Special Council Meeting

1:01This is the test of the City of Guelph's live streaming capabilities.

1:04This is the test of the City of Guelph's live streaming capabilities.

17:25All right, good afternoon everyone. It is two o'clock Wednesday, July the 16th, 2025.

17:30This is a special City Council meeting. I'd like to call it to order please.

17:35And right off the bat, I will just state that we do have official regrets from Councillor Chu

17:41and Richardson. And after that, we are now standing, if you are able, for

17:48oh Canada. Well, thank you. Just a moment of silent reflection as we continue.

19:24Thank you. And now just for our Indigenous territorial acknowledgement, as we gather,

19:28let us take time to reflect on our privilege to live and work here in Guelph,

19:32a city that's built over rich Indigenous histories. We're guests here and we should reflect upon the

19:38the land, oh my goodness, I will start over. We should reflect upon the responsibility to care

19:43for this land, the people who live here today, and the generations to come. If our actions today

19:48can move us towards reconciliation, we should take pause and make those decisions with intention

19:53and gratitude. This place we call Guelph is served as traditional lands and a place of refuge for

19:58many peoples over time, but more specifically the Anwaran Rock and the Hulna Nishoni. This land is

20:03held as the treaty lands and territory with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

20:07And Guelph lies directly adjacent to the Hulna Min Tract and is part of a long established

20:12traditional hunting grounds for the Six Nations of the Grand River. Many First Nations Inuit and

20:16M.A.T. people who have come from across Turtle Island call Guelph home today.

20:22Thank you and please give me for messing that up there a little bit. Is there any disclosure

20:29of pecuniary interest or any general nature thereof for the items in front of us today?

20:34Hearing or seeing anyone? So just as a flow for today, we're going to have a service profile

20:42presentation, the strategic initiatives and intergovernmental services. We're going to do a

20:46presentation that will be Jodi Sales. And then we are going to hear from the delegations first.

20:52Okay, we're going to hear from the delegations right after that.

20:55And then we are going to go into the future Guelph Progress Report. Okay. So with that, Jodi

21:03Sales, welcome. And the floor is yours. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon. I'm here today to

21:11continue the CAO's commitment to service profile presentations, giving counsel an overview of the

21:17strategic initiatives and intergovernmental services department, who we are, what we do,

21:21and how we work, how our work strengthens relationships across our organization

21:25in our community and with other levels of government. At the heart of it, we're here to

21:29build relationships and support inclusive and equitable access to programs and services

21:34and foster a performance driven culture of trust and accountability. I have the privilege of leading

21:40this team that continues to impress me not only through what they deliver to the organization

21:44and our community, but how they approach it thoughtfully every day. We're driven by a shared

21:49sense of purpose, a commitment to collaboration and a passion for the work that we do. It's that

21:54mix of professionalism, expertise and heart that keeps our work aligned with counsel's vision as

21:59laid out in the future Guelph Strategic Plan. Since I joined this team in 2019, the team has

22:06evolved with 28 full-time staff across four divisions. Community and Affordable Housing,

22:10led by Cush LaMathieu's, is a new addition this year and a significant focus connected to this

22:15EEO's housing objectives. Corporate performance and strategy under Aaron Brittnell's guidance

22:20is the team that will deliver the Corporate Performance Workshop that follows this presentation.

22:25Equity and Community Investment with Alex Goss, who's been a fixture of the city's

22:31community investment work for many years, is also where you find our equity and accessibility

22:35and local immigration team members. And policy and intergovernmental relations driven by Kim

22:41Krochek, who brings a steady hand to what can be a very unsteady portfolio of work. Report through

22:47the CAO's office, aligning our work with the strategic priorities and values that guide the

22:51organization. Our team plays a pivotal role in shaping the Future Guelph Strategic Plan.

22:59Not only do we support its development, ongoing monitoring and reporting, but actively deliver

23:03some of its strategic priorities. Under Future Guelph, our team is directly involved in seven

23:09strategic initiatives. Strengthening Indigenous relations and amplifying our advocacy voice

23:15through the Indigenous Relations Framework and Advocacy Plan. Fostering trust and transparency

23:20by reporting our strategic plan progress and by growing an organizational culture of innovation

23:25and continuous improvement. Embedding equity into policy and decision-making across the organization.

23:32Supporting housing by implementing the 10-year Housing Affordability Strategy

23:36and enhancing community well-being by partnering on and coordinating responses to complex issues

23:42including homelessness, mental health, and substance use. Reflecting on a few of our key

23:48performance indicators, we secured almost $61 million in grant funding, a significant factor

23:54contributing to our 96% Intergovernmental Advocacy Index score. Of this total, $21.4 million was

24:02afforded through the Housing Accelerator Fund, enabling us to improve housing supply and enhance

24:06our affordability efforts. One of those projects is the Affordable Housing Demonstration Project

24:11at Fortine Edinburgh. It will bring a minimum of 12 affordable housing units to Guelph for a period

24:16of 99 years. Additionally, we continue to collaborate with the non-profit sector in Wellington

24:21County. Through this collaboration, we helped bring 97 new shelter, transitional, and supportive

24:26housing spaces online in 2024. We continue to embed equity across the city's work. Six projects

24:35underwent an equity lens review last year. One of the many outcomes of that work was the smudging

24:41policy which includes smudge-ready indoor spaces at three of our community centers, a meaningful

24:46step in advancing reconciliation. On continuous improvement, we're building internal capacity.

24:51Last year, seven staff earned their lean yellow belts, introducing new process improvements to

24:56the organization, while an additional 32 staff completed lean white belt training. By the end

25:02of this month, we'll also have two staff who've completed their green and black belts. This

25:06ongoing investment in staff development results in a stronger and more efficient organization.

25:12Here's how we're delivering on our core service objective through fostering intergovernmental

25:20partnerships. We're also implementing the indigenous relations framework to advance reconciliation and

25:29support meaningful partnerships and mutual learning, and supporting grant and funding

25:33applications to drive forward key infrastructure investments and increase affordability of

25:37strategic priorities that benefit our community. We're also developing a new approach to

25:43funding grant and funding applications to drive forward key infrastructure investments and increase

25:47affordability of strategic priorities that benefit our community. In response to the housing crisis,

25:54we're delivering on our 10-year affordability housing affordability strategy, which includes

25:59maximizing the use of city-owned lands to support affordable housing, strengthening existing

26:04relationships and cultivating new and innovative partnerships, and launching the new seed funding

26:10grant program. We're also advancing a competitive process for a multi-year daytime drop in space

26:16to bridge the gaps in basic needs for individuals experiencing homelessness. Overall, we're focused

26:22on building practical long-term solutions that improve housing and affordability outcomes across

26:27the community. Equity and inclusion are also foundational to our work as caring members

26:35of the community. To nurture a more inclusive, connected, and prosperous city, we're advancing

26:40several key initiatives. We've reviewed our community benefit agreement program to better

26:44support departments working in partnership with community organizations to achieve shared goals.

26:49We're updating the multi-year accessibility plan, developing an internally focused equity action

26:54plan, and strengthening subsidy programs to reduce barriers across city services and programs.

27:00We're also implementing grant programs, including the community grant program, for community

27:05organizations to build alignment between city and community objectives while supporting

27:09opportunities for residents across Guelph. With the renewal of the Guelph-Wellington

27:14local immigration partnership that took place earlier this year, preparations are underway

27:19to launch a welcoming community strategy aimed at better supporting new residents and fostering

27:24a sense of belonging. Finally, we're building a culture of performance excellence to drive

27:35transformational change across the organization. Last year, a corporate reorganization brought

27:40together corporate strategy, project management, and continuous improvement functions aligned

27:45in supporting departments to deliver results more effectively, efficiently, and collaboratively.

27:50We deliver on future Guelph's priorities by collaborating with finance on the budget process,

27:54using business planning and work planning to drive these priorities across the organization,

27:59and reporting to council on our annual process. We're also partnering with the University of

28:04Guelph to tackle shared community issues through the Guelph Lab, which is celebrating its 10-year

28:08anniversary this year. All of this work helps ensure council's strategic priorities are not

28:13only implemented but measured and delivered with excellence. While we continue to face

28:19significant challenges from a shifting geopolitical landscape to affordability pressures and inequities,

28:25these realities don't define us. Instead, they fuel our ongoing commitment to prioritizing

28:30partnerships, striving to reduce systemic barriers, and being adaptable and thinking innovatively.

28:36It drives our organizational need to continue supporting our performance culture,

28:40and invest in data governance and data capability to make better, faster, and more informed decisions.

28:46We remain committed to working across all levels of government and with our community to collaborate

28:51on solutions. From a financial perspective, our 2025 operating budget is $8.3 million,

28:59with $1.2 million recovered through revenues and transfers. A significant portion of our budget,

29:0555%, categorized under other transfers, represents the community benefit agreement program,

29:11and other community investments, such as the $500,000 community grants, which were awarded to

29:1774 not-for-profit organizations in May of this year. We take great pride in delivering value

29:24inside of the organization and with our community partners. On the capital side, the Housing

29:30Accelerator Fund continues to drive our capital investments, with projects funded until 2026.

29:36What isn't fully captured under our capital budget is the scale of grant funding that our

29:40team supports across the organization. I'm incredibly proud of the strategic initiatives

29:47and intergovernmental services team. The talent, diversity of skills and experience, and their

29:52shared commitment to serving this community is what makes this team truly impactful. Regardless

29:57of the challenge or obstacle, they are solution-focused and we always find a path forward. There are

30:02many ways for council in the community to engage with our team, and we look forward to keeping

30:06those connections. Thank you, Jody. We appreciate your presentation and update on

30:15what you and your team are overseeing. So thank you very much. Is there any quick questions at all?

30:21It's a presentation, so we don't usually kind of do that, but is there any quick that needs to follow

30:25up? Okay, one from Councillor Busuttil. Yes, thank you for the presentation. I read the materials

30:30in advance, but in your presentation on slide nine, you made comment that since the renewal of the

30:36local immigration partnership, can you just expand very, very briefly on that? Sure. Through the

30:41mayor to Councillor Busuttil, the local immigration partnership is funded by the federal government

30:46and we've just received a renewal this year that I think takes us through the next three years,

30:52and we actually look forward to sharing a lot more about that welcoming week in September of

30:56this year, so stay tuned. Thank you. Great. Well, thank you very much. Thanks, Jody. Appreciate it.

31:04And what we're going to do now is we're going to move into this section on the future

31:07Guelph Progress Report, but as I mentioned, we're going to go to our delegations.

31:12Laura Jean, that was maybe listed on the agenda has withdrawn. So right off the top, and I saw

31:20you walk in Susan. Susan Watson's going to come up and then we're going to try to get Hugh Whiteley

31:25is in the wings to come in after Susan. Five minutes is the time allotment. You'll hear a chime

31:33at the four minutes and thirty second mark with the thirty second warning that you have left.

31:37I have a presentation and is this a new liquor or how does the

31:45okay, I was still talking. I was still talking. I'm sorry. Just give me a second. Sorry. Yeah. And

31:50that at the end of the at the end of the time allotment, if you could just stay around just in

31:54case myself or my colleagues have a follow up question, that would be great. Now it's over to you.

31:59Okay. Mayor Guthrie and members of Guelph City Council, strategic initiative 7.3.0 of the future

32:07Guelph strategy says quote, attract more people to our parks and programs by making them easier to

32:13access and enjoy. What's missing from this objective is any reference to the fact that we're on track

32:19to incur a massive parkland deficit by the year 2051, a shortage of 174 hectares relative to

32:27projected population. In this context, it's even more urgent that City Council protect our historic

32:33investments in conservation lands within this city. In the 1970s, the City of Guelph contributed

32:40hundreds of thousands of tax dollars towards the assembly of land for the future Hanlon Creek

32:46conservation area. If we were trying to purchase that same land today, it would cost millions.

32:53In the face of looming parkland deficits and population growth, the value of that investment

32:57is priceless. Just over a year ago, the GRCA approved the NISCA management plan. To my knowledge,

33:05that plan has never been presented to Guelph City Council and I'm unclear to what degree it's been

33:09reviewed by staff. Although the NISCA lands comprise 65 hectares within this city, many

33:15citizens likely have no idea what is going on with those lands. The NISCA management plan needs to be

33:22presented to this council at the earliest opportunity. The crown jewel acquisition for the

33:28Hanlon Creek conservation area was the purchase of the former Court Right Waterfowl Park. This

33:34purchase was primarily funded with a grant from the MNR and a tax contribution from the City of

33:39Guelph. The GRCA only contributed 10% of the purchase price under the existing formulas of the day.

33:47Some of you may not be aware that the NISCA management plan contains a now approved recommendation

33:52to declare some of the former Court Right Waterfowl Park lands as surplus and to sell them.

33:59The premise put forward by the GRCA is that these lands were acquired for the Hespeler

34:03Reservoir project and since that project is not going ahead, the lands are therefore no longer needed.

34:11Here in Guelph, we know the true history of the acquisition of the Court Right Waterfowl Park,

34:16which was led and championed by then Mayor Norm Jerry and Ken and Eileen Hamill.

34:21It's all on the public record. I filed an FOI with the GRCA and was sent a copy of this letter

34:28from then Minister of the MNR, Leo Bernier, and you'll note it's small print that you got a copy

34:34by email. The project is Valley Lands Acquisition, Hanlon Creek Conservation Area. The letter

34:40announces a $160,000 grant from the MNR for an expected $320,000 purchase price and it's dated

34:47January 30th, 31st, 1977. Two to three days later, this article appeared in the Guelph

34:55Mercury announcing receipt of the grant and the purchase of the Court Right Waterfowl Park.

35:01The article also detailed the various contributions by the MNR, City of Guelph, and the GRCA.

35:09The GRCA ledger entry for 1977 shows a final purchase price of $300,000.

35:16Because of this discrepancy between the letter and the ledger,

35:20CAO Samantha Lawson told the GRCA Board that the letter retrieved through my FOI is not

35:26for a grant pertaining to the former Court Right Waterfowl Park. I would assert that the Guelph

35:31Mercury article three days later than the letter establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that it is.

35:39I'll also note that individual municipalities do not fund flood control projects. That happens

35:45through watershed wide levies. A master plan for the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area was in the

35:51works for many years and was approved by both the GRCA and the City of Guelph and it was a lack of

35:56funding at the time that stopped it moving forward. Just the one 20-acre parcel the GRCA has decided

36:04is no longer needed could be worth as much as $20 million today. As the title holder, the GRCA would

36:12likely pocket 100% of the sale proceeds even though they only contributed 10% of the purchase price.

36:18We would be left with nothing to show for our investment of tax dollars, no land and no money,

36:23so sad too bad. It's clear from historic documents that former civic leaders work to have the GRCA

36:31purchase the land because they felt that was the best route to protect the land in perpetuity.

36:37That trust is now at a very real risk of being betrayed. This Guelph City Council needs to show

36:44the same leadership demonstrated by civic leaders of the past and champion this project through

36:49to completion. Have the GRCA bring the Vinisca Management Plan to Guelph City Council. This is

36:55an opportunity to leave a legacy for the future. Thank you very much Susan. We appreciate your

37:02presentation. Is there a follow-up to this delegation at this time? There is not. Thank you very much.

37:09And next online is going to be Hugh Whiteley and we're just going to get him to pop on.

37:23And Hugh, we see you on the screen but I think you just need to turn the camera on if you can.

37:38And maybe if the camera isn't working, Hugh, did you want to just try your audio for us? Just maybe

37:44say hello? Am I on now? We can hear you, yes. Okay. Let me just try again to see if I can't get the

37:58camera. Yeah, take your time. Oh. Yeah, the camera isn't working but we can hear you. Okay.

38:14I'll just go ahead without the camera. Okay. Yeah, your timer will start now then. Go ahead.

38:20Greetings Mayor and Council Members. My purpose today is to try to get you interested in what had

38:29been a major wealth project which was the formation of the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area.

38:38You know from Susan Watson's presentation that the master plan was approved by both GRCA

38:45and the City of Guelph. Just to confirm that, I'm reading now from a clipping from the Guelph

38:53Mercury of the 18th of September, 1979. Master plan is unveiled by the GRCA and gets okay.

39:03City Council approved in principle the master plan for the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area

39:10unveiled by the Grand River Conservation Authority Monday. The entire area will take about 20 years

39:19to develop as a passive recreational area, a GRCA spokesman said. And the important part of that is

39:32why is the City of Guelph approving a conservation area for the GRCA? And the answer to that is

39:41because it's a City of Guelph project, the whole acquisition of land for the Hanlon Creek Conservation

39:48Area was initiated by the City of Guelph as a proposal to the GRCA. Every purchase that was made

39:56was made by request by the City of Guelph and with a major contribution from the City as the basis

40:05for its purchase. It's a City of Guelph project and to confirm how important it is in 1971,

40:15Mayor Gehry in opening the Kiwanis Watchtower pointed out that this was the central conservation

40:26area of the City of Guelph and hoped that the watchtower would designate a continued interest

40:35in that project by the City. In 1976 when the property was put up for sale by the Ontario

40:45Waterfowl Research Foundation, Mayor Gehry immediately formed a committee to fund the

40:52acquisition of the land. The committee was joined by the GRCA and the final proposal for the purchase

41:04of the land was something developed by Guelph City Council in emotion and sent to the GRCA

41:11with the mayor as the proponent. So this has a very established history as the City of Guelph

41:20project. The question is why is the City taking no interest at all in the future of this major

41:29rural urban nature park? And the way to answer that question is say we are taking an interest and

41:39to call for the GRCA to bring to the City the current plans for the Nisqa lands and find out

41:48why it is the City isn't doing it and the GRCA is and what the best public interest is for this

41:56project. My impression is that given the interest in urban nature parks, the not only the federal

42:09government is now undertaking these but last year the Ontario Provincial Government established

42:16its first urban nature park in Huxbridge. It's an idea that has caught on and Guelph which was

42:2650 years ago on that path is now offered. It doesn't make sense. Thank you for the time

42:35for making the presentation. Thank you Hugh. Is there a follow-up for Hugh at all from anybody?

