldn't mind taking this one, Cam, that would

3:30:19be helpful. Thank you. Okay. Oh, thank you. I'll do that. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And thank you

3:31:57and thank you to chair Klosson. We totally respect to, first of all, you being the chair, the real

3:32:03chair and also being a great job as a mom at home too. So we get it. Happy to jump in here. We have

3:32:12our 2025 corporate asset management plan and levels of service. We're going to have a presentation.

3:32:19Monica is here, manager of corporate asset management for us to walk us through the presentation

3:32:26and then it's over to council for any questions or follow up. So welcome. We adore corporate asset

3:32:35management. We just live and breathe for it. So it's over to you. Terry is clapping for that one.

3:32:40Okay. Go for it. Here we go. Thank you for allowing me to present the corporate asset management and

3:32:56the levels of service plan today. In today's presentation, I will take us through some background

3:33:10on what is asset management and why the plan is so important, followed by an overview of the 2025

3:33:15asset management plan, the recommended levels of service, and then recommended next steps.

3:33:22So to just provide a little bit of context about what is asset management, asset management is an

3:33:28integrated approach involving different business units such as finance, operations, maintenance,

3:33:34engineering, planning and other business practices. The objective is to effectively manage existing

3:33:39and new infrastructure to maximize benefits, reduce risk and optimize cost while providing

3:33:45satisfactory levels of service to the residents. Asset management is critical to the growth

3:33:50and progress of the city. It is important to invest in asset management because it supports

3:33:54financial sustainability, evidence based decision making, delivery of services according to the

3:34:00needs of the community while managing associated risks. It also supports growth and demand

3:34:05management. On this slide, we show you how asset management fits into the big picture

3:34:13for the city of Guelph. Of course, everything starts with our strategic plan and asset management

3:34:18is certainly part of the foundation's pillar and future Guelph. From there, there are countless

3:34:23inputs that go into preparing the asset management plan. Ultimately, the asset management plan is

3:34:27then foundational to Guelph's strategies related to infrastructure renewal, growth and service

3:34:32enhancements that inform the capital and operating budgets. To prepare the plan, it takes the full

3:34:37efforts of the organization led by the corporate asset management team who provide overall guidance

3:34:42and support for asset management as well as leading data management and analysis efforts.

3:34:47The team strives to understand the financial needs for the operations, maintenance and repair of an

3:34:52asset. Combining that information with the future replacement costs of an asset is critical, as is

3:34:57knowing what financial resources are available. Understanding the lifecycle of our assets and

3:35:02budgets for their replacement at the appropriate time mitigates risks enabling us to provide

3:35:07responsible public services to our community. We know that financial resources are not limitless,

3:35:13which is why it's critical to understand what can and should be done in priority with available

3:35:18funding. On this slide, we show you how the city of Guelph meets the Ontario Regulation 58817.

3:35:28All municipalities in Ontario are legislatively required to show our asset management planning

3:35:32by publishing and maintaining our asset management plan. Our plan defines the existing and targeted

3:35:38levels of service, the assets we own to provide those services and what assets are needed in the

3:35:43future. The current practices and strategies that are in place to manage those assets,

3:35:48the costs of doing that work now and into the future, and recommendations to improve our asset

3:35:53management planning. The journey first began in 2016 when the team was established followed by the

3:35:58first asset management plan and policy approved by council in 2017. Since then, the team has presented

3:36:04an overall city update in 2020, then the 2020 plan, which was focusing on our core assets,

3:36:11and that indicated our current levels of service, then that was followed by our plan last year in

3:36:162024 to report on the current levels of service for all city assets. And today we are here presenting

3:36:21an overall city asset management plan that includes all service areas with the main focus

3:36:25on the targeted levels of service. On this slide, we aim to illustrate the elements that make up an

3:36:33asset management plan. The asset management plan integrates information from multiple sources

3:36:38and across multiple service delivery areas. The plan is important for understanding the

3:36:43current state of assets and the impact on services. It also helps determine future service levels and

3:36:48how to get there. The asset management plan work includes coordination with service area staff to

3:36:53assess their assets and condition. The review of completed ongoing and approved capital projects

3:36:59on the assets affected by them, establishing current and future levels of service, and incorporating

3:37:05recommendations from the climate adaptation plan into the asset management work into the city.