42:43Okay, Councillor Cossin go ahead. Hi Mr. Whitley, thank you for the presentation and through you

42:51Mr. Mayor. I just had a question. You have such a good kind of context and understanding of the

42:57history. My question is, you know, do you have any insight as to why it didn't move forward? Because

43:03it seems that there's a bit of a gap there in time based on I think it was the 1982 master plan that I

43:10saw in Susan Watson's presentation. So my question is do you have any history on that? Yes, I have

43:17very definite history on that. The City quite reasonably expected that the province which had

43:25been funding conservation areas and had been a very strong supporter to the amount of seven million

43:37dollars in twenty twenty four dollars or land acquisition for the conservation area. So the

43:47city had every expectation that the final request for a final grant for implementation

43:53would be approved by the MNR and it turned out that the MNR was in the process of getting out of

44:04land acquisition for visits to fund nature parks and although the City of Kitchener was lucky to get

44:17its similar park through the conservation area approvals process, the City didn't get it.

44:29What should have happened is that realizing the province was backing out, the City should have said

44:36well this is important enough we're going to go ahead with it anyway.

44:41But in the period that it took to figure out that MNR wasn't going to come through with the final grant,

44:51interest diminished and people just lost sight of it. Thank you, I appreciate that.

45:02Great, thank you here there's no other questions at this time so thank you very much for your

45:06delegation as well. Very good. Take care. Is Mike Marcolongo here? I don't see Mike.

45:15Oh I'm sorry Mike, sorry you're hiding. Come on forward, sorry. Welcome Mike and again five

45:24minutes for you and you can start whenever you're ready. Martin, call here, I did see you walk in so

45:30you're in the wings okay? Mike, go ahead whenever you're ready. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity

45:36you worshiped members of council. I'm also delegating at point three the GRC presentation

45:42that includes its four years to plan from 2025 to 2029. My name is Mike Marcolongo and I'm with

45:51Environmental Defense. Environmental Defense is a leading community environmental advocacy

45:55organization. We work with government industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe

46:01climate and healthy communities. I'm going to be speaking to the GRC's strat planning priority

46:08of quote building a future-oriented organization and in particular to how the GRCA quote manages

46:15land holdings by balancing conservation and sustainable use, safety and financial responsibility.

46:22Since environmental defense is at the forefront of environmental protection, we have been tracking

46:27provincial legislation including its impacts on conservation authorities. Now I'm sure you remember

46:33Bill 23 going way back is introduced in October of 2022 and the focus at the time was and the

46:43controversy at the time was on streamlining the development process for new housing and on reducing

46:48costs for builders. A key provision in that in Bill 23 was to exempt a significant amount of

46:56development from development charges with little regard to municipalities finances and as you know

47:01that was reversed after some time. A key provision in that bill Bill 23 also that was included in that

47:12bill asked that by December 2024, conservation authorities and there's 36 of them across the

47:18Ontario identify potential conservation lands that could support housing development through an

47:23inventory exercise that they were to undertake. In June 2024 the GRCA identified seven parcels

47:32across the watershed for potential disposition. Those seven parcels represent just under 30 acres.

47:39The vast majority of that acreage or total 23 acres considered for disposal through two parcels

47:45are in the city of Guelph. So over two-thirds of those lands are in this municipality.

47:51One parcel is about 1.5 hectares is off of Victoria Road near Guelph Lake while the balance is

48:00what's called in the Nisga lands or as was known as the Frank Court right Waterfall Park lands.

48:08You heard the proof speakers, conservation heirs that are needed more than ever. I've been

48:12volunteering at the Hillside Festival on the Carpentry crew and I was there last weekend.

48:19I couldn't believe the amount of users in the conservation lands at Guelph Lake

48:26during hot summer weekend. It's incredible. We also know that there is a parkland deficit

48:34in this community and you know we really need to explore opportunities for how we can secure

48:41the Nisga lands and the Frank right Waterfall Park lands. As you also heard it's a legacy

48:48opportunity for the city of Guelph. There was a vision behind the Court right Waterfall Park and

48:56today there's an opportunity to retain those lands for conservation purposes.

49:03That's it for my remarks. Thank you. Thanks Mike. Follow up here for Mike as well or? No.

49:11Thank you very much. Thank you. Sit in the middle next time so I can see you.

49:16All right Martin you're coming down. Appreciate it and then our final one,

49:24Evan. I saw you here as well Evan. Welcome so you're in the wings okay.

49:30And Martin you can speak whenever you're ready to go. I did have a presentation.

49:35Okay yeah we'll make sure we... Oh there it is right there. Go ahead whenever you're ready.

49:39All right that was big. All right I'm Martin Collier, a sustainable transportation planner

49:43and spokesperson for the residents of a space speed rail avenue. We support sustainable transportation

49:49infrastructure where it meets the mobility needs of the most people at the lowest cost but not in

49:54the case of the Emma Earl bridge which exacerbates issues related to public safety, our environment,

49:59participatory planning and city finances especially in a COVID altered and Trump tariff world.

50:06We consider the future of transportation by learning from past history. Future ready Guelph

50:11has a nice ring to it but we are concerned by several points in the progress report

50:15since the seven million dollar bridge takes us backwards. I want to get back to those points

50:20but I first want to just say a couple of recommendations we have make sure it's said.

50:26The RSSA makes these recommendations for the council to call an independent public inquiry

50:33into the emerald bridge failure in terms of planning especially the official plan

50:37environmental assessment, environmental impacts including embodied greenhouse gases,

50:43communications and consultations with the public and First Nations, finance and economics especially

50:49in terms of opportunity costs, community benefits and governance. We also request that we take another

50:57look at the safe zone idea on Spadeville and in other locations where trails meet dangerous streets

51:03like Aramosa because Spadeville is still even after the bridge will be a fiasco in terms of

51:10crossing. So back to my points in terms of the future ready Guelph there's one thing the first

51:17one was that they said they did deep an engagement with the community by actioning the one city one

51:22voice shared purpose plan. The EEB consultations were flawed from the get go I could do a whole

51:28deputation on that. Council divided the community on both sides of the speed even though 90% of

51:34people didn't support the bridge. Also award two councillors having kept community informed

51:39since March even after we requested it in mid June. Staff also provided limited information to the

51:46public for example one day notice was given of the construction on March 13th and two random

51:52social media announcements have been made since then yet they have meetings every two weeks with

51:57the construction firm. One staff implied that I was a NIMBY and the former CEO said we were distributing

52:03propaganda. Guelph citizens and media are unaware of destruction going on. Why was there no groundbreaking

52:10ceremony for a photo app as was done for the Baker Street Library South End Community Center in

52:15Wellington recent Wellington Street reconstruction. I figured council is too embarrassed that this

52:20destructive project goes against Guelph's supposedly progressive reputation. The report also says that

52:26staff will continue to remove barriers and build greater equity within existing programs and policies

52:32and also develop two new policies concerning indigenous relations. The Emerald Bridge doesn't

52:38help a majority of vulnerable road users traveling along and across Speedvale and one of the 10 valid

52:43reasons we submitted in our bump up request to the Ministry of Environment was to ensure indigenous

52:49treaty holders were consulted on the project. Local indigenous communities were never consulted

52:54so much for real meaning behind the land acknowledgement you read at every public meeting.

52:59The report also mentions the progress on South End Community Center and Baker Street Library but not

53:04nine million dollars for the Speedvale-Willich intersection nor the Emerald Bridge. The tender

53:10is the clear cutting and the increased price from 2.3 million to 7 million. The report mentions

53:16several park projects have been delayed. I'm not sure if this is because 7 million has been

53:21allocated to the Emerald Bridge. It also talks about climate change action and those are highlighted

53:26in yellow or red which are not good and as these photos here show and they're very small I'm sorry

53:32to say it's really been extremely depressing to watch the destruction of Speed River habitat due

53:38to this bridge to nowhere. Even though it's proposed to reduce emissions due to increased

53:42biking walking it should be analyzed for embodied greenhouse gases spewed during construction

53:47operations. This includes emissions from materials and equipment which have been imported from Texas,

53:53UK, Germany, China, South Korea and subsequently from Ontario and Quebec. In terms of transportation

53:59we have counted over 40 companies involved with the bridge since habitat destruction started four

54:05months ago. All construction engineers, contractors and laborers live outside wealth and drive their

54:11F-150s from locations 50-150 kilometres away. Anyways I have to go fast here. Even more

54:19concerning is the fact that the city is not building Emerald Bridge in accordance with the

54:22provincially approved environmental assessment. I can tell you about habitat protection. You can

54:26ask me about the city staff. It said the 98 meter bridge would cost 1.8 million and then 2.6 million

54:34even as recently as March 2023 as I said 7 million. We assume the cost of 1 kilometre of

54:40on-street separated bike lane is $70,000. We could be building 100 kilometres of bike lanes to

54:45create a real network including the G2G trail that there is currently no money for. Okay I'm

54:51going to have to thank you Martin. Thank you. I'll let you go a little bit further there. Thank you.

54:58Is there any specific questions for this delegation? Okay Councillor Clauss.

55:06Actually Mr. Redd, this question is just quickly for you. I was wondering if I could just correct

55:10something in the delegates, in what they were saying regarding communications.

55:17Or should that wait and I could ask staff.

55:20Is it communications from staff or from yourself that you're trying to clarify?

55:25From ourselves. Yeah then that would be a point of personal privilege.

55:33But I would ask that, oh sorry just one second Councillor. I would just ask that I will allow

55:38that but after to see if there's any questions to the delegate personally okay. Hopefully I can

55:43respond to. And there, no. So there isn't. Always one way question. Yeah so there's no questions.

55:51Thank you. Appreciate your your delegation's done then. Okay Martin.

55:56No. No there's no questions but we appreciate your delegation. So back to you Councillor Clauss.

56:09And you said a point of personal privilege then that you can you can take that at this time.

56:14Thank you Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to clarify that Councillor Rodriogaler and I sent a newsletter on

56:21May 13th with construction updates that are listed on the city website. And there are there is an

56:28update there specifically about the Emma to Earl Bridge. So there there has been communications

56:32done on from our perspective on that and it was back in May. Okay thank you for clarifying that.

56:41We appreciate it. It's good to have that on the public record so thank you. We're going to go

56:47to our next delegation and the last is Evan. You're coming on down Evan. Thank you. Thank you Mr.

57:10Mayor and members of Council. With me today is my colleague Anshu and Sha who did much of the

57:17research on this project and he's here to assist with potential questions from Council members.

57:23Let me cut to the chase. Emerge believes that it's very important to remove the Allen's dam

57:29as soon as possible. The usual again. Sorry can you just I just couldn't hear it. Remove the what

57:35sorry to remove the Allen's dam as soon as possible. Yeah sorry about that. This issue has become very

57:42evident to us as a result of the downtown renewal project of which Allen's dam and the Macdonnell

57:47bridge are key components. Simply stated this is about this is to protect life to protect property

57:54to prepare to be prepared for changing patterns of extreme weather weather caused climate change

58:02to reverse the negative impact as well as to reverse the negative impacts this dam has had on

58:06the natural environment. We believe that the Allen's dam situated below Macdonnell street

58:12bridge has the potential of making extreme weather flooding in the city even worse. Allen's dam appears

58:18to be the most profound river structure with within the city with that presents this problem.

58:24Keeping the dam in place creates an artificially high level of water that could make flooding worse

58:31by removing it. We could lower the floodplain by between one and three meters. Let me get down

58:36to the weeds in a bit. Some flooding occurs. Some flooding actually occurred as recently as April

58:424th this year in the backyards of as many as of many of the 80 houses that back onto the river along

58:49along Arthur stream Arthur Street rather up street from the dam and up street and north of the dam.

58:55That was 60 millimeters of rainfall that was that resulted in the water of the water level

59:01getting to such a point that it was only itches below the Macdonnell street bridge. We understand

59:06that the GRCA flood plan mapping is based on hurricane Hazel Rainfalls hurricane Hazel from

59:11the 1950s with rainfalls in excess of 200 millimeters of rain in a short period of time.

59:19The frequency of extreme weather events are increasing. That means that we need to be prepared

59:25for that level of rain. Last summer Toronto saw 100 millimeters in one day and I think we all

59:32saw the outcome of that and the I believe it was hundreds of millions of dollars of impact that that

59:37had and just to put a fine point on this the most significant southern Ontario rainfall occurred in

59:45the township of Harrow Ontario south of south of Windsor in 1989 when they received 450 millimeters

59:51of rain within a 30 30 hour time period and that caused that flood caused many citizens of the

59:58community to be displaced. By our estimations the lives of more than 4,000 people and their 900

1:00:06properties in Guelph are at risk of being flooded based on the current floodplain mapping and our

1:00:12entire city of 150,000 people is at risk if the sewage treatment plant once again situated on that

1:00:19floodplain is affected. The GRCA is currently conducting a study of the of the Speed River hydraulic

1:00:29modeling of the of the Speed River area from Guelph all the way to the confluence of the Speed

1:00:35River and the Grand River in Cambridge and we strongly recommend that the city request that

1:00:42this study should also include modeling of the flood impacts of removing the the structures

1:00:48within the river and specifically the Alonstown. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much to the

1:00:56both of you for your presentation. Is there a follow-up at this time or maybe with staff as a

1:01:01takeaway or to the delegates to the delegates? Sorry Councillor Boussette and then Gower okay.

1:01:07Thank you very much for the presentation. Just a quick question of whether or not you've had

1:01:11contact with the GRC and made this delegation and presentation and what the response has been.

1:01:16We haven't made this presentation to them but we were in a series of questions going back and

1:01:21forth with GRCA staff just trying to have an understanding of how that modeling takes place

1:01:27so it was more on a very technical basis so the the assumptions we came to were not only based on

1:01:33those conversations all on by email I should say but also an awful lot of research that that we've

1:01:38done in in in some of the historic well weather patterns as well as anecdotally April 4th was

1:01:45was quite a wake-up call and if you ask any of the households that back on to their it's not

1:01:51infrequent that they that they fled in the spring time. Just a quick supplemental and through the

1:01:57mayor will you be going forward to delegate and present to the GRCA at all? Through you Mr. Mayor

1:02:05I think that's an excellent suggestion and we'll definitely take it back with us and see what we

1:02:10can do on that. Great thank you. Gawler and just a quick clarification. Karine did I see your hand

1:02:18go up as well or no? I have questions of staff. Okay perfect yeah thank you so it's going to go to

1:02:27Gawler and then last will be Alt. Okay thank you. Thank you for your presentation Mr. Ferrari.

1:02:33Could you go back you mentioned that there is a water flow modelling study could you tell me

1:02:38that's currently being done by the GRCA as you mentioned? In the presentation that you'll be

1:02:43seeing shortly by the GRCA there's reference to that study in reading mind you these were short

1:02:50brief notes on on on the presentation but it makes reference to it I thought it it meant that it was

1:02:57completed in 2024 but I believe it started in 2024 so we've scraped the the GRCA website looking for

1:03:06the completed report and we're unable to find it so we're assuming that it's still it's still

1:03:11undergoing it's still in the process of going what we also did was that we looked at the we looked

1:03:18at the criteria that went out to the to the consultants and what they were expected to report

1:03:23back on and modelling for the possibility of removing hard structures from you know from the

1:03:29river valley wasn't wasn't part of the part of the request for quotations. Okay okay thank you for

1:03:35that now you mentioned that your request is that that well City Council advocate for the removal

1:03:42of of the Bradshaw at least exploring the removal would there not be negative impacts to removing

1:03:48them that has been there for a long time with you know an ecosystem that has built up behind it?