3:37:11Asset management work has made great strides in breaking silos, improving communications between

3:37:16asset management and core service areas, and engineering to discuss their assets and any

3:37:19new information about them. Our asset management planning was helpful as the city reprioritized

3:37:25infrastructure renewal projects to determine which projects to move forward and which to defer

3:37:29out due to the fiscal constraints we are seeing in this multi-year budget. Asset management planning

3:37:35is an ongoing and long-term process that allows municipalities to make the best possible investment

3:37:39decisions for their infrastructure assets, including building, operation, maintenance, renewal,

3:37:45replacement, and disposal. Since being first established in 2017, Guelsa & Program has greatly

3:37:53moved forward with improvements in the accuracy of asset information, adoption of whole life

3:37:59planning for asset needs, and approved collaboration among all city departments and staff. This work

3:38:04will continue and as the program continues to mature, the city will meet the goal of

3:38:08obtaining an advanced AM maturity rating by 2030. As work continues toward reaching the

3:38:14advanced asset management maturity level, the corporate asset management program has improved

3:38:18the level of sophistication in detail in both the funding allocation, data, and project

3:38:23optimization, and the integration between asset management planning and capital budgeting.

3:38:27Budgeting will continue to be strengthened. Overall, this will help ensure the best possible

3:38:32decisions are being made regarding our city's assets and levels of service, using evidence-based

3:38:37data to develop our business cases, project needs, and long-term financial forecasts supporting

3:38:43sustainability. Now I will move into the recap of the 2025 asset management plan. Here on the plan,

3:38:52here on the slide, you can see the total value of the core and non-core assets. If the assets that

3:38:58support city services were replaced today, it would cost approximately $7.7 billion, or you can look

3:39:04at it at about $50,000 per resident. Overall, the average condition of the city's assets is

3:39:12considered fair and are meeting the expected levels of service delivery. This is a trend that has

3:39:17remained steady since the city's first corporate asset management plan in 2017. However, because

3:39:22this is an average rating, there are both positive and negative exceptions to the status.

3:39:27This data is primarily the same that was presented in 2024. The one improvement is that there is an

3:39:32update to our city's road pavement condition data. Most importantly, about 63% of the city's assets

3:39:39are considered in fair, good, or very good condition. The counter to this is that there remains 30%

3:39:44in less than fair condition, including about a billion worth of assets assessed in very poor

3:39:50condition, and another $355 million assessed as past due, or alternatively deferred from being

3:39:58completed in previous years, also known as the backlog. The backlog is predicted to grow to

3:40:03$388 million by the end of 2034. A past due condition rating does not define an asset that

3:40:10is no longer functional, but it does identify a potential value of work that should be planned

3:40:15for as it represents assets that are at a higher risk of unplanned failures and generally require

3:40:20more regular maintenance. Assets with a not applicable rating do not have a defined condition

3:40:25rating. The risk and consequences of not addressing this needed renewal will be reduced performance

3:40:30and quality of critical infrastructure, much of which is related to ensuring the health and safety

3:40:35of the city is protected. Maintaining public infrastructure in a state of good repair is

3:40:40generally the most cost-effective strategy over an asset's life cycle, although it is not the only

3:40:45consideration of municipal asset managers and make conflict with other budgetary priorities.

3:40:51Postponing repairs raises the risk of service disruption and increases the cost of so-di

3:40:57associated with municipal infrastructure over time. The corporate asset management plan is

3:41:02aligning with the Guelph's enterprise risk framework. Overall, the City of Guelph is not

3:41:07alone as other municipalities are reporting similar scenarios. The Financial Accountability

3:41:13Office of Ontario reported Ontario's municipal infrastructure backlog in 2020 at $52 billion,

3:41:19representing 11.9% of the total cost to replace the assets. When comparing the City of Guelph to

3:41:25the province, the backlog is 5.24% of the total cost to replace the assets. The City of Guelph is

3:41:31below the average backlog within the province of Ontario, which is positive, but Guelph, like other

3:41:36municipalities, need to continue investing in its existing infrastructure to reduce the service

3:41:42continuity risk. Now moving on to the levels of service, just to provide a little bit of background,

3:41:52levels of service describes the outcomes customers experience through the delivery of services the

3:41:57City of Guelph provides. Every day people use City assets to travel safely, get clean drinking water,

3:42:03and many other services. Typically residents are more focused on the services they receive,

3:42:08but behind the scenes the City is making investments, delivering operations and maintenance,

3:42:12and weighing trade-offs between cost and risk that ensure the customer service is being received.