1:03:54I think the the the benefits by far outweigh them both on the natural habitat side of it and also

1:04:02from the from the the protection of life and property side of things that the net benefits are

1:04:10definitely significant there's no question that for almost 200 years it's been a heritage feature

1:04:18within Guelph and it's also changed the predator-prey relationship and my colleague in Shul can

1:04:25can deal with more more data on that but it's it's definitely somewhat argue that there's a

1:04:31natural heritage value to it but it has significantly altered the natural heritage value of the area

1:04:36they're always going to be negatives and I suspect that some of the people who live along there

1:04:40won't be happy to see that pond leave if indeed that's the outcome of the study and our request is

1:04:47essentially to ask the City to advocate to include that kind of data we're happy to be proven wrong

1:04:53but from from from our analysis to date that it certainly appears that it could be some really

1:04:58low hanging fruit especially within the context of the the downtown renewal project which we all

1:05:05know that that's an incredible puzzle that that you're trying to deal with there and I I'm glad

1:05:11I don't have to be the person organizing that one okay I appreciate it thank you so much for the

1:05:16delegation thank you worship just before you go councillor Allt as the last question okay thank you

1:05:21mayor Guthrie through you to the delegates mr. Ferrari and I'm sorry I can't remember your

1:05:30name and sure and I'm neither a hydrologist nor an engineer so I'm not going to debate any of those

1:05:36issues but there are a couple of things first of all historically I know that the dam was put

1:05:40there because of Alan's mill and the need to to to use it as grist so it had an economic function

1:05:47but more importantly I'm intrigued by your notion that this would complement downtown renewal

1:05:54and I'm just wondering if you could elaborate that because the only way that I can think that it is

1:05:58might move the geese along that use that so if you could expand upon that please

1:06:04thank you mr. mayor I won't go down the geese path I promise I know it's been a difficult one for

1:06:11the city but through you mr. mayor to to the councillor my reference to downtown renewal isn't

1:06:19because it has anything to do with the downtown other than the structure of the study for the

1:06:27for that bridge area falls under the city staff at least the way we we read it on the

1:06:33website that it falls under that so it's it's not about Wyndham street or a priority so it's about

1:06:38that area of of road you know the road structure the rebuilding of the of the of the bridge it

1:06:45what a more perfect time than to do this kind of study to determine whether this is a good thing to

1:06:49go forward on thank you very much thank you both very much next time you up you speak okay not

1:06:58all right well we appreciate it and have a good rest of the day okay thank you all right everybody

1:07:06thank you to all the delegations just before we move along um just moving back to staff is there any

1:07:14any comments from staff on what we've heard from delegations that anyone would like to to speak of

1:07:21okay our CAO our deputy CAO first oh we're going back yeah yeah okay go ahead thank

1:07:29thanks mr. mayor I just wanted to I'm just going to start um and I'll hand it over to

1:07:35DCA homes um I just wanted to say just kind of first to uh to the delegate that talked about the

1:07:41emmendural bridge um and just just really completely reject any of those allegations

1:07:48that were suggested about the improper um execution of that of that project in any way

1:07:55actually the chance to visit the site just last month the staff professional staff are doing an

1:08:02excellent job trying to navigate the complexity of that site while protecting the environmental

1:08:08and navigating you know the challenges of the environmental pieces there and and they're just

1:08:13doing a really great job and so I just really wanted to say that that none of those allegations

1:08:17are true um and this it was a really critical community priority and so we're executing on the

1:08:24the direction of of council um as it relates to the GRCA I'm just going to ask Jane to uh step in

1:08:34through um to counsel through you mr. mayor so um it seems all the delegations were about my projects

1:08:41today so maybe I'll just go through them one by one um in terms of the uh delegations associated with

1:08:48the NISCA lands I do want to assure council and um and the delegations that this has not fallen off

1:08:54our radar we have actually been in very deep discussions with the GRCA for the last couple of

1:08:59years um I think that we can appreciate that the GRCA has been going through some changes they've

1:09:05been working on their land management plan and actually uh we're anticipating that uh they are

1:09:10going to be coming to the board to their board um in the next couple of months and as soon as we get

1:09:17the results of that we will be issuing a report to council to come and update you on everything

1:09:22that you've heard so all the historical information that you have heard um any agreements that we have

1:09:31and what the future uses of anything might be so but we do need a decision from the GRCA first I

1:09:37just want to assure you that we have been in lockstep with our GRCA partners um in terms of um in

1:09:44terms of these lands um in terms of the amateur Earl bridge um again I appreciate the um the input

1:09:54from a council class in just in regards to some of the communications again this is one of those

1:09:59projects that goes through an environmental assessment process that the whole reason why an

1:10:04environmental assessment process exists is because it ensures that any um government spending or

1:10:11public spending has to go through a public engagement process and we we followed that

1:10:16it has to get approved through the ministry of the environment um we did get um approval from them

1:10:22to proceed uh with this project so I just want to give you assurance um again that we have gone through

1:10:29all those communications and those processes with um with all the regulating bodies and again

1:10:36in lockstep with the GRCA I do want to say that we do have a website that you can go that have

1:10:44a lot of information on that website in terms of how that project is going it is going really well

1:10:49at this point I will say what we're going to be on schedule we are going to be likely on budget so

1:10:55I'm I'm happy to say that and again as with any of our projects if there are any questions because

1:11:00we understand construction is sometimes complicated it's not always um evident from the outside what

1:11:06some of those processes are um or what might be happening we're happy to answer those so

1:11:11if anybody would like to reach out to us we we offer that as well and finally with the the

1:11:17last delegation in terms of the Mack Dennell and Allen bridge we do have an EA that's currently

1:11:21ongoing again with environmental assessment there are um outreach and public engagement

1:11:30requirements that we have to meet and we have been doing those and again working in lockstep with

1:11:36our partners with the GRCA we are expecting that that a report will be coming back to council

1:11:41in October of this year so I just want to so it sounds like fall's going to be a big time for all

1:11:47these projects to be coming back in front of you so I just want to give you that assurance that

1:11:52even though at this time we're not able to give a lot of information that it will be forthcoming

1:11:57shortly well thank you for jumping in just to give a little bit of a response there to what we heard

1:12:03just to kind of you know have a have it out in the open right away I think I think that's that's

1:12:08important so thank you very much um what we're going to do now is we're going to take a we're

1:12:13good to just looking at my clock here we're gonna take a five minute break okay just move around for

1:12:18five minutes just because we come back and then we're going to have the the big presentation

1:12:22from our staff on the future wealth progress report so why don't we why don't we just take the

1:12:29oh sorry yeah councillor Caron did you want to yeah I had questions of staff

1:12:35GRCA file on the or should I wait for the staff presentations first yeah is that okay councillor

1:12:42we're just good yeah we're going to go through every single you know portion of the

1:12:49of the different departments and different services and boards that are going to come up

1:12:53and and then as the like when the GRCA one comes up I'm going to go back and forth between either

1:12:59the delegate who's speaking on behalf of the GRCA and then to staff and then the police one it would

1:13:05be the person speaking on the path of the police and then to staff if need be so I'll always go back

1:13:10and forth between the presenter and to staff under each one as we move through them all okay

1:13:14I'll put you number one on the list for GRCA okay so let's take a let's take a five six minute

1:13:20break okay we'll just walk around and we'll be we'll be back in just a moment everybody all right

1:19:12this is your one minute warning everybody all right 30 second warning everybody all right I'll

1:21:23call the meeting back to order everybody okay let's look into make sure we have quorum we do have

1:21:31quorum if the others come online that would be great all right so we're going to move through

1:21:38the presentation and things are going to kick off sort of internal with our own staff with

1:21:43coming up to the microphone and presenting and then we're going to go to our outside boards

1:21:49and other services to come one by one we'll have several from our own staff did the presentation

1:21:55just wait till they're all done and then when that's done we can do a general questions to staff of

1:22:00course and then as we move into the next section which is all the outside boards we'll go one by

1:22:04one by one okay so Tara Baker our CAO is going to kick us off go right ahead okay great thank you

1:22:13Mr. Mayor members of council really really pleased to be here today I'm joined with our executive

1:22:20team as well as our our staff to present the first full year of reporting under the future

1:22:27wealth strategic plan this report highlights many accomplishments from the year of 2024 it also

1:22:33speaks to areas we will need to continue to improve on as we work towards our goals over the next

1:22:38years of the future wealth plan reporting on progress is one way we lead with accountability

1:22:44and meaningful reporting is critical as we move towards being more data driven as an organization

1:22:50we continue to work hard to improve the way we are collecting and reporting on progress this work

1:22:56includes managing and leveraging our data assets we've also invited our local boards and shared

1:23:01service agencies to share their progress today I'd like to thank them for being here and for their

1:23:06continued partnership to get us started I will hand this over to Jody sales our general manager of

1:23:12strategic initiatives and intergovernmental services thank you thanks CAO Baker our focus for the city's

1:23:23portion portion of the agenda will be on reporting progress made in 2024 on the future wealth 2024

1:23:30to 2027 strategic plan in a moment Aaron Brittnall our manager of corporate performance and strategy

1:23:36will highlight our progress on strategic initiatives and provide you with an update on our key performance

1:23:40indicators as we continue to evolve as a modern responsive organization the role of data in

1:23:48decision-making has never been more critical the volume of data we produce manage and organize

1:23:55continues to grow at a rapid pace every interaction transaction and service generates valuable

1:24:01information and when we harness that data effectively it becomes a powerful tool for change

1:24:07data driven decision-making helps us find efficiencies reduces bias and allocates resources

1:24:12where they're needed the most it allows us to unlock key insights identify emerging trends

1:24:18and calculate the real impact of our actions by grounding our decisions in evidence we not only

1:24:23improve outcomes but also build greater trust with our community as we move forward our ability to

1:24:29manage and leverage leverage data is central to how we will plan prioritize and deliver services

1:24:35that matter two strategic plans ago we started introducing KPIs as part of our strategic plan

1:24:42and last year we were able to report on 58 percent of our KPIs on an annual basis I'm proud to say

1:24:51that we are now reporting 100 percent of the KPIs in future wealth this is evidence of the progress

1:24:57we've made towards accountability and transparency in our reporting I'll now turn it over to our

1:25:03manager of corporate performance and strategy to lead us through an update on our 2024 progress

1:25:16so thank you miss sales and it's my pleasure to be here today to share the results for 2024

1:25:22I'd like to recognize that while we are here to speak to the results this represents a true

1:25:27team effort our DCAO's who are whose teams are leading so much of the work that we are speaking

1:25:32to today are here as well to answer any questions related to specific projects and measures within

1:25:37their areas so let's start with the foundations theme this is all about internal investments needed

1:25:45to position wealth to provide excellent services and programs while maintaining both fiscal

1:25:50responsibility and accountability so under this theme nearly three quarters of our strategic

1:25:58initiatives were on track at the end of 2024 and nearly three quarters of our KPIs met the target

1:26:05or were in their baseline year for collecting data while we can't cover every initiative and

1:26:13kpi in this presentation we did want to highlight a few success stories and accomplishments under

1:26:19each theme starting with foundations so through an extensive engagement process with indigenous

1:26:25peoples within and around wealth the city developed the indigenous relations framework

1:26:30which was approved by council in september this framework aims to not only advance reconciliation

1:26:35but also improve the lives of indigenous peoples living and working in wealth while strengthening

1:26:41our connections with the mississauga's of the credit first nation six nations of the grand river

1:26:46and grand river mayt council secondly the future and focus advocacy advocacy plan was also developed

1:26:54to support our effective advocacy work and maintain strong partnerships with other levels of government

1:26:59examples of successful grants secured through other levels of government include the 21.4 million

1:27:07housing accelerator fund the 13.5 million green and inclusive communities grant to support the

1:27:13construction of the new central library and the 4.5 million dollar building faster fund now if we

1:27:21move over to our KPIs under foundations we are ahead of schedule with our work to complete a

1:27:28comprehensive land inventory list over 99 percent of non-right-of-way lands owned by the city have

1:27:35an inventory and have an assigned use in addition the city maintained its triple a financial rating

1:27:41in 2024 while the rates of property taxes and utilities rates as a share of household income

1:27:47remain comparable to similar size municipalities in ontario as was mentioned previously our work

1:27:54in improving our performance reporting has also led us to being able to report on 100 percent of

1:27:58our KPIs annually which is a significant increase over previous years so moving over we're going

1:28:07to talk about city building which is about supporting our housing growth and wealth while

1:28:12investing in city infrastructure and programming under this theme two-thirds of strategic initiatives

1:28:20were on track and 80 percent of KPIs met their targets for 2024 in 2024 the city continued to

1:28:30remove barriers to increasing housing supply the city's housing ready efforts have advanced all eight

1:28:38of the city-led housing pledge actions including permitting up to four units as of right on a low

1:28:44density residential property to help address the missing middle housing in addition construction

1:28:50of both the south end community center and baker street library continue in 2024 with both projects

1:28:57on track to be completed in 2026 under the KPIs we saw our transit ridership ink was

1:29:07our transit ridership was 14 percent above expected levels with nearly eight million passenger

1:29:12trips accounted for in 2024 addition the percentage of daily trips taken without a personal automobile

1:29:20including walking biking or transit has increased over historical levels to 24 percent of trips

1:29:26as of the last reporting period these results show progress on a goal to improve movement across the

1:29:32city and will be key to managing traffic congestion and parking issues as the city continues to grow

1:29:42now let's turn our attention to updates around the environment theme this theme speaks to our

1:29:47role in environmental stewardship to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy use protect

1:29:52and improve our green spaces and support community climate change action now our progress under the

1:30:00environment theme in 2024 does demonstrate where more work is needed for us to meet our

1:30:04aggressive long-term targets with 38 percent of strategic initiatives in the environment

1:30:10theme on track and 44 percent of our KPIs meeting their targets however there are some great stories

1:30:19of progress being being made in this area for us to celebrate major investments in electrification

1:30:25put us on track to reach our goal of 15 percent electric fleet vehicles by 2028 light duty vehicles

1:30:32followed by gulf transit buses are leading the categories in our transition to electrified

1:30:38or electrified fleet over 24 000 trees were planted through city led efforts in 2024

1:30:47that's just 20 percent more than the number that was planted in 2023 this does leave us

1:30:54a little short of our targeted level of tree canopy by 2070 but definitely meaningful progress

1:31:02finally our corporate and community greenhouse gas emissions continue to trend lower than our

1:31:062018 baselines however more reduction is needed to meet our 2050 target of net zero emissions

1:31:17when it comes to water consumption we are not only meeting but have moved beyond our target

1:31:21for community water consumption thanks to our initiatives to reduce water usage such as infrastructure

1:31:26maintenance rebates incentives and educational programs the gulf greener homes program has seen

1:31:33strong interest from the community with over 600 wealth property owners registered and 195

1:31:38having completed renovations at the end of 2024 more reporting on our environmental initiatives

1:31:45can be found in our recently released environmental sustainability report our last theme is people

1:31:55in the economy which is all about supporting our local economy businesses and people in the city of

1:32:01gulf we did not have the chart here but end of this area 75 percent of our strategic initiatives

1:32:13were on track in 2024 while 70 percent of kpi's either met their targets or a status of monitoring

1:32:19our baseline so as you can see by the construction happening downtown the city is moving forward with

1:32:25its downtown renewal program the city has made significant investments in infrastructure redevelopment

1:32:31and transportation over the next 10 years to make downtown gulf an even stronger cultural and civic hub

1:32:36for the city and wider area as of the end of 2024 the city has made significant progress by completing

1:32:42the windem street north environmental assessment finalizing the design for windem street north

1:32:48and developing the capital implementation plan enhancements to gulf wellington paramedic services

1:32:56including the addition of 12 hours of daily paramedic coverage have led to improved performance in

1:33:01response times response times for the two most serious categories of patients are now performing

1:33:07above our target the total industrial commercial institutional or ici value of construction did

1:33:14reduce significantly in 2024 compared to historical levels and you won't be surprised to know that this

1:33:20value lower value of building projects is mainly because of high interest rates as well as the

1:33:24political and economic uncertainties influencing development i'm now going to turn it over to

1:33:31eric campbell strategy and performance reporting advisor who's going to give you a tour of our new

1:33:38our new and improved uh website that is going to has launched this morning so there you go

1:33:48thank you miss britnell i'm pleased to present a preview of our new progress reporting site

1:33:54available at progress dot gulf dot c a the site will be the permanent home for current and future

1:33:59results of the future gulf strategic plan so that anyone can monitor how our results are trending

1:34:04over time the design will allow us to present the latest data on our indicators as they become

1:34:09available throughout the year meaning more real-time information available to showcase our latest

1:34:14progress the website is built around the four themes of the future gulf strategic plan here's

1:34:21an example of the foundation's theme page which provides a high-level explanation of what the

1:34:26objectives in the theme are meant to accomplish as well as an explanation of the statuses of the

1:34:30strategic initiatives here's another part of the foundation's theme page which shows the latest

1:34:37results for objective three lead with accountability you can see the four initiatives under the

1:34:42objective their status at the last update and an overview of the most recent results of the

1:34:47key performance indicators attached to the initiatives all these elements are clickable

1:34:52to allow users to explore any of the results in more detail for example let's say you clicked on

1:34:58initiative 3.1 increase trust and transparency through strategic plan reporting here's a snapshot

1:35:06of what you would see when you click on that initiative it gives a breakdown of the status of

1:35:10the initiative in scope schedule and budget categories as well as commentary on the recent

1:35:15performance a link to the associated kpi and a link to any other web pages that are related in

1:35:21this case a link to the future gulf strategic plan home page clicking on the kpi card you can view a

1:35:30detailed set of information including past and present results targets desired direction for

1:35:35the indicator an explanation of how and why this indicator was chosen as a kpi and narrative commentary

1:35:41explaining current results we would like to encourage members of council as well as the

1:35:45general public to explore the full set of results at progress dot gulf dot ca i'll now turn it back

1:35:52to jody sales we'll talk about the future of performance reporting in the city as well thanks

1:35:58eric we should probably say it one more time progress dot gulf dot ca looking ahead one of our

1:36:04key priorities is increasing the timeliness of our key performance indicator results so that

1:36:09council staff in the community can have access to more current data to inform decisions we're also

1:36:14enhancing our ability to identify trends by incorporating historical data and adding new

1:36:18information each year this will help better understanding long-term patterns and how they

1:36:24impact our actions over time transparency remains our central focus we're working to make performance

1:36:29data more accessible and easier to understand so residents can see how we're doing and where we're

1:36:33headed i'll now um with the support of all of the city's general managers and our deputy caos who

1:36:40are available it takes an army to put together the report that's before you today um i'll turn it over

1:36:46for any questions thank you all very very much and right off the topic 100 compliance on the kpis

1:36:59is amazing so thank you very very much for doing that um what i'm going to do is i'm going to ask

1:37:09just one moment yeah what i'll do is i'll ask for the recommendation to be tabled

1:37:17first uh it's just to receive would someone be willing to do that for me i'll do kateen and

1:37:24busatil i saw here so kateen seconded by busatil and then is there any direct questions on the

1:37:31presentation um before we get into the rest yeah okay councillor Allt thank you margaret three i i

1:37:39didn't know where to ask this so i think it should just ask it right now and if it's appropriate

1:37:43if it's inappropriate i do apologize and uh you can stop me um i appreciate uh within the

1:37:52presentation that we talked about performance and in particular uh reference was made to the the

1:37:57paramedics response time and i'm very happy about that but one of the questions that i always get

1:38:03and i know that i'll get it tomorrow when i go to the guave mens club is the issue of cost and in

1:38:10particular overtime um with the paramedics with the police and with um with fire uh how do we reconcile

1:38:19performance with such things as overtime and unbudgeted overtime that that's i think very important

1:38:25for the public so through the margaret councillor Allt i can certainly speak about fire and paramedics

1:38:31and so we're actually uh in process of undertaking that work right now to do an analysis on our

1:38:36overtime um obviously i think it goes without saying that we will bring staff in on overtime to

1:38:41make sure that we are responding to 911 calls um in other areas of the city we can sometimes adjust

1:38:46service if we need to um to avoid incurring of overtime but within the fire and paramedic

1:38:50services and i i don't want to speak for police but i think it's probably safe to say in the

1:38:54emergency services that overtime does get incurred in order to make sure that we're maintaining

1:38:59minimum levels of service um we do uh do everything that we can to mitigate and manage overtime and

1:39:04look at flexible staffing options where we can um within for for uh in paramedics for example

1:39:11we look to uh where we can hire additional staff um we do have the ability to have part-time staff

1:39:16within paramedics and so sometimes we can bring on more in order to try to keep our overtime costs

1:39:21low um but the other uh significant factor is uh is wsib and the presumptive legislation um and so

1:39:28your question is timely because we are actually adding a report to september committee of the

1:39:33whole i believe i'm just yes teres nodding i'm trying to remember the date um that is a joint

1:39:37report between our hr team our fire chief and our paramedic chief um where we will be providing an

1:39:42overview to council on the impacts um of the presumptive legislation for emergency services

1:39:47and what that means from a wsib leave point of view um because that has a significant impact on

1:39:52our overtime so we're doing that in uh in september because there will be some information that will

1:39:57be important for you to have an advance of budget thanks you don't need to answer it now

1:40:02probably bring up that presumptive legislation in september because i think there's a there's not

1:40:07an understanding within the public about what that actually means and the financial impact of it

1:40:13as well and you're quite correct i should have said emergency services i i will i see the chief

1:40:18of police is here now i'm going to ask them about their ot as well and presumptive legislation thank

1:40:24you and finally councillor downer uh thank you so i just um a while ago you remember we won the 10

1:40:34million put up do the circular food econ i think was circular food economy and we see in here that

1:40:40we're doing a circular economy framework but that's been delayed can you sort of give me a status on

1:40:46that through the mayor to councillor downer i believe dca homes is probably best to address

1:40:56as i believe that works it's with our solid waste part because i saw it in the in one of the

1:41:02in the chart that it had been delayed or deferred or um because there was a lot of talk afterwards

1:41:08that we would still be continuing that work and then that we were going to develop this framework

1:41:13through the mayor to council downer so i don't have the exact details i'll try and get those to you

1:41:18when i know that is being undertaken as part of our group under environmental services so

1:41:24there's different programs in there where we are doing outreach to the community and we are

1:41:30working on ways in which we can still keep some of those some of those programs going i'm sorry i

1:41:35don't have the exact details but i'm happy to get that's fine if you consider see how it's going

1:41:39get a status on that because we used to get uh kpis or stats on waste diversion and i haven't seen

1:41:47that for many years um so i don't know where where we are with waste diversion at all but

1:41:54i think it should be part of a kp kp just like we have on water conservation like we we know where

1:42:00we're on that but i don't have i don't know if it should be part of that or if it's something else

1:42:05or if it's going to be part of the circular economy framework and i know because of the

1:42:09blue blocks transition things are a little different and i don't know what's going on so

1:42:14um through the through the mayor to council down if i could just add so um some of those kpis

1:42:19will be in our sustainability report um that used to come to council a little bit differently it's

1:42:25now issued um directly on our website so some of those diversion targets that you're talking about

1:42:30are part of that report so when i get some information specifically on the circular economy

1:42:34i'll include the link for that that report as well thank you through the mayor uh to counselor

1:42:40downer if i can just add if you go to progress dot wealth dot ca at the bottom of that homepage

1:42:44you'll find a button that says additional reports and if you click on additional reports that will

1:42:48take you to the report that dca homes just spoke about great sorry what's that website again

1:42:59everybody now all right uh sorry that's that's a bad joke okay we're going to go to our outside

1:43:10boards and services next uh thank you very much oh i gotta call the vote i think i think i only

1:43:16moved in second to the motion for receive i don't think i called the vote am i right okay good

1:43:20i'm gonna call the vote is anyone against receiving that person's presentation nobody okay

1:43:24perfect now we're going to go to the outside boards and services and we're kicking things off

1:43:30with our downtown uh wealth business association and not online yet no okay no we i knew i knew

1:43:41not in person i thought maybe online but we'll skip over that and we'll continue on

1:43:46unless i'm sorry unless is there any questions of staff in regards to anything with the dgba

1:43:53okay the elliot is up next and i don't have my glasses where i'm going is michelle here online

1:44:05okay great and martin as well both from okay michelle and and martin it's uh it's mayor guthrie

1:44:20we're just wondering if you want to try to turn your camera on for us just wondering uh whoa michelle

1:44:48i think i see you coming on here just gotta turn the video on and just unmute for us boom perfect

1:44:59michelle can you just test your mic for us yes can you hear me now we can thank you very much

1:45:06thank you very much for joining us we really appreciate it and uh whenever you're ready to

1:45:11walk us through the performance report we're ready for you so you go right ahead great thank you very

1:45:18much and uh so today uh good afternoon mayor guthrie counselors and staff today martin rio and

1:45:25myself uh we'll be providing you with an update on the elliot's performance in 2024 if you could go

1:45:32to the next slide please thank you as a recap as many of you may be aware the elliot was established

1:45:41in 1903 which marks 122 years of service to the gulf community in 2024 we provide four levels of care

1:45:49which includes now 114 people living in long-term care 121 people living in supportive retirement

1:45:58assisted living and transitional care and we have 78 life's lease suites on our campus this is

1:46:06supported by a team of 225 staff and 35 volunteers who contributed over 2100 hours in 2024 next slide

1:46:16please the strategic comparatives of the elliot are as follows enhance the experience of those who

1:46:28live here bring out the best in everyone create community partnerships with purpose and lastly

1:46:36focus on financial sustainability next slide please our key performance metrics

1:46:47achieved in 2024 in regards to long-term care whereas follows under the umbrella of enhance the

1:46:54experience of those who live at the elliot we achieved and maintained four hours of care per

1:47:00day per resident a milestone that was actually met in june 2023 one and a half years ahead of the

1:47:07provincial requirements we proudly expand at long-term care beds with the support of the city of

1:47:15gulf the elliot was able to secure ministry approval and capital funding for 29 new long-term

1:47:22care beds our first residents moved in to the elliot in november 2024 the butterfly philosophy

1:47:31of care we began our journey to embrace this person-centered care approach to care in 2023

1:47:38we are proud to say in may 2025 the elliot community became the first butterfly accredited

1:47:45home in gulf and wellington county with an award of a level one excellence of accreditation

1:47:52we also undertook the registered nursing association on tear of ontario clinical pathways

1:47:58initiative in partnership with the rnal the elliot launched best practice care pathways that are

1:48:04embedded into our clinical documentation system ensuring that our care standard always reflects

1:48:10emerging evidence and best practice i will now hand the remainder part of this presentation over to

1:48:18martin reo next slide please oh and you need to let martin in my apologies part of me merica three

1:48:36my apologies they need to unmute allow him the ability to unmute okay no problem

1:48:44yeah we can see martin has popped up on the screen here for us just the video isn't on and

1:48:50yeah the not unmuted yet we can it sounds like you're underwater but yes we can hear you

1:49:05um did you want to

1:49:10michelle if you could mute yourself so that i'm not uh

1:49:14sure doing an echo that would be great okay still not being so exhilarating

1:49:34so again martin we're just having a problem um we can yeah do you have do you have two devices

1:49:42open on your end because it seems like yeah i'm just wondering uh martin and michelle are you in

1:49:58the same room by chance no no and if it's easier martin if you can't get it working i can continue

1:50:06if that's okay i think that might be best for the question that will be uh a lot of

1:50:14yeah it's okay martin we we're sorry about that that the technology might not be working

1:50:19we appreciate the effort there it's not on you we know you're trying but maybe we'll just

1:50:24continue with michelle just to kind of walk through the slides and you can hang in the

1:50:28background there if you just want to mute so you can listen in as well but michelle turn it back

1:50:33over to you just to continue through okay wonderful thank you very much and thank you for your patience

1:50:39the next slide that is in front of you right now is the actual metrics that we're required

1:50:44not only through our long-term care service agreement with the ministry of long-term care

1:50:50but you can see our kpi's that we measured i'm not going to go through those in details

1:50:55but these just give you a bit of a snapshot of some of the metrics that we're required to

1:51:00track throughout the year next slide please and that we've provided a bit more detail in

1:51:08regards to our key performance metrics in 2024 and you can see um some of the principles that

1:51:14we follow so for the first one bringing up the best in everyone um our principles include

1:51:20honoring diverse identities empowering the individuals that include staff as well as

1:51:26residents who call the alien home cultivate person-centered relationships and create a warm and

1:51:32welcoming home next slide please the next metric the imperative partnerships with purpose and oh my

1:51:45apologies no i'm on the right slide sorry build partnerships with purpose and you can see a

1:51:51listing of some of the important partnerships that were forged by the elliott in 2024 one of the

1:51:58strongest one is becoming a learning organization whereby we partner with various post-secondary

1:52:04institutions and we welcome just over 95 students to our workplace in 2024 and you can see the

1:52:11detailed listing of all the partners we had we also have several employment partners second

1:52:16chance employment community commitment for nurses canada summer jobs and the canadian center for

1:52:22diversity and inclusion next slide please oh i will continue yep we got you know it's up on the

1:52:35slide we got you there okay sorry just disappeared my apologies um and again building partners with

1:52:42purpose if you could go to the next slide please thank you there we go um these are just a few more

1:52:54of the listed uh partners that we have many active supportive and enabling partnerships

1:53:00that we work with if you could go to the next slide please and the last one and most important

1:53:09is focusing on financial sustainability um one of the things that we did do in 2024 is prioritize

1:53:15the investment to meet the outcomes of the bed expansion and the butterfly uh person-centered

1:53:20model of care one third of our bed expansion was funded by debt it's remaining two-thirds funded

1:53:26by grants from the ministry of long-term care and contributions from the city of guave as well as the

1:53:31elliott community donors we finalized our bed expansion for financial sustainability of long

1:53:37term care and unbudgeted deficit uh direct result of a three-month delay in reopening

1:53:44the edinburgh home area in november and if you could go to the final slides please

1:53:51um i'd finally like to share a few of the comments from the people who live and work at the elliott

1:53:58and while they're on the slide i think they're really important to read out one resident told us

1:54:03they're very grateful to live here it's a very happy place a family member told us i come here and

1:54:11i don't want to go home it's so lovely all the colors pictures and details and the people it's a

1:54:16beautiful family and lastly and finally our staff members told us it's about your voice a hug or a

1:54:23touch and knowing about someone's life story and their family and thank you for your patience for

1:54:30minor technical glitches this afternoon but we're happy to take any questions you may have

1:54:34regarding our presentation and our key metrics for 2024 hey thanks a lot don't don't apologize about

1:54:42the technical issues it could very well not be you guys at all so don't worry about that we heard

1:54:48you you got through it we saw all the slides we really appreciate it is there any questions directly

1:54:52to michelle from the elliott for for us are we good to move on okay councillor busetel has a question

1:54:58thank you not so much a question just congratulations on an excellent year

1:55:02lots of good achievements throughout 2024 thank you very much all right that's better than a question

1:55:12that's good okay then we are good thank you very very much for what you do and looking forward to

1:55:18celebrating the butterfly stuff with you at some point soon okay thank you thank you thank you to

1:55:24you martin as well sorry didn't work for you we'll get you next time uh to council now is there any

1:55:30questions to staff in regards to the elliot no okay good we'll continue to move on then the g rca is

1:55:38next uh samantha is here samantha loson is the c a o for the gulf i'm sorry the grand river

1:55:47conservation authority welcome uh sam to you thank you for waiting and we look forward to your

1:55:54presentation so uh you start whenever you're ready okay i will so just hit the green perfect

1:56:00so good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today i appreciate your time and

1:56:05the chance to share g rca's 2025 budget and the revised strategic plan outlook it's a privilege

1:56:12to be here and to engage in dialogue about something we all believe is important to this community

1:56:17the lasting benefit that a healthy well managed watershed provides to everyone who lives and works

1:56:23in this area the grand river watershed is the largest in southern ontario the grand river

1:56:30conservation authority operates a range of programs in engineering planning waterland management

1:56:36outdoor recreation and environmental education our strategic mandate is to develop and implement

1:56:42watershed-based programs that protect people and property from flooding and erosion improve the

1:56:48health of the watershed and connect people with the environment through outdoor experiences the

1:56:55g rca recently completed its strategic plan which will serve as our guide for decision making and

1:57:00priority setting up to 2029 the plan was approved by the g rca board in may and is a living document

1:57:07that establishes a solid foundation for our organization over the next five years so i just

1:57:15wanted to highlight for council some of the major floodplain management projects that were completed

1:57:19in 2024 an asset management plan was completed for g rca's multi-purpose dams which included the

1:57:26gulf dam this was something that was a provincial regulatory requirement for managing natural

1:57:31hazard infrastructure the plan outlines current infrastructure conditions risk assessments and

1:57:37projected capital needs through to 2044 it will guide updates to gulf dam's major maintenance

1:57:44forecasts supporting a sustainable approach to managing aging infrastructure and maintaining

1:57:49effective flood control control sorry and flow augmentation on the speed river routine maintenance

1:57:56and capital improvements are completed regularly as a part of g rca's dam safety management program

1:58:02throughout 2024 g rca staff completed several maintenance projects on gulf dam this was ranging

1:58:09from inspections of gates to plumbing repairs for the dam control room this year staff are focused

1:58:15on completing major maintenance of the gate heating system for winter gate operations

1:58:20and for upgrades to fire safety of the dam structure staff have also completed the speed

1:58:25river hydraulic modeling from downstream of the gulf dam to the confluence of the grand river

1:58:31and are continuing to work on the speed and aramosa rivers hydrology modeling with final results

1:58:37anticipated in the first quarter of 2026 another aspect of mitigating flood damage is g rca's role

1:58:46in planning and development for as long as development exists and people live in the flood

1:58:51plane we must actively work to protect their lives and property g rca staff undertake review and

1:58:57comment on planning actual applications and planning documents such as official plans

1:59:02and area plans from a natural hazard perspective so this includes looking at flooding and erosion

1:59:07hazards wetlands and stormwater quantity control as of april 1st 2024 ontario regulation 41

1:59:1624 came into effect replacing g rca's previous regulation 1506 while the regulation has changed

1:59:24g rca's permitting process remains essentially the same permit applications are still required for

1:59:29development in regulated areas and the g rca will continue to deliver mandatory programs and services

1:59:35related to reviewing and commenting on applications and other matters as applicable under the existing

1:59:40legislation the primary objective of source water protection program is protecting drinking water

1:59:49sources from contamination and depletion this program supports the updating and implementation

1:59:54of policies to protect the city's drinking water sources in a wide geographic area that extends

2:00:00beyond the city limits known as wellhead protection areas in 2024 the g rca continued

2:00:07engagement with the ministry of environment conservation and parks and the ministry of

2:00:11natural resources during their review of draft policies to protect gulfs drinking water sources

2:00:17from overuse due to activities under the permit to take water program and the aggregate resources

2:00:22act g rca has collaborated with the city of guelph and surrounding municipalities to respond to

2:00:28the ministry's comments and to finalize policies for broader consultation in the coming years the

2:00:37g rca monitors water quality in the speed river in the aramosa rivers upstream within downstream of

2:00:43the city this information helps us in the city to understand the health of the speed river the g

2:00:51rca's watershed wide wastewater optimization program promotes database decision making and

2:00:57operational practices to achieve performance targets that go beyond compliance this allows the

2:01:03city a better understanding of the capabilities and capacity of its facilities and gets the most

2:01:08out of these important assets the city's wastewater treatment plant is an active participant in the

2:01:14program contributing data to annual reporting that helps us track how municipalities are working to

2:01:20achieve g rca's voluntary effluent targets that go above and beyond the provincial requirements

2:01:26to improve the health of the speed and the grand rivers the g rca delivers a voluntary

2:01:34rural water quality program on behalf of six upper tier municipalities in the watershed

2:01:39to help farmers implement best management practices to improve and protect surface and ground water

2:01:44quality since 1998 more than 8 000 projects have been completed with 25 million dollars in grants

2:01:52and nearly 70 million invested by municipalities and landowners watershed wide each program is

2:01:59locally developed in collaboration with the farming community and variation in grant

2:02:04grant rates and eligible projects are tailored to reflect local priorities and budgets as mentioned

2:02:12earlier g rca's programs extend beyond guelph's boundaries into wellhead protection areas and

2:02:18upstream catchment areas and neighboring municipalities the rural water quality program is a great example

2:02:23of these programs in these areas as there is direct benefit to the city of guelph through

2:02:29protecting its drinking water sources and improving the quality of the speed and aramosa rivers as they

2:02:34flow through the city over the last five years this in the city's wellhead protection area the g

2:02:41rca has supported 114 projects with 200 000 in grant funding for a total investment by landowners the

2:02:49county and the federal programs of 425 000 we know that spending time in nature has a positive

2:03:01effect on people's physical and mental health at the g rca we connect people with the natural

2:03:07environment by providing environmental education programs and access to outdoor spaces in 2024

2:03:14and there's a correction on this slide more than 250 000 people visited guelph lay conservation area

2:03:21the park hosts a number of special events including triathlons and the hillside festival

2:03:29the g rca currently offers outdoor environmental education to nearly 30 000 students annually as

2:03:36well as selected community groups over the years more than 600 000 students from the city of guelph

2:03:42in the wellington county have benefited from outdoor environmental education programs at the

2:03:47current guelph lake nature center the construction of the new nature center facility located with

2:03:54well flake conservation area is now complete the new facility will officially open in the fall

2:04:00the redesigned facility maintains the emphasis on accessible outdoor spaces and incorporates the

2:04:06latest trends in environmental education none of this would be would have been possible without

2:04:11the generous contributions of donors and the strong support for outdoor education in guelph in wellington

2:04:17county a new priority added to the strategic plan is to ensure our organization is thinking about

2:04:25and ready for challenges for the future as part of this priority we have included goals related to

2:04:31fostering sustainable and efficient operations developing and implementing a comprehensive

2:04:36asset management plan exploring digital solutions to improve service delivery developing a plan to

2:04:43measure evaluate and reduce our environmental impact and continuing to focus on responsible

2:04:48and sustainable management of our land holdings the g rca has faced several budget challenges

2:04:56including inflation supply chain issues and labor shortages conservation area revenue remains a

2:05:02difficult thing to project due to the variability in customer demand and weather additional pressures

2:05:09including aging infrastructure growing demands on passive land management a transitioning

2:05:14environmental education program and the need to keep pace with digital innovation and technology

2:05:22so this slide illustrates a summary of the change in our operating capital and special

2:05:27projects as compared to the 2024 approved budget and in a few of the upcoming slides i'll speak

2:05:34specifically to those areas but the overall budget increase in 2025 as compared to 2024