3:42:18Following the state of the assets, if an asset is not in good condition, it will not be able to

3:42:22meet its intended levels of service. I will now provide an overview of what an asset level of

3:42:27service is to help explain future target levels of service can be compared to a hotel when looking

3:42:34at ratings. The City of Guelph can decide whether we are performing at a certain level, whether it's

3:42:39a 3, 4, or 5 star. This is further explained by what assets do we provide, how do we maintain them,

3:42:46how often do we maintain those assets, and how do we spend our staff time and funding to provide

3:42:51the services that residents want. Some examples are the ability to drink clean water or ensuring

3:42:57residents are able to safely travel to work. When determining targeted levels of service,

3:43:02you need to find the balance between affordability and the suggested levels of how our assets are

3:43:07developed, maintained, and spread across the municipality to our existing assets,

3:43:12and not new assets relating to a service enhancement. The 2024 AMP documents the existing levels of

3:43:18service across a variety of metrics in each of the asset chapters. These have been established in

3:43:24conjunction with each asset owner and operator. The level of service metrics in the 2024 and 2025

3:43:30asset management plan documents do not and will not override levels of service set and approved

3:43:35through various master plans or governed by other regulatory maintenance standards.

3:43:40The 2025 asset management plan will include desired future levels of service.

3:43:45Surrounding municipalities are in the process of meeting the legislation by documenting an

3:43:49existing level of service and aiming to set those targeted levels of service through outreach in

3:43:54the community. Here's an example of our roads to help better explain levels of service. On the

3:44:01upper half of the slide, you will see the scale used to report the condition of the road, starting

3:44:06at good and moving from satisfactory, fair, poor, very poor, and failed, along with the requirement

3:44:12treatment types that are commonly completed during these condition types. This is the pavement

3:44:17condition score that is used to analyze our roads to help the city prioritize and develop the

3:44:22capital forecast. On the bottom of the slide, you can see three images starting from the left,

3:44:28illustrating the illustrating a road in excellent condition, which is a high level of service,

3:44:33then to fair and very poor, being a low level of service. To help further explain, these charts

3:44:42illustrate the roads pavement condition index using the data collected in 2019 on the left

3:44:48and the data collected in 2024 on the right. When comparing the two charts, you can see the

3:44:53conditions are improving with more roads within fair and good and less within poor, very poor,

3:44:59and past due. This is a good news story illustrating the impacts of a strong road reconstruction

3:45:04program, as well as improve better data. This also helps us visualize how our levels of service to

3:45:10the public have increased. Now taking a look at all of our city assets, I will explain the strategy

3:45:18recommended for our target level of service. Level of service are a critical component of

3:45:23asset management and that they define the standards and expectations for the performance and quality

3:45:27of assets. The 2025 AMP quantifies the level of service provided by infrastructure systems

3:45:34through a series of performance metrics for each service area. Overall, the city strives to provide

3:45:39services to the community that are accessible, cost efficient, provide customer satisfaction,

3:45:44demonstrate environmental stewardship, and function reliably and safe within suitable scope.

3:45:50To meet the requirements of Oreg 58817 regarding future level of service targets,

3:45:55the city determined that representing the projected future condition of the assets based on the

3:46:00current capital plan and funding assumptions as presented through the 2025 budget confirmation

3:46:07was the best methodology to use. Until the city reaches sustainability, the city is unable to set

3:46:13increased level of service targets that will increase over time as they will not be achievable.

3:46:19Once sustainability is met, there will be no backlog and then set targets can be created.

3:46:25The projects within the 10-year capital budget and forecast updated through the

3:46:282025 budget confirmation will impact service delivery to the community. If projects in the

3:46:36existing capital budget and forecast are deferred, the city's expected level of service will decline.

3:46:42On the contrary, if projects are advanced sooner,

3:46:46then currently projected, the city's level of service will improve. Ultimately, the city faces

3:46:52complex tradeoff challenges between the cost, risk, and level of service to be delivered.

3:46:57Set plainly, the target level of service are expected to decrease over the next 10 years,

3:47:02as you can see in the image on the screen. Over time, the currently projected levels of funding

3:47:07for infrastructure renewal, the condition of our assets will continue to decline, indicating that

3:47:12we need to keep investing and prioritizing our existing infrastructure to the maximum extent

3:47:19possible. The target is to ensure the level of service do not decline further than forecasted.

3:47:24This will require continued investment in infrastructure renewal.

3:47:31Moving on, I would like to highlight the forecast analysis for the whole city. For many years,

3:47:36Guelph has been working to attain a state of financial sustainability in its asset management

3:47:40practices, meaning the available funding matches the expected renewal needs. Comparing the renewal

3:47:45needs to the funding strategies approved in the 2025 confirmed budget for both the tax supported

3:47:51and non-tax supported service completes the analysis of when the city might reach a point of

3:47:55sustainability. On this slide, you could see the forecast analysis for non-tax funded assets

3:48:00for water, wastewater, and stormwater. The grain line represents the forecast renewal needs,

3:48:06and the orange line is the forecasted funding. The prediction for the non-tax funded services

3:48:12optimistic for these services that is estimated that the sustainable target may be reached around

3:48:172031. This is the point when the revenue from municipal taxes will equal the forecast renewals

3:48:23for that year, and they will continue to be greater in the forecast in future years.

3:48:32For the tax funded services, examples such as roads, recreation centers, facilities, vehicles,

3:48:38and other, the results predict that the sustainable target funding will be reached around 2043.

3:48:44These assets are at a higher risk of deteriorating and can lead to increased service disruption

3:48:49and higher maintenance costs. To address the risk created by the backlog, the city would need to

3:48:53prioritize reaching sustainable funding targets. The previously council approved strategy of

3:48:59increasing tax supported infrastructure renewal funding by 1% of the tax levy annual plus inflation

3:49:05is no longer factored into capital budget assumptions. These refer to page 11 and 12 of the

3:49:11committee of the whole report to see the breakdown of where tax supported capital funding is predicted

3:49:16to go over the 10-year period. As we saw in the previous slide, non-tax supported services are

3:49:21on track to reach sustainable funding before 2031. However, on this slide, you can see that

3:49:31tax supported is met in 2043. If the city continues reducing funding, the backlog continues to grow

3:49:38and sustainability will be pushed out further. The city has established itself as an industry

3:49:46leader in asset management practices. Over the past five years, there have been significant

3:49:50progress in the asset management program and the program is positioned to move from a core

3:49:54to an advanced rating by 2030. As the city's asset management program continues to mature,

3:50:00there are growing improvements in the confidence of data which improves the accuracy of calculations

3:50:05including the city's backlog and sustainable funding targets. The 2025 asset management plan

3:50:11establishes the city's level of service targets based on the fully funded 10-year capital forecast

3:50:16which is ultimately based on affordability. In the future, if the city's capital budget increases,

3:50:21the level of service will increase. If the city's capital budget will decrease, the level of service

3:50:27will decrease. Each year, staff will need to assess the cost, risk, and level of service and

3:50:32identify the trade-offs. Once the city reaches sustainability, set achievable targets can then

3:50:37be made. Overall, target level of service are lower than the existing due to decreases in funding,

3:50:43but the goal is to slow the growth of the backlog and get to sustainability which

3:50:48will hopefully eliminate that backlog. The data presented through the asset management plan clearly

3:50:53indicates that the city must continue investing in our existing infrastructure. Reducing the

3:50:58infrastructure gap should be a priority to reduce the chances of failure of any asset or infrastructure

3:51:03service. The consistent use of asset management guidelines and principles with an effort placed

3:51:08on continuous improvement will lead to an optimized balanced between asset performance and asset

3:51:14risks creating real value for the city of Guelph and its current and future citizens. Our assets

3:51:20are aging. The city needs to maintain them before they fail. This plan confirms that continued

3:51:25infrastructure renewal investment is required to support both tax supported and non-tax supported

3:51:31services to reduce the backlog and achieve sustainable funding targets. Balancing investment

3:51:36and infrastructure renewal funding requirement with other legislative requirements and organizational

3:51:41priorities is outside the scope of the plan, but we hope that this information is useful

3:51:46as we head into the 2026 budget. And with that, I would like to thank the mayor and members of

3:51:53council and we are happy to take any questions. Thank you, Monica. Really, really appreciate

3:52:01the presentation. I'm going to maybe embarrass myself. Is that your first time doing a presentation

3:52:06with us or am I embarrassing myself? You're embarrassing yourself. Okay. All right. All right.