2:05:40is approximately three million so this slide highlights that our operating budget is 31.5

2:05:49million in 2025 broken down that's 11 million in category one so those are the mandatory programs

2:05:56and services we provide 4.3 million in general operating expenses 1.1 million in category two

2:06:04and those are the agreements that we have throughout the watershed with the municipalities

2:06:08predominantly to provide water quality programming and 15.1 million in category three operating

2:06:15expenses for capital we have budgeted 6.1 million in expenses made up of 3.3 million in category one

2:06:26for water management infrastructure major maintenance gauge and hardware projects

2:06:31750 sorry 750 hundred thousand in motor pool and information capital expenses and 2 million

2:06:39in conservation area capital special projects are about 2.4 million so in category one it's about

2:06:53350 000 and that's related to floodplain mapping more specifically the speed river hydrology project

2:07:00and some ecological restoration projects for category two 1.3 million that's including our

2:07:07rural water quality grants as well as a grant to help address species at risk challenges on our property

2:07:13and then 745 000 for completion of the gulf lake nature center project the mill creek rangers program

2:07:21that we offer and the brant brantford water festivals so this slide here just highlights

2:07:29the 2025 budget and you can see here that about a third of our budget is from the apportionment

2:07:35or levy that we collect from watershed municipalities about 50 percent is self-generated and then 10

2:07:43approximately for each from government grants and reserves so this slide here just demonstrates

2:07:52the municipal apportionment increase over the last couple of years so in 2025 it was 3.5 percent

2:08:00and that was applied across the watershed participating municipalities for a total of

2:08:05465 000 so looking specifically at the city of guelph after proration this translated to a 2.7

2:08:13percent increase for the city of guelph so approximately 48 000 increase to your apportionment

2:08:19and just to give you context too in terms of the entire watershed we get just under 14 million

2:08:25in in an apportionment for 2025 so that's the end of my presentation i'm happy to take any questions

2:08:35great thank you very much sam and thank you for your leadership there at the g rca and all your

2:08:40staff and and the board and whatnot thank you very much i'll i promise i'd go to councillor

2:08:45coran first just for any questions as a follow-up with g rca so i'll just i'll do that now if that's

2:08:51alright councillor Caron uh yeah my questions for more for staff and okay no that's no problem okay

2:08:57let me ask i'll make sure i put you down for staff my apologies i did say that i just messed that up

2:09:02there um is there any questions for the presenter then for our delegate alt and then gollard okay

2:09:08thank you thank you very much marica three through you to miss losa miss losan thank you very

2:09:14much for your presentation my question relates to drinking water protection and it's because guelph

2:09:22is literally reliant upon groundwater and you made reference to about 625 000 for water quality

2:09:30and protecting wellheads in rural water and i look at a 31.5 million dollar budget total

2:09:37so my question is really simple that doesn't seem like a lot i was wondering if you could just

2:09:42comment on that and outline because as i think the g rca's population catchment has got to be

2:09:50well over a million now and we're we're growing and groundwater concerns me yeah um so through you

2:09:57mayor uh in terms of drinking water i'll i'll sort of tie in the water quality aspect of that too so

2:10:04i think one of the important things um from a provincial standpoint is the source water protection

2:10:09program and the province has continued to fund that and has given every indication that they're

2:10:14going to continue to fund that in the future um three years ago that was the first time they gave us

2:10:19a three-year um a financial agreement so their contribution to the source water protection program

2:10:25is they pay 100 of that um for us and uh they've indicated that they're looking that agreement

2:10:33expires next year but they've already started reaching out to um renegotiate the next three

2:10:39years so i think that's a really good indication from that part um in terms of the overall budget

2:10:47for sorry i'm not i'm trying not to make this as complicated as it's probably going to be but

2:10:53with the changes to the regulation that happened in 2021 in the new funding frameworks

2:10:59we had all 26 participating municipalities sign on to mou agreements and those agreements were

2:11:06specifically around water quality so our water quality monitoring the wastewater optimization

2:11:12program um it also includes our our monitoring of um groundwater both water quality and quantity

2:11:19um so we have a pretty extensive monitoring program throughout the watershed that um we maintain

2:11:25and also helps um in terms of uh the modeling that we do so we do provide some modeling around

2:11:31wastewater treatment plants in the capacity of the Grand River in its entirety so there's a number

2:11:37of different things the rural water quality program is a really boots on the ground program that

2:11:42does a lot of great things and i would say um majority of um the effort is in the northern

2:11:50the central northern part of the watershed which is upstream um to you um we are doing an update to

2:11:56the water management plan which is the the guiding document of um the entire watershed and one of the

2:12:02aspects we're looking at is water quality because night traits of course are becoming an issue as

2:12:06well um and i think there's some pretty key players in terms of the rural water quality

2:12:12program and the projects that they can do that can help um continue to address i would say that

2:12:17program is wildly successful there always um seems to be a lot more applicants than grants that we

2:12:23have so to me that's a good indication that the agricultural community is right on board um with

2:12:28with that program as well so i do think there there's quite a bit um although the the rural water

2:12:35quality program uh the grants um that we get are about 1.3 i think million probably a little bit

2:12:42less than that maybe a million a year um that gets allocated throughout um the watershed um

2:12:49certainly if there's there's more available we're we're searching for it we apply for federal and

2:12:53provincial grants as well so that's a significant help and it's a program that the g rc board

2:12:59definitely endorses and will continue with as well and thank you for that i do have a follow-up

2:13:05it just struck me as you're talking about provincial mandates uh do you perceive any

2:13:10challenges with what i perceive as a narrowing of conservation authorities mandates by the province

2:13:17especially related to uh groundwater and drinking water protection um through you mayor so yes i

2:13:27think the the province has taken a step and that's reflected in the mandatory programs and the new

2:13:32regulation that we have so 41 24 where the province has refined the jurisdiction as well as

2:13:43the focus of the conservation authorities on to hazards and erosion so we're no longer part of

2:13:49the natural heritage aspect in planning um i would say one of the the good things about the g rca is

2:13:57we do own a lot of land throughout the watershed so we're still allowed to look in and um apply for

2:14:03funding for natural heritage enhancements on our own property um but there has been a refined scope

2:14:10to focus us back through the regulatory perspective anyway on natural hazards so flooding and erosion

2:14:17thank you very much and gollar thank you and then Gibson after that um thank you through worship

2:14:24to miss awesome thank you for the presentation um i wanted to follow up on on the issue that was

2:14:30raised by mr ferrari from emerge um and just to hear if uh comments from you if there was um any

2:14:38possibility or or the option to look at the removal of the pallas dam as part of the watershed study

2:14:46so through you mayor actually we just had a bit of a conversation i introduced myself provided my

2:14:51contact information and i certainly let him know who to contact at um the conservation authority so

2:14:57i think as mentioned in the um presentation we are doing some updated hydraulic and hydrology

2:15:03analysis um within the speed river and so i'm not a hundred percent sure how easy it is to take

2:15:10things in and out and run them but certainly um in coordination with our staff that can be looked at

2:15:17okay thank you very much and i think it's it's timely for us because we're looking at

2:15:22at work on that bridge so it would work at well and i just wanted to uh give an opportunity to

2:15:27comment there was another of delegates mr marco longo spoke about the the need for

2:15:32conservation land but i think based on the question that councillor old asked is that almost being

2:15:38taken away from you as uh are you not allowed to have surplus lands per se is that part of the

2:15:43drive to dispose of some of the lands that are not directly tied to the watershed protection um

2:15:50through you mayor i wouldn't necessarily say that i think um historically the province had a much

2:15:57greater role in providing funding for conservation authorities so um you know in particular for the

2:16:04g r c a when we went through the acquisitions for gulf lake dam for conestoga and shandam the

2:16:10province actually provided us 50 60 70 sometimes to the acquisition of those properties they also

2:16:17gave us additional money to manage the properties when the province stepped away from that and this

2:16:24was probably in the late 90s so before my time at the g r c a but when the province significantly

2:16:29stepped away that's when the levy came in much stronger and the support for the levy came in

2:16:35much stronger during that time they put a number of guidelines and parameters for us recognizing that

2:16:42there may be lands as we move through the years that are surplus um to the mandate so we do have

2:16:50the ability under the act and through policy to dispose of land that's surplus to the need of the

2:16:55conservation authority so i would say from the g r c a the reference to the land inventory we own

2:17:0250 000 acres throughout the watershed and i think the um i don't want to get the decimal

2:17:08point wrong here but point zero zero zero one percent of our land that we own it meets the

2:17:15threshold to to go through that process so very little okay thank you i appreciate that outline

2:17:21i appreciate it thank you worship that's it for me thank you great and gibson is last uh thank you

2:17:29hi thank you through mr mayor uh thanks for the presentation very much i also heard the comments

2:17:34about the allen dam and i just i wanted to ask about the um you prioritize the sort of the mandate

2:17:41of the grand river conservation authority and the first one that you stated whether it's the

2:17:44priority one or not but it was the protection of human life and and property and i just when i think

2:17:50of um historic flooding that i've been a part of on the ottawa river uh 2017 and 2019 they credited

2:17:58the the ability to control the water higher on the on the watershed to minimizing about three feet of

2:18:05water in the city of montreal so what role does the infrastructure around the city of gulf play

2:18:11in sort of holding back water on the watershed holding it higher up on the watershed sort of

2:18:16prevent flooding say down in bramford paris uh cambridge those areas uh so through you mayor

2:18:24i think the critical thing is the entire system that the g rca operates so we have over about a

2:18:29billion dollars worth of floodplain infrastructure which is dams dykes um we also have a flood

2:18:36forecasting and warning system so it's it's a very sophisticated system i would say we have

2:18:41um monitoring so stream gauges um throughout the watershed as well that provide lifetime data and

2:18:50it's actually available on our website as well um so all of these um sort of tools are used to mitigate

2:18:57flooding and the municipalities also play an important role in um flood management and flood

2:19:02mitigation as well um so in terms of the infrastructure itself uh i'll preface this that

2:19:09my background is planning i'm not an engineer i do sit in the room when the engineers are pushing

2:19:14the buttons and doing all the calculations but um my my analysis or my description may not be as

2:19:20sophisticated as what they would provide to you but the infrastructure helps like you said to take

2:19:26edge off so it really helps to mitigate flooding it doesn't eliminate flooding but um it certainly

2:19:32helps to slow down i think one of the challenges with the grand river and part of the reason

2:19:38why in the early 1930s and 40s um the commission itself decided to look at a watershed scale in

2:19:46terms of flood management is because it's a very flashy system so it reacts really quickly when

2:19:51rainfall drains into it um so it certainly helps to take the edge off of um flooding and helps to

2:20:00reduce damage as well as risk to life and property but again i think the other part of that too is

2:20:06the tie into the municipalities and the EMS and the emergency response there's a coordinated effort

2:20:12on that end as well um particularly uh there isn't a damage a flood damage center in Guelph but there

2:20:18are certainly some throughout the watershed where there's a very coordinated effort amongst the

2:20:22municipality an emergency response to evacuations and notifications and disseminating of information

2:20:30related to that so for Guelph dam it plays a part certainly um but i would say it's one part of the

2:20:37larger part that um and the response itself uh that helps to manage the flooding in the grand river

2:20:44i i appreciate that answer i think it's important for the public to understand that even Guelph

2:20:48lake bellwood lake upstream of us they're intentionally there to mitigate flooding in our city

2:20:55maybe a comment or question uh when i hear from constituents about the state of Guelph lake so

2:21:00they say Guelph lake it rises and it falls and when it falls it looks it doesn't look as slightly but

2:21:07just for the public to understand that is my understanding um exclusively for the management

2:21:12of water and and management of floodplain protection and human life downstream when you have

2:21:18an opportunity to get rid of water on the watershed you you push it through otherwise it's being stored

2:21:23to minimize flooding downstream am i understand am i correct not understanding

2:21:27yeah you are and in terms to we just updated our reservoir operation policy so part of it too is

2:21:32timed with the weather and when flooding is at its highest so spring and fall yeah yeah hurricane

2:21:39season and all of that so when we do lower the reservoirs it's the anticipation of they're going

2:21:45to be filled up um through various events or um in response to the forecast that's coming i would say

2:21:52that um the the secondary benefit to the system too though is that it's a low flow augmentation

2:21:59system as well so you know downstream basically bramford and downstream they take their drinking

2:22:05water directly from the grand river and so in the summer months these uh multi-purpose reservoirs

2:22:12also provide the flow so that you can still discharge your wastewater treatment and not

2:22:16have a negative impact and bramford and ashwican and some of the the other municipalities downstream

2:22:22can take their drinking water um from the river as well so it's really a multi-purpose um system

2:22:29as well which is also critical um too that's great thank you so much great thank you i don't

2:22:37think there's anything more i'm pretty sure i am sure oh quick question for me i got asked this

2:22:45question yesterday at a group that i spoke at i didn't know the answer i said i'll find out and

2:22:51then you're in front of me today is there an like an alarm system or like a warning system

2:22:57if anything or ever to go wrong with like the gulf dam yes how okay yes i'll unmute you answer the

2:23:03question okay um through you chair uh mayor yes yes there is there's several warning systems um

2:23:11that are in place uh both from a elevation level to an issue with the gates operation to the gates

2:23:18there's all kinds of warning systems in place that if something is happening out of whack um

2:23:23we're immediately notified okay and and are you controlling because they're i'm so sorry i'm just

2:23:30the conduit of what the question was yesterday it's like an audible alarm system like in guave

2:23:36if if we were to be discharging yeah like because i remember my executive team will remember a few

2:23:43years ago we have to do provincial emergency training every year and we have to do different

2:23:47scenarios every year to be qualified to continue doing what we do and um one of the scenarios that

2:23:54we had to actually play out was a scenario of the gulf dam break do you remember yeah the gulf

2:24:00dam breaking like it comes down especially into the downtown core and it floods the downtown and

2:24:06we had to scenario that out and i just couldn't remember like do we have some kind of an audible

2:24:11warning system or is it a text message that would be sent out through technology i just can't remember

2:24:18so i'm not a hundred percent sure with the specifics on guave but i will follow up with

2:24:22staff i know for our other dams we do have an audible noise that comes on if we're

2:24:29discharging at a certain level and that's also to warn the fishing the people downstream who are

2:24:34fishing that um we're discharging i think if there was a dam failure um technically speaking we would

2:24:44know that it was imminent or it was going to happen so there would be all kinds of warning

2:24:48systems put in place um for that but i can follow up and get you more details on that

2:24:54no problem thank you sorry it's off the cuff but i just i just i i was asked yesterday so and i think

2:24:59we might have yeah i see and i think our deputy ceo is like i think i have an answer cam so let's go

2:25:05and then and thank you so much we're all done with you but thank you very much calling did you

2:25:09want to jump in on my question yes thank you so our community emergency management coordinator works

2:25:13very closely with miss loson staff of course and so for any of the planning both on regular

2:25:17localized flooding but those grander scrap pardon the pun those larger scale potential flooding

2:25:22incidents and so i just wanted to put my plug in to make sure that the public know that the best

2:25:26way to get those alerts is through alert wealth so that is our messaging service and so if there's

2:25:31any emergency for example g rca notified us that is where we the city put out any of those public

2:25:37alerts um for severe weather events but for the flooding if if in that um circumstance or

2:25:43scenario large-scale power outages um and so i just wanted to put the plug out there if you just

2:25:48google gulf alert um you can sign up for the free service and that is the best way to get those

2:25:53messages about g rca and other emergencies all right thank you so much now speaking of staff

2:26:00and g rca for real this time i promise councillor crown i would go to you so go ahead councillor

2:26:06crown you have the floor thank you and no worries for the delay i didn't think that the questions

2:26:10were appropriate for for miss loson so it had to do with the delegations who who came forward so

2:26:17we got some pretty powerful delegations at the beginning of the meeting that related to the

2:26:22asset management or the land management plan so i wanted to ask staff um and at any point that you

2:26:29feel this needs to go to closed if you if you need direction you let me know we got a great memo from

2:26:35miss holmes yesterday i believe and it outlined um um next steps um and i don't want to go into the

2:26:44contents of that because um um it was it again it's it's future um so we've been asked to have a

2:26:53presentation is that an appropriate um measure step um given the the the presentations that we heard

2:27:07we heard some information that um the city is being there's a call to action uh and i just

2:27:14want to give staff an opportunity to address those three delegations the content of their delegations

2:27:20and if you feel that you need direction in order to address any of those concerns

2:27:28and if you do need that direction enclosed this would be the opportunity to do that

2:27:35through the mayor to council coran um no i i don't think we need direction as i mentioned earlier

2:27:40we have been in extensive discussions with the g rca in regards to the matters at hand that we're

2:27:47talked about um and the delegations um again where we are waiting for there are just some

2:27:53decisions that have to be made through the g rca before we can move forward and take a look at

2:27:58everything and provide recommendations uh to our council so we are looking forward to coming to you

2:28:04later this year uh with some recommendations but i i don't need any directions at this point

2:28:11okay thank you and the the proposal to have the asset management land management plan um

2:28:18at a public meeting of council uh is that something that um we can't even direct step on

2:28:26or is that something that would come forward in the fall when this comes back to council um through

2:28:32the mayor to council coran so again if you let me take that away because i'm not quite sure that um

2:28:40i think we need to see what the content of the report is there are several steps that have to

2:28:44happen before we get there um perhaps there is some information that is more appropriate for

2:28:49closed than it is for open but we can certainly take that away and if there is anything that makes

2:28:54sense to um bring to open session um you know we always will because we always will keep you informed

2:29:02thank you i think i'll just leave it there i know there's a lot of moving parts on this file

2:29:06i don't want to get the delegations and the passion and the community get lost but i also respect

2:29:10that there's there's moving parts happening so thanks great seeing nothing more and think oh okay

2:29:19i'll go to billings please just real quick through you mr mayor on on the same subject

2:29:25i was just wondering um staff have done their research and due diligence on this so my question

2:29:33is would it be any would there be a benefit if the city of guelph did reach out and and you know

2:29:40this is the archives of ontario to find out what these conditions of approval were with with respect

2:29:46to the handling creek lay ins acquisition um through the mayor to council billings um yes we