3:52:12Well, for the first time, I'm going to say you did a really great job. So thank you very, very much.

3:52:21Yeah, a lot to digest there. And so how about how about we start with a recommendation on the floor

3:52:29to approve the 2025 corporate asset management plan, including the targeted asset levels of

3:52:34service for submission to the Ministry of Infrastructure on or before July 1st, 2025.

3:52:41Guller and Ault will second it for me. Thank you. Ault, and we can open up for questions

3:52:48or comments just at the same time if you want. Okay. So go ahead. Thank you very much, Mayor

3:52:55Guthrie. Questions and comments are probably contained within each other. First of all,

3:53:01I do want to thank staff for a very, very thorough warning that we've just received.

3:53:07I think the key to this report is page 16 of the slides. If the city continues reducing funding,

3:53:13the backlog continues to grow and sustainability will be pushed further out. And I think besides

3:53:19page 16, page 12 also provides a visual and perhaps a visceral assessment of some of the

3:53:25challenges we face. But because of this, we've used the word funding here and I do want to be

3:53:32clear for the public. What is it we mean by funding? Is it taxes? Is it DCs? Is it grants? Is it

3:53:39accommodation? Through the Mayor to Councillor Allt. It would be mainly our infrastructure

3:53:51renewal funding, not including DCs. Okay. Thank you. The reason that I'm asking this is that perhaps

3:53:58what I see from the public, what I feel from the public a lot, is concerns about roads. And I think

3:54:04that that's why page 12 is so important. People will say that we are falling behind

3:54:09further and further. And when I look at the graphs, I'm not filled with confidence. When I look at

3:54:18the target LOS and the road condition forecast, we are looking at approximately,

3:54:26I think it's 50% of our roads being in poor, very poor or past due condition by 2034, if I'm

3:54:37correct on that. And I'm not, I'm just, I'm hoping you can fill me with confidence that we can actually

3:54:45get beyond that because that's clearly the criticism that the public has. When Councillor

3:54:51Boussetteel and I both came here, we got dumped in a pothole by her very lovely daughter by accident.

3:54:58And as Councillor Boussetteel said, we better talk to the city about that pothole. And so,

3:55:04can you fill me with confidence on that? And maybe for Ms. Baker or perhaps for Mr. Matthews,

3:55:14I'm somewhat frustrated because I think that constraints are being put on time and again by

3:55:18the province and yet we're being asked by the Office of Accountability to address some of our

3:55:24shortfalls. And I guess I'm asking for a comment on that one as well. And that's, that's, that's

3:55:29some total in my comments, Mayor Guthrie. So through you, Mayor Guthrie, to Councillor

3:55:39out in terms of your roads question with respect to the conference, I think what you're seeing in

3:55:42the graph on page 12 is exactly that confidence. So you're seeing staff's delivery of the investment

3:55:47that Council has been making. And so you have been investing more in the roads program over the past

3:55:51four, five, six years. And so what you're seeing is that change in the life cycle condition of the

3:55:56city's roads. When I say roads, I'm talking about that surface pavement, the asphalt that's on top.

3:56:00We're not talking about all of the infrastructure that's underneath. And that's what you see sort

3:56:04of in that more total asset graph that's on the following pages that, that paints a slightly

3:56:09different picture. Sure. So through the mayor to Councillor Allt, I struggle with what to say

3:56:23overall, I would agree there's continuing to be limitations put on the funding of municipalities.

3:56:32We're doing our best, I would say, in terms of maximizing every grant opportunity that we can

3:56:38in order to complement the funding from taxes and non-tax. So I think we're doing everything we can.

3:56:47But, but yeah, there are continuing pressures through, through other levels of government

3:56:53decision making. And thank you for that. I don't know whether Mr. Matthews wants to follow up or not,

3:56:57or did Ms. Baker, she got it for you. And I do want to thank staff because many times I hear

3:57:02there's only one taxpayer, but what people forget is there's three levels of government and two of

3:57:07those levels are tending to impose upon us some constrictions that make it virtually impossible

3:57:14for us to address both funding and improvements at the same time.

3:57:18Thank you, Councillor Allt. Is there anybody else at all before I call the vote? Sure, Councillor Billings.

3:57:26Chair, Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to ask, because it doesn't include DCs, but with the forecasting

3:57:32level of service and the timeframe for sustainability, if we were to receive grant

3:57:40money, because that was mentioned, grant money in the future, would that, from upper levels of

3:57:46government, would that not help the timeframe for sustainability and shortening it? Or no?