2:29:53are already um talking to our legal services staff who will be doing um some of that workforce and

2:29:59that will be provided in the report that we bring to you later this year thank you so much great uh

2:30:08thank you just a closing comment then before we move on to the next one i think what council

2:30:13chron and councillor billings uh brought up i just want the public to know like it's everyone's

2:30:19nodding their head here especially my colleagues online you can't really see everyone in here

2:30:23so we're all nodding in agreement but i just want to reiterate what both our deputy cao and our

2:30:29cao said at the beginning before we're just out of the delegations that this stuff is being worked on

2:30:34like it is it's been working for a couple of years now like it's it's not being ignored i think uh

2:30:40cao baker said that and the opportunity for us to kind of resolve is coming and in a public way i

2:30:48think that is in a transparent way is where we all want to continue to nod our heads in agreement

2:30:53to make sure that we have uh as much as that available in the fall whenever the opportunity

2:30:58arises because we want that but the public needs it so it's a want and a need issue um so uh i think

2:31:07we're all kind of on the same page here so thank you thank you very much for for bringing it up so

2:31:12that we can at least have it stated publicly today uh with that we'll move on to the next one

2:31:19which is the library come on down dan ackens is the chief executive officer for the gulf public

2:31:33library not even a year in i don't think right dan or has it been a year no officially but acting

2:31:40since march so sounds good half yeah you're doing great so thank you for being here and uh we look

2:31:47forward to your presentation go go right ahead thank you uh good afternoon mayor and counselors

2:31:53my name is dan ackens and i'm the ceo of the gulf public library thank you for the opportunity

2:31:58to be here today i'm pleased to share some of our key highlights and accomplishments from 2024

2:32:082024 was a busy year for the gulf public library across our seven locations we welcomed 800

2:32:17400 800 840 8500 and 31 in-person visits enough to fill the sleam and center to capacity

2:32:27more than three times a week every week for a year online we recorded 1.1 million visits to our

2:32:36website and catalog more than seven times the population of gulf circulation remains strong

2:32:43with 2.2 million items checked out ranging from books to equipment nationally libraries average

2:32:52seven to ten checkouts per capita wealth significantly exceeds this benchmark with 15.3

2:32:59checkouts per capita a clear indication of how deeply our community engages with library resources

2:33:08we experienced notable notable growth in three key areas daily inquiries rose by

2:33:23five percent underscoring the critical role our staff play in helping people access services

2:33:31find information and navigate library resources program attendance increased by an impressive

2:33:3928 reflecting a growing demand for inclusive community-driven programming maker space use

2:33:48screw by 11 percent as more people discovered the hands-on learning opportunities available

2:33:55at our west minster branch where creativity meets technology through 3d printing embroidery

2:34:02laser cutting and more programming remains the at the heart of what we do in 2024 we welcome 35

2:34:13264 participants to programs across our six branches on average that's 125 programs every month

2:34:25the success of our programs stem from their accessibility free inclusive and responsive

2:34:32to community feedback we design programs in collaboration with local partners to ensure

2:34:39we're meeting real needs and offering enriching experiences for all ages our growing network of

2:34:49community partnerships has been instrumental in expanding the library's reach and impact

2:34:54in 2024 we worked with 54 partners ranging from health and employment services to education

2:35:01and social supports these collaborations helped us co-deliver services identifying emerging needs

2:35:08and amplifying each other's efforts notable partners this year included the canadian mental

2:35:15health association wellington dufferin gwellph public health community living and starling

2:35:22employment services the library continues to serve as a connector a place where services converge

2:35:29and community thrives our maker space welcomed 3491 creators in 2024 but the real story is in the

2:35:42impact on the left is connor a phd candidate at the university of gwellph who was able to so save

2:35:50his sewing machine from going into the landfill by printing a 3d part for as a replacement not

2:35:57only did this repair not only did he repair his machine but he restored a hobby that allows him

2:36:04a creative outlet at a time when science preoccupies so much of his time to the left is linda ervine a

2:36:13retired professor of landscape architecture who's using our digitization space to turn

2:36:19slides from her 50 year career into digital photos that can be archived benefiting future

2:36:26generations of students and outdoor space planners who can learn from and research her work these

2:36:33stories reflect how access to tools and technology can empower individuals spark innovation and foster

2:36:41lifelong learning we were proud to advance digital equity in 2024 through our partnership

2:36:49with the gwellph wellington digital equity coalition supported by federal funding with this

2:36:57support we delivered 93 one-on-one tech help appointments and ran 20 digital literacy programs

2:37:05for 568 participants covering everything from social media to basic computer skills we also added

2:37:13new accessibility tools to our collection including c-pens for people with print disabilities

2:37:19and language learning needs daisy players for audiobooks and adaptive gaming controllers

2:37:25ensuring more people can access and enjoy digital experiences in response to growing community needs

2:37:36particularly around the closure of gwellph's consumption and treatment services site we expanded

2:37:41our harm reduction and crisis support work in 2024 we now offer free contraceptives in our

2:37:48washrooms we've installed brave sensors to detect medical emergencies and have recently added an

2:37:54outdoor sharps disposal box in partnership with welcoming streets and public health we continue

2:38:00to offer naloxone training and serve as a distribution point for life-saving supplies these

2:38:07initiatives reflect the library's commitment to being a responsive and trusted space for everyone

2:38:13especially those most vulnerable and although we broke ground on gwellph's new central library in

2:38:212023 2024 marked a major turning point as work accelerated both on site and behind the scenes

2:38:29we started hiring new staff as part of our phased in approach to building capacity

2:38:34and planning is well underway to ensure a smooth transition into the new space at the same time

2:38:41we're actively fundraising through our activate our spaces campaign which will support essential

2:38:47services beyond the city's investment like a second maker space archives and future equipment

2:38:54and technology late in 2024 the gwellph public library board approved our new strategic plan

2:39:05from barriers to bridges which will guide us through the next four years the plan aligns closely

2:39:13with the city of gwellph's strategic priorities especially in the areas of city building and

2:39:18people and economy our goal focuses on becoming a pillar of public value investing in staff development

2:39:26amplifying community voices and future proofing our spaces and services we're excited to move this

2:39:33vision forward thank you again for your time and interest in the work of the gwellph public library

2:39:41we are proud of what we've achieved in 2024 and even more excited about what lies ahead thank you

2:39:49great Dan thank you so much i've got two questions for you alt and kate thank you very much mr

2:39:57mayor through you to mr akon thank you very much for the presentation and i've got to say that

2:40:03libraries have changed a heck of a lot since the days when i was doing research

2:40:09you've made reference to harm reduction contraceptions christian intervention naloxone

2:40:15you also made reference to barriers to bridges and community building i often hear from people

2:40:20who are critical of those things and i want to put it in a budget perspective

2:40:25uh what percentage of the budget is allocated to that and are you able to candidly comment on the

2:40:32quote the bang for the buck that we would get from that kind of work so very little of a

2:40:37well public library budget goes to supporting those initiatives there mostly funded by public

2:40:42health so free contraceptives are provided free by public health naloxone kits are provided

2:40:47pre by public health the outdoor sharps container is picked up by public health so

2:40:53there's very little impact on our budget so it's really a consequence of circumstance that the

2:40:58library is a is essentially a place where it's a public place where this must be provided

2:41:05is the way i understand it that's correct thank you thank you at kate and please thank you through

2:41:15you mr mayor um just to piggyback on what councillor Allt was saying i wanted to give you kudos

2:41:21for this partnership that you have with public health to help distribute these items that they

2:41:26otherwise would probably cost them a lot more to have their own kind of kiosks all over the place

2:41:32so i really appreciate that work that you're doing and um like it seems like a nice symbiotic

2:41:40relationship between the two groups um also i just wanted to give you kudos because you all

2:41:45have kept up with the times and have so many relevant programs that uh are very very interesting

2:41:52and engaging and it really shows through your metrics so you should be proud of yourself you're

2:41:55doing a great job great thank you he is he's smiling just so you know that's for what you said

2:42:04karen so yeah uh anything further don't think so no thank you very much jane thanks for saying thanks

2:42:12to your staff and everybody too okay now is there any questions to our staff in regards to library

2:42:17stuff no okay we're good to go next one up is the gulf police services i'd like to ask uh

2:42:27your crew to come on down now as as you come down i just wanted to uh uh state the following here

2:42:35just in case there's anybody in the room or potentially people watching online or might want

2:42:41even look at this later if it's recorded in archive for later watching during the meeting today

2:42:48council or the presenters might discuss some sensitive topics they could include crimes

2:42:54against people gender-based crimes including intimate partner violence maybe human trafficking

2:43:00they may even talk about child exploitation homicides or other matters that and that could

2:43:05be distressing to some individuals and as part of our future gulf uh progress report we do have the

2:43:12gulf police services here today we'd ask all attendees to remain respectful and consider it

2:43:18throughout the discussion and if you need space during the discussion you can always feel free to

2:43:22step outside leave the meeting return whenever you feel comfortable uh victim services wellington is a

2:43:29great organization in town and i just want to yell out the phone number for anyone that might need

2:43:35services there it's 519-824-1212 and it's extension 7304 uh and also there's here 247 and that phone

2:43:46number is 1-844-HERE-247 and those are available to provide any assistance to those that might find

2:43:55many uh any of the discussions that might be difficult uh to hear um with that i just want to

2:44:00welcome the police here uh today as they give us their update i'll turn it over to you chief

2:44:07thank you mr mayor and i wanted to start i wanted to start with a thank you for the opportunity to

2:44:13be here but also um andrew mel steeve and i are here but i think it's really important to highlight

2:44:19there's 350 sworn and civilian members the who are part of the gulf police service and we're here

2:44:26reporting on their work so we're the faces you see but there's 350 you don't and i wanted to

2:44:31really acknowledge them today i know you've all had a chance to review our annual report so we're

2:44:37going to try to keep today's presentation to some highlights and look forward to answering any questions

2:44:45our annual report you'll find is a very comprehensive document and i think that it is a

2:44:49demonstration of our commitment to not only the safety of our community but also our commitment

2:44:55to transparency and accountability and also we are very very mindful of the investment our

2:45:01citizens make in policing and i think our citizens deserve a report on the roi for that investment

2:45:08so that's why you'll note that our annual report in addition to being pretty comprehensive provides

2:45:13strategic but also really operational level data so our citizens can see where that investment is

2:45:19going and the impact that those investments are having on our community what i'd like to start

2:45:33out today and mel and andrew are going to provide some highlights overall in 2024 we saw a continued

2:45:42very favorable trend with respect to our overall crime severity index both that as well as our

2:45:48party one response times have really moved favorably from their record highs of 2018 and 19

2:45:55you'll see here that we had about 80 000 calls for service last year we're on track for at least

2:46:02that again excuse me this year our communication center so our dispatch unit they answered a total

2:46:08of well over 125 000 calls for service so if we can kind of imagine what that looks like for them

2:46:17well we should celebrate successes like the reduction and our overall crime severity

2:46:22and declines in things like theft break and enters and a number of property related crimes

2:46:27and i think you may have noted today already there was a media release in golf today

2:46:31about some major arrests in relation to property crimes breaking enters etc we need to be mindful

2:46:39of the fact that 2024 did also bring with it some increases in relation to serious people

2:46:47crime so crimes against persons that included sexual violence human trafficking and a number of

2:46:53those other violent crimes mel's going to talk a little bit about the work we're doing in support

2:46:59of your unanimous motion in the fall of 2023 in relation to intimate partner violence so we've

2:47:04made a lot of progress in areas where we've invested for example our break enter an auto theft team

2:47:10other property related things while we will continue to invest in those areas the things we

2:47:17talked a lot about last fall and you're going to get a briefing on today as far as human trafficking

2:47:21and intimate partner violence those are areas that require continued work and we are very committed

2:47:28to making sure as i discussed last fall we will be the city that leads by example when it comes

2:47:33to supporting victims and survivors of those terrible crimes we will also be the example when

2:47:38it comes to holding offenders accountable for perpetuating those crimes in our community

2:47:45to counselor all its question previously last year i'm happy to say we had about a 16.5

2:47:50percent reduction in overtime or about 7 000 hour reduction in overtime we went from about

2:47:5743,700 hours to 36,500 i think it's important to note that's not just a financial

2:48:05impact on our citizens that's a wellness impact for our members 36,000 hours is still about 18

2:48:11fte 18 fte's if you look at that at about 2 000 hours a year for a full-time equivalent position

2:48:19so we'll continue to be very mindful of that and as our citizens invest in resources they

2:48:27should see those numbers come down the reality is we can't run a sustainable business on overtime

2:48:32so but we're happy to say we had about a 16.5 percent reduction last year in overtime we also

2:48:38saw an overall reduction both in sick time per person and total last year in in our service

2:48:48and we had approximately 5 million 4.7 million in grant funding to support our operations in 2024

2:48:55so those are all the different avenues that we try to mitigate the reality of policing is a very

2:49:00significant investment for our citizens and our team works very hard to find opportunities

2:49:06to to mitigate the impacts of those investments some key accomplishments in 2024 we're happy to

2:49:15say that so we were the first service in Ontario to fully transition our marked fleet to hybrids

2:49:21so that's resulted in a 25 reduction in fuel 30 reduction in maintenance and represents about 50

2:49:29percent of our fleet has been transitioned to hybrid technology so that was completed late 2023

2:49:362024 was the first year where that that transition had been completed we'll continue to on that

2:49:42transition as much as we can but we've already reached 50 percent of our fleet so a testament to

2:49:48Jim our fleet manager and many other things we also had approximately 40 plus community engagement

2:49:57sessions those range from our community open houses to our family fund days many things that are

2:50:04outlined in the annual report so in the interest of time i'm not going to list everything i know

2:50:07you've all read the report one of the key things i wanted to talk about in 2024 i referenced earlier

2:50:14fall of 23 you declared you had a unanimous motion declaring intimate partner violence

2:50:20and epidemic in 2024 we worked a lot with our citizens our members internally and externally

2:50:27to make sure we really understood the impact of those crimes on our community and put in place

2:50:33a plan to to address that to support victims to support survivors and i'm going to ask mel to come

2:50:39up and give some highlights what mel is going to report upon is the work that's been achieved

2:50:46january 2025 to the end of june so in six months mel will give you an idea of what we've achieved

2:50:54just in that short period of time meld thank you chief thank you mayor and thank you council

2:51:03um for giving us the opportunity to highlight some of our members and as the as the chief mentioned

2:51:09i'm the spokesperson but there's a lot of people behind the scenes that are

2:51:13putting the work in uh so just to recap the epidemic was declared a unit was formed in january

2:51:21of 2024 and that included at that time one detective sergeant two detective constables

2:51:28and a high-risk intimate partner violence coordinator since that time because of the

2:51:33added resources and the investment we now have one detective sergeant we have six detective

2:51:38constables as well as our high-risk coordinator so as the chief mentioned what i'm going to report

2:51:44today is from january of 2025 until the end of june of this year based on those resources

2:51:51so just some highlights around the intimate partner violence um with this unit we've had over

2:51:5725 arrests now the majority of those arrests are proactive arrests from this unit where they're

2:52:03going out and looking for intimate partner violence um wanted parties um and i can i can say that

2:52:11right now in our community there's very very few uh ipv wanted parties because of this unit

2:52:20um we've had an increase in follow-up requests from our front line so to give you an idea there

2:52:26has been within that time period there's approximately 800 calls for service for intimate

2:52:32partner violence so this unit obviously doesn't touch all of those but it gives us an opportunity

2:52:37for a more fulsome investigation for the serious ipv investigations um and takes a little bit of

2:52:44the onus off of the front line we have had over 40 successful high-risk compliance checks we've

2:52:51initiated our early intervention program so what that is is if we have a um if we are

2:52:56called to investigate the same individuals twice a week they um are part of this program so we have

2:53:04been identifying an average of 15 to 20 qualifying incidents per month and that is 30 to 40 calls

2:53:10for service where we are now proactively intervening um with those people to provide

2:53:17wraparound services in hopes that we won't have any more into they won't have any intimate intimate

2:53:22partner violence and subsequently less calls for service for us um some highlights around human

2:53:28trafficking we've had over 30 human trafficking calls for service and again majority of those

2:53:33are proactive from within this unit um we are currently in contact with over 20 females that we

2:53:41believe are being human trafficked we are tracking a meeting with at-risk youth so um youths that are

2:53:49habitual runaways youth that are in shelters we are now we don't believe that they've been exposed

2:53:55to human trafficking but we're now meeting with them and safeguarding them and educating them

2:54:01uh we continue to work with other police services so we just met recently with

2:54:05numerous other services just to speak on different projects around human trafficking

2:54:12um a couple highlights from our internet child exploitation unit so between April 1st and April

2:54:1711th we took part in what was called project support and that was a provincial project

2:54:23targeting online offenders that groom lure and um exploit children so there was eight teams of

2:54:29investigators involved that involved 23 police services across the province um and we we partnered

2:54:36up with a Waterloo service and we were able to locate apprehend uh some child offenders uh and

2:54:43just for interest sake project totals for for that project were 36 arrests 128 charges

2:54:49nine victims identified and safeguarded uh our child exploitation unit has also safeguarded

2:54:56over 20 youths in this time period and that's double what they did last year so far so um

2:55:03we've also had a lot of direct contact with over 350 community members through different community

2:55:09events some of those were we are part of an ht awareness panel hosted by women in crisis

2:55:16we presented with women in crisis and victim services to the indian cultural group of Guelph

2:55:21we hosted an intimate partner violence information session at the station Guelph police station

2:55:27we were part of an intimate partner panel for the together we can event hosted by the

2:55:31indo-canadian education science cultural organization we uh our ICE unit has done nine

2:55:39presentations with crime stoppers and those presentations are called the 555 presentation

2:55:45uh and and what that stands for is five tips on how to talk to your kids about cyber safety

2:55:50and human trafficking five ideas on how to keep your kids cyber safe and human trafficking aware

2:55:57and five signs your child is being groomed so we do a lot of those with with our crime stopper

2:56:03partner we are continuing to arrange meetings with hostel hotel staff to educate on the signs