3:57:56Through to Mayor and Councillor Billings. I mean, I think the short answer could be yes,

3:57:59certainly of course, depending on sort of the situation, the scenario, the magnitude of things,

3:58:03but any included, excuse me, any additional funding certainly does help.

3:58:08Right. So really my question was within the forecasting, we're not including sometimes the

3:58:13surprise grant money that we receive. Is that correct?

3:58:18Through to Mayor, so that's correct. The forecasting is just based on the rates and the taxes.

3:58:22Great. Okay. Thank you.

3:58:25Thank you. Councillor Keaton.

3:58:28Thank you. Through you, Mr. Mayor. Do we have any idea of how increased uptake on transit would

3:58:34change how long our roads are lasting and change our financial path?

3:58:49Through the Mayor to Councillor Keaton. We do not have that analysis at this point in time.

3:58:56Okay. Thank you. And through the Mayor, so is the tax funded path set on a yearly

3:59:03tax increase from us, or what do we have to do to maintain that path in terms of our tax rate?

3:59:11Through the Mayor. Sorry, Councillor Keaton, I'm not sure that I understand your question. Could

3:59:19you ask it perhaps differently? Yes, absolutely. So we had the tax funded rate, and so we had how

3:59:28long that was going to take to reach basically parity. And I was just wondering for our funding,

3:59:34because it is on us when we mess with that formula. So what is the formula that we need to kind of

3:59:41stay on in order to reach that? And how could we close that gap faster? Thank you for the clarity

3:59:47in your question. Sure. And Shannon's coming down and happy to have our treasurer jump in,

3:59:51as needed, but I'll get started just with the idea around and making sure that Council understands

3:59:55what we are asking for from you today. We're asking for something that is regulated by the

4:00:01province of Ontario in terms of asset management. So that's the July 1st deadline that says you have

4:00:04to document and have these Council approve target levels of service. What we're suggesting today,

4:00:10and maybe some planar languages, as things decrease as you get the backlog sort of forecast

4:00:14out to 388 million, the target levels of service is to just not let that get worse.

4:00:19So over time, let's continue investing on what is forecast over that 10-year window and try to

4:00:25not let that get worse. And that is the idea behind it. If Council in the future budget years

4:00:32moves funding up, then the increase happens to the level of service. The backlog could reduce

4:00:36quicker if Council defers more of those tax funds out than the backlog has the ability to

4:00:42increase in size and for the levels of service to decrease. But they are target levels of service.

4:00:46There's sort of a, is a bit of a sort of a self-regulating exercise, more than anything,

4:00:51but that's the sort of idea behind it. The mayor, so I can help a little bit. So yes, the tax-supported

4:01:03capital funding is set through the annual budget process. And so that's the time to really consider

4:01:11with the lens of this information that you've provided today about what the levels that we've

4:01:15got included in the projections now will get you in terms of levels of service over the 10 years

4:01:22and to really reiterate the importance of continuing to prioritize that funding. And so

4:01:29you're balancing that of course with affordability challenges for the community. And so the budget

4:01:34process is the time to have those considerations and keep this good, important information in mind

4:01:44is what I would suggest. Great, thank you very much. Great, anybody else? All right, you get me.

4:02:00Just a couple questions. Too many comments. How is the capacity to address the infrastructure

4:02:11backlog? So what I mean by that is we raise taxes, you know, 10% and got, you know, millions of dollars

4:02:20towards the infrastructure work that needs to be done for our assets. Can you even deliver on that

4:02:29from the capacity to actually implement that work? Because we continually, we do have a buildup of

4:02:35unspent capital. I know that it's focused on itemized capital projects, but we have a lot of a backlog

4:02:43in our, you know, in our unspent capital too. So I'm just wondering, you know, you get the money,

4:02:49but it doesn't automatically mean that you can just go ahead and get it done.

4:02:55Yeah, so too, you may have got a great question and you're right, certainly with increased fiscal

4:03:00investment that does require increased human resource investment to deliver the work. I would say

4:03:06the organization is sort of at around that saturation point. Now we do have a capital steering

4:03:11committee that reviews the sort of collective capital plan for the organization, including the

4:03:17staffing resources that are required to that. And we have those conversations with the executive

4:03:20team through the budget as well. And that's the way we monitor it. And that's why we brought you

4:03:24things in the past, like the capital program, resourcing strategy that sort of helped fix a gap

4:03:29in the past. And so now we're sort of like looking forward towards what that next level of investment

4:03:34looks like. And then I just see if our treasurer wants to add anything to that. Okay.