2:56:08of human trafficking and how to report we recently hosted the action committee for gender-based

2:56:14violence um which are over 20 of our community partners get together and we're working on

2:56:19developing protocol and framework to best support victims of gender-based violence and uh sexual

2:56:25assault victims and that's the first time we've hosted that uh we have a newly formed Guelph Wellington

2:56:31anti-human trafficking table so this mirrors the alliance for at-risk youth committee which

2:56:36focuses on youth within the justice system this table is now going to focus on youth at risk of

2:56:43being human trafficked so the the partners on that table are family children services we have both

2:56:50school boards we have women in crisis victim services um we have OPP and CMA so that's that's

2:56:59brand new uh in mid-may we were able to update our website to include an ht specific tab and since

2:57:06that time we've had just over 160 views of that specific tab the human trafficking uh at the beginning

2:57:13of may we were approached by crime stoppers Wellington uh as they wanted to create a video on

2:57:17human trafficking awareness for their summer campaign and that summer campaign is offering a

2:57:22$2,000 award for any tip that leads to human trafficking arrest so we jumped on board with

2:57:28that with them sorry and we also worked with um victim services women in crisis and a survivor

2:57:36Caitlin Beck and created that video um since that time it was launched just the beginning of June

2:57:43we have had approximately 40 or sorry 40,000 views thus far um if you're interested in looking at

2:57:51that that is there is a link to that on our website under the ht tab um yeah so those are just a few

2:57:58very few of the highlights that this team has been able to accomplish through the added resources

2:58:05so thank you very much for the opportunity to share that we are dedicated and we are committed to

2:58:10obviously there's a lot more work that will be done needs to be done um but that's just what we

2:58:16have done based on that thank you and for anyone else who thinks that sounds like a lot that's

2:58:26gotten done in six months so we staffed that unit we built that unit and everything you just heard

2:58:32has happened since January 1st of 2025 so um I say this a couple times in our discussions and

2:58:39Councillor Rall and Mr. Mayor you've heard me say this before at our board we are very very

2:58:43mindful of the investment our community makes in the services we provide and we will demonstrate

2:58:49the return on that investment for our citizens I think this is an excellent example on how our

2:58:53citizens can be proud of the work that our members are doing in that regard um 2024 also a big

2:59:01accomplishment was our strat plan um community policing investigative excellence community

2:59:06wellness organizational health and service effectiveness road safety and our downtown

2:59:11are all identified as our foundational priorities I am not going to go through them all because you

2:59:16guys all have the report as well as our annual report I am going to ask uh inspector goodie to

2:59:22touch on a few things that uh we've continued to invest very heavily in our downtown I think we can

2:59:28all agree that a thriving downtown is the heart of our community so Andrew give you a bit of an

2:59:33update on that uh yes thank you chief and the mayor and council for this opportunity to share

2:59:43with you an update on a few initiatives highlighted within our annual report that specifically

2:59:49address public safety and our community engagement I'd like to start with our downtown I'm very

2:59:54pleased with the positive changes that have occurred in our downtown over the last 18 months

2:59:59our organization has taken the lead on a number of proactive initiatives aimed at improving public

3:00:04spaces for all that lows live work and play in our downtown I can tell you that over a year ago

3:00:09we were receiving communication almost daily from the people who lived people who work who played in

3:00:16our downtown expressing concern with unwanted behavior and the criminality that was actually

3:00:21occurring we take these concerns very seriously and direct in our efforts to address them I want

3:00:26to start by speaking to the wonderful work that our downtown crow officers do that includes constable

3:00:30Mark O'Connell who I think everybody in the downtown knows and our impact worker Kim Ketcher

3:00:35our service in partnership with CMHA we implemented and supported the downtown impact worker program

3:00:41in 2024 this program was instrumental in managing emergency services calls while also creating vital

3:00:47pathways to long-term care and support Mark and Kim they put people first they ensure that they get

3:00:53the health they need while also mitigating public safety concerns just in 2024 Mark and Kim attended

3:00:59over 600 calls for service that's in our downtown that is absolutely incredible and speaks to the

3:01:04value of this program has the impact it has on our downtown and demonstrates a positive return on

3:01:09the investment that we put in there in addition starting last October I think you recall I've

3:01:14spoken about this at a few different meetings we deployed an additional number of officers as part

3:01:19of the public safety initiative in our downtown these additional resources were solely dedicated to

3:01:24the downtown is there to specifically address public safety including open drug use and the

3:01:29associated criminal behaviors when lawful grounds existed we made arrests and drugs were seized

3:01:36officers then followed the direction that set out in the control drugs and substances act

3:01:40which directs officers to consider the next appropriate course of action including that

3:01:44there could be a warning a referral or even the laying of charges I got to highlight though this

3:01:49initiative was focused on a health-centered approach and I can say that for every single arrest or

3:01:55every single interaction that we had in the downtown every one of those people was afforded

3:01:59an opportunity for help at that very moment whether it was through our impact program or a

3:02:03partner from welcoming streets or one of the other supports offered within our community in the

3:02:07downtown our officers wanted to ensure that those struggling with dependency were provided an

3:02:12opportunity to access that support so just a couple stats on that one since the start of the

3:02:17initiative over 110 arrests have occurred so that's 110 people we connected with and provided them

3:02:22some level of support this is not to suggest that this initiative has eradicated open drug use we're

3:02:27very much aware that it continues to happen but it certainly indicates there is a return on investment

3:02:32when resources are appropriately deployed through a situation like that and it further

3:02:36demonstrates to the community that illegal open drug use will not be tolerated these arrests were

3:02:42for various criminal and drug related offenses but less than 10 people were actually charged with

3:02:46drug related offenses highlighting our health center approach to this in addition various

3:02:51quantities of illicit drugs have been seized including fentanyl crystal meth crack cocaine

3:02:56methamphetamine morphine pills as well as weapons a stolen vehicle and drug paraphernalia we have

3:03:02heard from their community from the community their appreciation for this initiative and the

3:03:06positive impacts it's having on our downtown in conjunction with our other downtown partners

3:03:11this team has significantly contributed to improving public safety and their work has also

3:03:16contributed in helping the core of our city reestablish as a vibrant community this initiative

3:03:22is a clear demonstration of the effective service our organization can can provide when it is

3:03:27appropriately resourced switching gears i'm going to turn to our community resource officers

3:03:34downtown officers and school resource officers they continue to participate in proactive engagements

3:03:39within our community proactive engagements are quite varied they can include meetings community

3:03:43contacts it could be something as simple as a breakfast at shelldale it could be something as

3:03:47nice as a run with our kick soccer program on a wednesday evening proactive initiatives are also

3:03:53dedicated directed patrols to the parts of the city our citizens want to see police and address

3:03:58identified concerns we receive emails we receive information regularly uh through whether it's

3:04:04through council whether it's through the community about the places they'd like to see our officers

3:04:07to address the situations that are occurring and we work very hard to ensure we get those done

3:04:13in 2024 our officers participated in over 31 proactive engagements in the city

3:04:18over 1500 of those were in the downtown core alone to date for 2025 there have been over

3:04:231300 proactive engagement calls with the city and 550 or more in the downtown the value of

3:04:30these proactive initiatives is incredibly hard to quantify but the benefits are of such value

3:04:35whether it's downtown at a community event in a local school or our officers are just out and about

3:04:39we're attempting we are building that trust and relationships with our citizens as an organization

3:04:45we actually look forward to working with our community partners bringing everybody together

3:04:49school board support services for further initiatives that support our community

3:04:54csock or our community safety operation center in may of this year we celebrated the one year

3:04:59anniversary of our csock being operational the community safety operation center or is a multifaceted

3:05:05unit that improves community safety through innovative software which allows officers

3:05:09to respond to calls in person and via video feeds our csock members can assist frontline

3:05:14officers by accessing cameras and using video to help with a wide variety of investigations

3:05:19currently csock has access to 19 cameras at various locations throughout the downtown

3:05:24and having access to these video cameras provides a look at cct video supports with the goal of

3:05:29reducing crime while also improving community safety to date there have been numerous investigations

3:05:35that have both you know assisted with you know moving forward with investigations but also taking

3:05:41away investigations that didn't necessarily police needed to to proceed with since its inception the

3:05:46unit has been able to help investigations like sexual assaults, stabbings, serious mortal vehicle

3:05:50collisions this is important because the best evidence is video evidence investigations supported

3:05:57by video evidence have a stronger likelihood of success in the criminal justice system and it's

3:06:01hard to argue something that unfolds before your eyes csock would be more than just supporting

3:06:06criminal investigations though I can tell you I've been involved in search and rescue for more than

3:06:1020 years and a system like this is incredibly beneficial in supporting our vulnerable people

3:06:16who go missing if you can imagine an elderly person or a vulnerable person going missing and

3:06:20then imagine there's an opportunity to capture them with a video clip we can more efficiently

3:06:25and effectively allocate resources to ensure their safe return and get them back to their families

3:06:31Csock also has a call management system which can divert non-emergency calls

3:06:35this process frees up frontline officers for emergency calls and reduces citizen wait times

3:06:40it's an innovative approach to ensuring community safety it's also a tool that doesn't replace officers

3:06:45but it rather compliments them in their response in 2024 Csock received and managed 7,820 calls for

3:06:52service including investigations to shoplifting brick and under stolen vehicles to date we're

3:06:56well over 9,000 calls that that that unit has taken in just one year Csock has clearly demonstrated

3:07:02its value in assisting with investigations reducing crime and most importantly enhancing community

3:07:07safety the continued growth of Csock and its success is built around access to cameras and this

3:07:13is where we need to this is where we need to expand the community has told us they want us to have

3:07:18more access to cameras for the purpose of enhancing their community safety as an organization we're

3:07:23exploring several different options with this for the purpose of camera expansion our service is

3:07:28very appreciative and supportive of the great relationship we have with our city partners

3:07:32and moving forward we look we look forward to continuing to working together

3:07:36leveraging the existing infrastructure that's in place for an increased camera expansion throughout

3:07:41our city thanks Andrew um a couple key things to mention their highlights last year Andrew just made

3:07:50reference to 3100 proactive uh supportive calls five years ago that number was probably about

3:07:57two or three hundred so that's about a 10 times increase there may have been many more than two

3:08:03or three hundred five years ago but they were not documented as such so documented well over

3:08:083,000 calls for service um as we touch on Csock our community is telling us that they want an

3:08:15expansion of that we're being approached by many people asking when and how much more both

3:08:22private citizens as well as businesses um we're grateful to our city colleagues for that expansion

3:08:29to give you as council an idea of what's possible for example all of our police cars are now equipped

3:08:36with automatic license plate readers if a stolen car drives past them then they're automatically

3:08:43identified that a stolen car is there where the next iteration of our Csock I anticipate has the

3:08:50opportunity to evolve to in consideration of appropriate privacy requirements many of us

3:08:56live in neighborhoods where cars are being stolen we have the ability to deploy stationary

3:09:02automatic license plate readers so that if at two o'clock in the morning a stolen vehicle is driving

3:09:08around a neighborhood maybe looking to steal another car then in the moment in real time we

3:09:14could be alerted to that and could be deploying resources to those neighborhoods it goes without

3:09:20saying that that has to be done in an appropriate measured way being mindful of privacy considerations

3:09:27our community is asking for these types of things to better support their safety and to do that in a

3:09:32more efficient way that leverages their investment in our services so and in conclusion um about five

3:09:48years ago maybe almost seven years ago now I stood before you as a baby chief with our first budget

3:09:55and mentioned a few service quality indicators that we would always be looking at our citizens

3:10:00perception of safety our citizens continue to tell us that our visible presence in their downtown

3:10:06in their communities is something that's important to them our crime severity index as I said we've

3:10:11considered we've continued to see a favorable trend in the overall crime severity last year was an

3:10:17unfavorable trend with respect to violent crime and some persons crimes mail outlined some of the

3:10:23ways we're addressing those response times while they ebb and flow ever so slightly I think we were

3:10:28up by a few seconds last year we are down from where we were at highs of 2018 or 19 and as I

3:10:35referenced at the beginning over time 16 and a half percent reduction down to about 36,500 hours

3:10:42and those are things that we will continue to monitor very closely I want to draw your attention

3:10:48to the last few pages of our annual report as a demonstration of our commitment to transparency

3:10:54as well as accountability we had approximately 80,000 calls for service last year of those 80,000

3:11:0289 so 89 of 80,000 resulted in use of force reports that's well a lot of the language behind

3:11:11a lot of the metrics are in there so I'm not going to read it to you but essentially that represents

3:11:15a 16.8 percent decrease in use of force incidents and an 18 and a half percent decrease in use of

3:11:23force levels every single one of the 150 sorry sorry every one of those 89 incidents are itemized

3:11:33for you as council and our citizens to go through so you actually have some context with respect to

3:11:39what was the situation to that led to our interaction and what intervention option was used in relation

3:11:47to resolving that situation so obviously I'm not going to go through them all but I think it's

3:11:53important that we publicly publish that information for you and our citizens to see so you can have

3:11:59full transparency in relation to those and with that I'm going to close the way I began I want to

3:12:06thank our members whether it be our GPS members our colleagues at Gwemms or GFD the emergency

3:12:13services personnel in our community provide 24 7 non-discretionary non-remote service that is

3:12:21very important and very difficult and I think that we all owe them a debt of gratitude and I

3:12:30just want to thank them on behalf of our service and calling to all your folks for everything that

3:12:34our emergency services personnel does and with that we welcome any questions. Thank you chief

3:12:41and thank you to everyone else that presented and giving us that update is there any follow-up

3:12:45questions for the police at this time or okay Alton Guller. Thank you very much Mayor Guthrie

3:12:54as I sit on the police board I just full disclosure I'm asking these questions because I'm hoping that

3:12:59you can expand on some of the things that you've presented today. One of the first questions that

3:13:06I have is the school officer program. The school officer program is provincially mandated and so

3:13:12there are a couple of things that I think are important about this. Will this be an additional

3:13:17cost item within the budget and is there provincial funding to pay for this as it is a provincial

3:13:23mandate? So what we now this is a much broader through you Mr. Mayor discussion for the fall

3:13:28however what I anticipate is you can expect that I will be here before you in a few months saying

3:13:35that this is year three of the multi-year budget. I anticipate an FTE of about two percent so that's

3:13:42going to be six sworn two civilian like you saw every year for the last couple however the enhanced

3:13:49service with respect to high school resource officers I anticipate we will absorb those

3:13:55within the existing anticipated growth of around two percent so to give our community

3:14:01bit of context if we were an organization of a hundred people next year we're going to be 102

3:14:07two percent growth obviously we're 350 so it's that but that's what I anticipate that will

3:14:11certainly be a full-time job it will certainly be increased resources to accommodate that

3:14:18our goal is to accommodate that increase within the already projected year three FTE growth plan.

3:14:26And thank you I appreciate all the successes of all of the presenters that we've heard from today

3:14:33but I'm just going to ask you because I hear this often there's a concern from people with

3:14:37regards to the downtown and I heard from office from Inspector Goody that there's been a positive

3:14:42change to public spaces downtown but the concern that I'm hearing is that that success downtown

3:14:49has actually been matched with criminal activity elsewhere and and I'm wondering how do we apportion

3:14:57policing responsibilities neighborhood by neighborhood I guess is the best way to ask.

3:15:03Well and I think well over for the last several years we've been trying to just manage each incident

3:15:10as it's arrages and now that we have a proper growth plan what you've seen so the first couple

3:15:15years over the last six years or so for the first couple years it was about fortifying front line

3:15:19response. Next two years last year we talked a lot about supporting our investigative services

3:15:26intimate partner violence human trafficking the next couple is really being able to have that surge

3:15:31capacity to support other neighborhoods. I'm often asked does the downtown get too much service and

3:15:37my answer to that is no what we need to do though is to have a surge capacity to start to provide a

3:15:42similar level of service to other communities who rely upon that so we will we will always be in a

3:15:51position where we have to manage existing resources we're slowly getting to a much better place as far

3:15:56as for example in September we should have an ability our traffic unit should have ability

3:16:01to spend more time doing traffic safety in school zones if we have certain neighborhoods that have

3:16:06certain issues to surge towards there to support those communities with community resource officers

3:16:11etc so that's part of the plan of the growth plan. Okay I think it's the last question

3:16:18one of the the points that I heard was really that we're looking at crimes against a person

3:16:25and crimes against property are we able to quantify what the trend is more crimes against people more

3:16:32crimes against property or is that beyond scope of us even dealing with because quite often they're

3:16:39interrelated yeah no we can certainly have the trend now in the next I believe in the next two

3:16:44weeks Stats Canada will be releasing their crime severity index so they very clearly published

3:16:49the trends based on our numbers from last year we saw a favorable trend on the property crime side

3:16:57an unfavorable trend or an increase year over year in 23 and 4 with respect to serious persons crime

3:17:03overall our overall crime severity I suspect we'll have remained about the same and violent crime

3:17:11and nonviolent crime that's a weighted index that then contributes to an overall CSI or crime

3:17:17severity index rating. Thank you very much. Thank you. Caller. Thank you and through your

3:17:25worship to Chief Kobe thank you all for your presentation I'm really grateful for the work

3:17:31that you and our community I wanted to follow up on the conversion of the fleet to hybrid vehicles

3:17:38I heard that we're about halfway there is there a plan to actually go all the way or is it not

3:17:43possible at this time with technology to convert the entire fleet to electric or hybrid? I would

3:17:48say we'll continue to go as far as we can but some vehicles like the reality of what the what type of

3:17:54vehicles they are I'm not sure that we'll ever get to 100% but we will continue to go as far for

3:18:01example like we've transitioned to a fleet of e-bikes to our entire marked fleet there'll always

3:18:07be some specialty vehicles that we may have a difficult time but we will go as far as we can

3:18:13that's a reasonable pace with respect to ROI for the citizens. That's wonderful I know it's a great

3:18:19way to contribute to the city's goal. My next question on your annual report for human trafficking

3:18:26you had the numbers for 2023 to 2024 and there was a sharp decrease from 2023 to 2024 I just

3:18:32wanted to be clear it said that there's still a similar amount of people being trafficked in

3:18:39wealth and the perpetrators are just getting better at hiding it or is does it actually reflect

3:18:45that there has been a significant decrease in the number of people being trafficked year over

3:18:50year for the last two years? I would say there's an increase and Mal can correct me on this if

3:18:55she'd like but we are at the stage where just now as the more work we do in this area I suspect the

3:19:01more we're going to reveal what's already happening so I don't know that the trend it's a well

3:19:08established crime happening in our city as we understand it and have more resources to do the

3:19:13work we are start in the first instance as we first move forward we're going to find more

3:19:20crimes because now we have the resources to look for am I you want to speak to that?