4:03:40He answered for me that. Thank you. The second question I have is still AI.

4:03:48Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I heard that we were piloting something a few years

4:03:55ago with like cameras on the front of our, either our snowplows or the front of our

4:04:03transit or waste trucks. So as they were driving around the city, the AI cameras were able to

4:04:10determine, you know, potholes and other road issues and collect that data and get it back for faster

4:04:16service. And am I first of all, am I right on that? And the secondary to that is, is there more AI

4:04:24that can help us with, with these types of issues? Through the mayor. Yes, you are right.

4:04:33We did look at a pilot where we were installing cameras on our inspection vehicles and other

4:04:40vehicles that we use throughout the city to collect more data on our roads when it comes to

4:04:45potholes and condition assessment information. We did not proceed with that at the time, but we

4:04:51are actually looking at how we could potentially include that in our future planning for our roads,

4:04:57looking at it from the maintenance side, but also for condition assessment.

4:05:01And I think in general, we need to apply more of that AI lens and that's something that our

4:05:05team will, will consider, but no set plans right now. Okay. So would, would, would we as a council see

4:05:15an equipment ask or a software ask in the upcoming budget for that? If it's, if it's a valuable tool

4:05:23to use to help with this or is that something that might be a couple of budgets? Through the mayor,

4:05:29this wouldn't, we don't know at this time, but when we are more aware of those costs,

4:05:37we would bring that forward. Okay. Okay. That's fair. Thank you. All right. Those are the only

4:05:42questions that I have. Well, actually, no, I have one verification question and I'm just

4:05:46picking on my colleague, Councillor Allt here. The way I took your presentation about the roads

4:05:53was that we're actually doing good that the two charts that came up on the, on the screen,

4:05:59I see people nodding their head. So was showing the past to, to, to 2024 levels. And the whole

4:06:06narrative from your presentation was that we're actually doing way better. Now you validated

4:06:11that Terry and your response to Councillor Allt, but am I, I just want to make sure that that's,

4:06:15but we're not leaving this conversation thinking that there could be a narrative in the public. We

4:06:20all hear it. We all do that all the roads, the roads, the roads, but, but the data is actually

4:06:26showing we're doing better than we have ever been. Am I right on that? Yeah. To respond to that,

4:06:32Mayor, I got three, two things. One, yes, you're right. We're on the right track, but, but B,

4:06:36we have a ways to go still. Of course. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Now here's my soapbox. Okay. The

4:06:44infrastructure backlog. We have tried to deal with this at a municipal level for a very,

4:06:52very long time. In fact, and Councillor, I think, Ault and Downer and Billings and Caron would

4:07:04remember, I think it was my first term as mayor, the, the 1% infrastructure levy, right? I mean,

4:07:12this whole conversation about closing the gap and getting, getting to sustainability, you know,

4:07:18that, that was all about at that time, that was all about having to increase taxes at the time.

4:07:26And that was, that was a painful, but sober discussion and outlook as to what we had to do

4:07:35locally, either continuing to kick the can down the road and ignoring it, or to actually add that

4:07:41as a dedicated funds to help with that infrastructure backlog. And at the time when we approved it,

4:07:48we were very early in this corporate asset management stage. And the maturity level that has

4:07:54come from that, you know, when was it? I don't know, eight years ago, whatever. I don't know. Eight

4:07:59years ago to today has been incredible. And I'll tell you where it helps me. Two things. One,

4:08:05let me just tell you, when the, when the public hears that we are collecting more money or within

4:08:11the existing taxes that we do, and it's going to capital, it's going to asset renewal and improvements,

4:08:18I don't, I hardly get any pushback at all. It's on the operating side that I usually hear a lot of

4:08:24guff. But on the capital, they don't mind that they want to see the roads fixed. They want to see

4:08:31new buildings, repaired buildings, etc. So capital is where a lot of the focus does have to be in my,

4:08:38my point of view. And we've done, we've done that. We've done that since, since the last eight, nine

4:08:43years. Where I get frustrated with, and I think, Councillor Allt, for bringing up the other levels