3:19:26Just just keeping in mind with that that it is severely under reported

3:19:32and the that's where the work is is getting gaining the trust of the victims and getting

3:19:36them to come forward and getting them to talk to us is is really difficult so it's very prevalent

3:19:41in our city it's just putting the work in and getting that trust with our victims so that we can

3:19:46build that case but okay okay I appreciate it and I really wanted to thank you and appreciate

3:19:51that you're doing the productive work talking to to youth and ask at-risk youth to to prevent

3:19:56that from happening thank you so much thank you worship thank you and lastly is Councillor Pussadil

3:20:03yes thank you Councillor I'll ask my first question I was going to hold on to that till

3:20:08budget time but I do want to ask about in the annual report and in your presentation about

3:20:14the remotely piloted aircraft system and in the annual report it says that there's going to be an

3:20:21expansion of the program and then in your presentation you said this doesn't replace officers

3:20:29can you explain a little bit about the parameters the scope of use of video?

3:20:34Sure you can join me here if you want but at a very high level everything we do we're mindful of

3:20:40the privacy for example we have two drones for this for our community we have two drones that

3:20:49are operated by licensed accredited members throughout our service one time when they could

3:20:56be used if we had a missing person in a in a forest they actually have an infrared ability

3:21:03to find someone in a forest that could save an awful lot of time anything to do with respect to

3:21:08privacy is done in alignment with the privacy commissioner considerations that's all part

3:21:14of developing that program and we're very mindful of that any expansion would always include those

3:21:20types of things if we had any the video you want to touch on this in my course? Yeah just for

3:21:27sake of time was the question answered? Yeah I was just curious about in the report the first

3:21:34bullet says the expansion for general operations so I understood about the specialized areas that

3:21:39are in the boxes but now it says it's for general operations what that meant. Are you referring

3:21:49to the R-pass for general operations? Yes it's in page 18 of your annual report yeah okay so what

3:21:57that means is we now have capacity for our R-pass to be available to all frontline members

3:22:01so it's an extra resource that's available so typically in the past there were specific

3:22:07officers who were dedicated and trained to use it now we have more of those and it's offering for

3:22:12availability for more general operations so for example if a great example last week we had a

3:22:17missing person instead of having to call someone in we had someone who was available come off the

3:22:22road and you know fly our R-pass to assist with searching for that missing person. Okay thank you.

3:22:28Great nothing more thank you all very much appreciate it. I want to see you at budget time.

3:22:37Start with the pencil okay now any questions from council to staff? No okay we're on our last one

3:22:48which is Wellington Dufferin, 12 public health. Matthew Tenenbaum is going to be joining us remotely I

3:22:55believe. Matthew thank you very much for joining us we sort of see you does your video yes

3:23:09and can you check your audio for us? Wonderful can you hear me? We can see and hear you and your

3:23:14presentation is up on the screen so it is over to you go right ahead. Thank you your worship thank

3:23:21you councillors members of the public who are listening or watching thanks very much for having

3:23:25us here today to present some of our work to you this afternoon. For those who don't know me I'm

3:23:30Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum I'm the associate medical officer of health with Wellington Dufferin Public

3:23:34Health and I'm here today to speak with you a little bit about our work in 2024 how we monitor

3:23:41and measure our performance and also more broadly how we've taken approach to maximizing the impact

3:23:46we can deliver for our community. Next slide please. So as one of your local boards and shared

3:23:53services WDG Public Health is responsible for improving the health of the 150,000 people living in

3:23:59the city of Guelph as well as the approximately 200,000 people living in Wellington and Dufferin

3:24:04counties. We prevent and control health threats while also working where we can to go upstream

3:24:09to promote people's overall health and well-being to prevent things before they occur and operationally

3:24:15practically speaking this plays out through many diverse programs and services that we offer to our

3:24:20community. Next slide please. Now when I spoke with you this time last year about our 2023 data

3:24:29I shared some of our metrics like the work that was done that year and I'm here today and pleased

3:24:33to share some additional data on this slide and the one that follows that reflect our work in 2024.

3:24:39This data is a small subset of what we track within our agency's VI solutions our business

3:24:44intelligence systems and while you can see some indicators on this slide and one that follow

3:24:49rather than focusing on each element of this data I want to step back and emphasize the breadth

3:24:54of the work that we do and the ways that we touch people's lives in public health.

3:24:59These indicators represent just a glimpse into how public health has opened into everyday life

3:25:02in the city of Guelph and elsewhere. We're there when families welcome a new baby,

3:25:06our child gets their school vaccines, when a senior seeks preventive dental care

3:25:11or when someone needs urgent care after an animal bite. Whether it's drinking water, swimming pools

3:25:15or personal service settings our work quietly supports the routines and relationships that

3:25:20make up people's daily lives. Next slide please. Public health operates quietly in the background

3:25:26until the moment it matters most. Whether we're preventing illness, supporting families or safeguarding

3:25:32in the environments around us our work is fundamentally about enabling people in Guelph and

3:25:36elsewhere to live healthier and safer lives. Next slide please. Now I want to speak a bit more in

3:25:44greater detail about some of our key accomplishments in the previous year 2024 some of our success stories.

3:25:49Next slide please. So we're going to start speaking a little bit about infectious diseases which

3:25:54obviously given the COVID and measles is very topical and will always be a core part of public

3:25:59health work. So a lot of our work in public health doesn't involve responding to disease

3:26:03threats and risks in our community. You saw a lot of this during the COVID-19 pandemic but

3:26:07even in normal times it is a core part of our work. This year 2025 there was significant

3:26:12measles activity driving a whole bunch of community response and in 2024 specifically we saw a

3:26:18substantial increase in the number of reports we got from individuals and families and physicians

3:26:24and hospitals of a number of diseases. A particular number of them were particularly

3:26:29significant increases things like pertussis or whooping cough which is an illness that can be

3:26:34prevented through vaccination or something like salmonella which is a foodborne illness you can

3:26:39get by eating contaminated food. Our public health staff investigate and collect important

3:26:44information whenever we find out about people who are ill with these or other diseases we collect

3:26:49information such as their symptoms how and when they may have gotten ill in the first place

3:26:54and who they may have passed illness on to. Analysis of this data then informs decisions

3:26:59and guides public health actions that we take they may be preventive or responsive and you can see

3:27:03some examples on that slide of key initiatives linked to those diseases that were increasing last

3:27:08year. Now depending on the diseases being reported public health may recommend a whole

3:27:14variety of interventions and we often work with the community and with key partners like

3:27:19healthcare partners hospitals family physicians etc to make sure that we can take actions to

3:27:24prevent and reduce the spread of really important diseases in our community. Next slide please.

3:27:31Now when members of the public contact us our client and community support team is often the

3:27:35first point they interact with in many ways this team is the front door to public health in our area.

3:27:40This team is a multidisciplinary group that helps residents navigate our services

3:27:45as well as other supports available in our community effectively this can be done by phone,

3:27:49email, web chat, in person and other other modalities. They're just taking the time between

3:27:55April and September of 2024 alone we connected that team with over with people in our community

3:28:01over 27,000 times. From vaccine questions to infant feeding advice to helping newcomer families

3:28:08find a dentist or a primary care provider every interaction is one more person who's better

3:28:13supported and more informed about how to stay healthy and make the most of their time in our

3:28:18community. Of that 27,000 number that includes over 2,300 inquiries that we received and were

3:28:24handled by our new AI powered chatbot on our website. Most of these occurred after hours on

3:28:30evenings and weekends and this just shows that our community is able to reach us for key information

3:28:36they want and need really any time of day 24-7. For the 27,000 interactions I mentioned and each of

3:28:43those 27,000 interactions was a single footstep that would be enough to walk from one end of the

3:28:48city to the other and back just to put that number in perspective and again each of those

3:28:52interactions represents a chance for us to better understand what our community needs,

3:28:57build trust and work with individuals and families to solve problems that matter to them.

3:29:01Next slide please. Now for this slide I want each of you to spend a moment picture a family enjoying

3:29:09a nice beautiful summer day in well maybe cooling off a splash pad, sharing a lush the favorite spot,

3:29:15swimming through the park, carefree. Now behind that experience of trying to enjoy summer weather

3:29:22are a number of quiet safeguards and part of the work that we do is to make sure people can have

3:29:27those safeguards in place so they can enjoy their lives and take those you know moments for granted

3:29:33almost. Just to kind of take some key examples of work that we did to support people to enjoy

3:29:37those everyday joys. In 2024 we did 275 inspections of pool spas and splash pads to ensure that conditions

3:29:45there were safe. We did over 100,000 catch basin treatments to make sure that we're controlling

3:29:50mosquito populations which can be a key nuisance as well as a key vector for West Nile virus and we

3:29:55did over 2,900 food safety inspections at restaurants and vendors and just about that number of perspective

3:30:01if you went to a different restaurant or food vendor every single day back to back to back

3:30:07it would take over eight years to visit all of the locations that our team expected last year.

3:30:13Now these are just a few examples public health doesn't always make headlines but our work is about

3:30:17helping people feel safe and well at home in their community. Next slide please. So now speak a little

3:30:25bit about looking to the future. Next slide please. So we recognize in our agency that public health

3:30:32and much of the world is really evolving and we as an agency are trying to lead that evolution by

3:30:37using technology to deliver our services in a way that's smarter faster and more accessible.

3:30:43So in 2024 as well as in 2025 to date we launched, scaled and matured several innovations powered by

3:30:49AI and automation. One of the most impactful of our of these was our new system for processing

3:30:55vaccine records. Oftentimes we spent a lot of time working with physicians and families and parents

3:31:01asking them to submit records to us to make sure people are up to dates in their families

3:31:06and they often submit records to us in any number of formats. These can be emails,

3:31:10faxes, voicemails even handwritten notes sometimes and our AI system can now extract

3:31:15key information from those submissions, prioritize the information to surface those things that are

3:31:22most urgent or important and make sure we're documenting that information in appropriate places

3:31:26securely. What this means for people is faster turnaround. It means more up-to-date data for

3:31:31us, it means fewer students being suspended from school, it means better client service and it means

3:31:36more of our staff time available for direct client interaction. During the spring's meals

3:31:41outbreak our automated system generated over 5,000 personalized letters that went out to families of

3:31:47children that were not up to date with their vaccines. Each of those letters was tailored to

3:31:51that child immunization status, letters of cells were produced in a matter of minutes and we were

3:31:55able to go from end to end of that process in just a couple of days which is incredible and not all

3:32:00would have been possible before automation. As an agency we're also piloting voicemail

3:32:05transcription so the idea behind this is that we are allowing urgent calls we receive to be

3:32:10transcribed and categorized and triaged in real time including after hours and therefore the

3:32:16information gets people who need to receive it in a priority sensitive way as quickly as possible

3:32:22and we determined that this technology alone could grip the equivalent of a full-time public

3:32:26health nurse who could then be redeployed to provide other client or public-facing work.

3:32:31Now these tools aren't just futuristic, novelties, they're really practical solutions

3:32:35the challenges that we face today, they reduce delays, they improve equity and they allow our

3:32:41team to spend more time with the needed most. They're also examples of how to contribute to a

3:32:44stronger more resilient public health system for the future. Next slide please. Now we are fortunate

3:32:52in our area to be able to serve a vibrant community that people want to come and live and work in.

3:32:57As it happens we are one of the fastest-going parts of the province of Ontario. We know that over

3:33:02the past decade a population grew by about 20% and we anticipate to grow by about 50% between now

3:33:09and the year 2021. As our community grows we remain committed to delivering good value for

3:33:15money to residents and taxpayers in wealth and throughout our region and we're already beginning

3:33:19to see the effects of this significant growth on our programs. We're seeing more vaccines going into

3:33:23arms, more dental clinics, more inspections, more new moms and baby scenic support. The demand is

3:33:29definitely growing and we are keeping pace with that so far. Now we've been able to manage this

3:33:33without increasing our staffing levels. We're really operating at a similar FTE count that's

3:33:38remained static over the past decade. That reflects our commitment to doing more of what we have but

3:33:43it also highlights how stretched our capacity is going to become. Now we do continue to innovate,

3:33:48to automate, digitize, try out new ways of delivering our programs and services in a way that may

3:33:53sense for our evolving community but at the same time we want to acknowledge that funding is going

3:33:58to be a greater challenge for us going forward. Provincially speaking we know that recently

3:34:03over the past decade our funding has been very stable and we expect in our years we're going to

3:34:08be looking at between zero and one percent annual growth. Compare that against our operating costs

3:34:14which are growing at about three and a half percent per year due strictly to inflation without even

3:34:18accounting for population growth itself. Now thanks to steady investment for our municipalities

3:34:22including the city of wealth we have been able to maintain high quality services but we do know

3:34:27that as the population grows the funding gap is going to become more noticeable and we see this

3:34:32as a challenge that we'll have to navigate together. Our continued partnership with the city will be

3:34:36key sustaining the services that keep our community healthy. Next slide please. I want to thank you

3:34:44again for the opportunity to speak with each of you today. I also want to mention that if you'd

3:34:47like to learn more about our programs services and the impact that we're making in the community

3:34:52I will invite you to explore our 2024 community report which is available on our website at

3:34:57WDGPublicHealth.ca. I'll just end by saying that we're proud to be part of the fabric of this growing

3:35:02city and we look forward to continuing our work together to support the healthier wealth. Thank you.

3:35:09Thank you very much Matthew. We really appreciate you closing us off today on all the presentations

3:35:16and the good work you're doing as well on your whole team. So is there any follow-up

3:35:21for Matthew at all from Public Health? Yes, Councillor Downer please.

3:35:27Thank you Dr. Tenenbaum. That was interesting and thanks for the presentation and thank you for

3:35:32all the great work that you do to keep our community healthy. I'm a frequent dog walker and often to

3:35:39the country and what I hear about from people is the explosion of ticks this year which seems to be

3:35:47more than any other time. And I noticed you said you had in your vector-borne disease section on

3:35:55your slide that you'd had 131 black-legged ticks identified. So do people bring in ticks to you

3:36:02to do this and because that's sort of the things I'm asked about people so what should I do with

3:36:07this tick? I'm not sure so. Yeah so three and a half to you Councillor Downer that's an excellent

3:36:14question and definitely the way we are understanding the risk around ticks is quite different now than

3:36:20it was five or ten years ago. It used to be the case people would bring in their tick in person.

3:36:25We'd have a member of our staff look at it. We might give the people a sense of which kind of

3:36:29tick it is and whether it causes a disease like Lyme disease that we're concerned about. We have

3:36:35moved to actually fully digitizing that process so what people can do now is they can take a photo

3:36:40using their smartphone, upload it as part of a web form with some key information about the

3:36:45circumstances of where they found it and we both collect that to understand where and what kinds

3:36:51of ticks we're seeing in our community and also communicate with that person to let them know

3:36:55whether there's any action they need to take. There are particular kinds of ticks, particular

3:36:59species that can be identified based on how they look that carry different diseases but we are

3:37:05definitely seeing lots more interest in this issue. People are certainly much more aware

3:37:09of Lyme disease and other diseases that ticks carry. That's partly what's behind the increase in

3:37:14what we're seeing but it also is very true that the areas that ticks are affecting are themselves

3:37:21growing as a consequence of climate change. This has been a really, it's not a trend that

3:37:27ebbs and flows that has been consistently over the past five ten years, the case that we're seeing

3:37:31more and more of Ontario and more and more of our area being tick risk areas and it's unfortunately

3:37:36just going to be a significant concern going forward. People have to be aware of as they engage

3:37:41in outdoor activities. Okay, thank you. That's all very helpful. Have you seen an increase in

3:37:47Lyme disease in this time in the last five years? So we have seen an increase in Lyme disease that

3:37:54actually was one of the diseases that we noted a significant increase in in 2024. We know that

3:38:01Lyme disease numbers are, they're very helpful in terms of us understanding the human impact of

3:38:07what the ticks are doing but we also know that not everyone who has Lyme disease ends up being

3:38:12counted. There are still challenges around people recognizing the disease, going to a doctor, getting

3:38:17diagnosed and the data that we have is always incomplete. I mention that just because it means

3:38:21that we see more variation in our Lyme disease numbers than we do in our tick numbers. The tick

3:38:27numbers are really the key metric you look at in the picture of the evolving risk in our

3:38:31community. Okay, thank you. I've never learned more in my life about ticks or Lyme and I haven't

3:38:40lost five minutes so that's great. All right, I don't see anything more from anyone so thank you

3:38:48very much. We appreciate your time and your work. Thank you. And back to staff. Is there any questions

3:38:55of us to staff? No? Okay, that brings us to the end. Thank you very much everybody for waiting

3:39:03through that. Is there anything at all that staff would like to say before I go to the bylaws?

3:39:10No? Okay. Councillor Billings, I have you down for the bylaws. It will pop up on the screen for us.

3:39:18That bylaw 202521122 be approved subject to section 28411, four of the municipal act. I'll move

3:39:29it seconded by Councillor Gibson. Great and I think there's the other one there as well right?

3:39:38To the second one. Proceed. Oh, it's the same one. They caught it. Okay. Yeah, I just wanted to make

3:39:46sure that I knew that I was just testing you so. No problem. All right. Is there anything on the

3:39:53bylaws? Can I call the vote? Yes, I can. I'll call the vote. Is anyone against the bylaws?

3:39:59Nobody? Who would love to put their hand up for adjournment? Okay, Boussatil and I'll go online.

3:40:07Keaton. All right, perfect. Call the vote on adjournment. Anyone against adjournment?

3:40:14Nobody. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a great rest of the night. Bye bye.