4:08:50levels of government is often, and Councillor Billings brought this up, we can receive grants

4:08:57from other levels of government. But sometimes those grants don't go to the asset management or

4:09:02backlog of the infrastructure we actually got to do. They go to whatever the flavor of the day is,

4:09:08with whatever government it is, where they're looking for the picture or they're looking for the

4:09:12media release. It's true. And so sometimes, we have all this backlog and we're saying, could you just

4:09:18give us the money so we can address these things over here? And sometimes the money comes and it

4:09:22addresses these new shiny things over here, which we'll take, we'll take it and we'll use it, but

4:09:28it's not addressing always the backlog. So there can be this, you know, this anywhere between, I would

4:09:34say 15 to 25% over a 10-year horizon of grant money that goes into infrastructure or whatever,

4:09:41but a lot of it goes to the shiny new things and not the things the municipality actually

4:09:46is needing and every municipality is struggling with this issue. And so we always advocate to the

4:09:51province and to the feds to say, like, give us the certainty that we need. We shouldn't be hopping

4:09:56up and down every other week trying to fill out a new application for some shiny new thing that's

4:10:00happening. If we just had the sustainable funding that we were given, we could plan, we could set

4:10:07our targets, we could have the capacity, we could do the work and we would, there would be no hurdles

4:10:13in the way on a lot of that's there. So I understand that we do get grants and revenue from other

4:10:19levels of government, but so often the frustration is that it's not going to the actual things that

4:10:24we have on this backlog and at corporate asset management list. So that's something I think we

4:10:29can collectively make sure that we are united on if we have those advocacy positions that we need

4:10:34to be talking to other levels of government on. Lastly, I just want to say that I have consistently

4:10:42talked to other people from other cities over the last eight years or so and it comes up more often

4:10:48than you think, oh, I've been talking to your staff about the corporate asset management planning

4:10:53wealth or you guys, didn't you guys win an award for something a couple years in a row? Yes, we did.

4:11:00You guys were doing a seminar somewhere and people were, wealth, wealth, I'm telling you,

4:11:05they're at the top of the list on this corporate asset management stuff. They're always at the

4:11:10top of the list. So you don't get enough credit all of you for what you do. It is, as you said in

4:11:15your presentation, the behind the scenes stuff that people don't see, but it is something that

4:11:21does not go unnoticed by us or by other people that I consistently talked to all the time. Finally,

4:11:26just a little tip. If you guys are getting questions all the time about, oh, why isn't my,

4:11:33I want my road fixed or I want this fixed or whatever, just point them to the corporate asset

4:11:37management plan. Just point them to there because that is the guidebook and because it's required

4:11:43through legislation by the province, it's a very easy answer to the public to say we have to follow

4:11:51this. It's a requirement and it doesn't mean that your road jumps that road or whatever. This is the

4:11:57list. We're doing really good, but we have to follow it. It's always a kind of a nicer answer

4:12:02when I'm talking to the public about those issues because it is what guides us of what we do here.

4:12:08So thank you very much again. Thanks for letting me say those comments. And with that, it's already

4:12:13been moved and seconded. So I'll call the vote. Is there anyone against this? Nobody. Thank you

4:12:19very much. That's great. And now I know this wasn't your first time and I won't say that the next

4:12:24time you're at the podium. So thank you. All right. This next one's quite easy. It's a consent.

4:12:30Do you want to take it? I don't want me to. Okay. It is for the public services and it is a, this is

4:12:37just a, it's very much administrative, everybody. So it's the Ontario Health Multisector Service

4:12:43Accountability Agreement Declaration of Compliance. It needs council approval or so. We just, we have

4:12:50to, we have to do it every year. And it's that the mayor be authorized to sign the Declaration

4:12:57of Compliance for the Ontario Health Multisector Service Accountability Agreement for the period

4:13:01of April 1st, 2024 to March 31st, 2025. Kate will help me. Downer will second it. I hope I can call

4:13:10a vote. Yes. All those, is anyone not in favour? Okay. That's unanimous. Any other announcements

4:13:19from anybody? Nope. All right. I'm looking for a German. I bet Glosson and Sons will, will,

4:13:25will want it. Yes. All right. The baby will move, will move adjournment and Guller will second.

4:13:33And is there anyone against adjournment? Nobody. Have a great rest of the day. Thank you.