City Council as Shareholder of GJR

2:18Good evening. It is Wednesday, June the 14th, 2023. It is 6.40pm. And I am calling this meeting to order.

2:28It is the City Council as shareholder of Guelph Junction Railway Limited meeting.

2:37And officially calling it to order any disclosure of pecuniary interest or general nature there of

2:44of the items on this agenda. Don't hear or see anyone. And I did get regrets from

2:53Councillor Gibson for this meeting. I have a motion for us to consider of the minutes of the

3:01Open City Council as shareholder of GGR meeting held June 27th, 2022 to be confirmed as recorded

3:08and without being read would someone be willing to do that for me? Busatil and ororok. Anything on

3:16those? Hearing and seeing none. I'll call the vote. Anyone against those minutes?

3:23Nobody. That is unanimous. Thank you. We're moving to the items of discussion and it's

3:29going to start off with Scott Stewart, who is the Director and Chief Executive Officer

3:36of Guelph Junction Railway Limited with our 2022 annual report. Over to you.

3:44Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the Council. My pleasure to be before you once again

3:48this evening and of course all community members that are listening in tonight on behalf of Guelph

3:52Junction Railway Board of Directors. It's my pleasure to present the 2022 Guelph Junction Railway

3:57Limited annual report. Throughout 2022, the Guelph Junction Railway, and I'll just go with GGR from

4:05here on in for short, continued its focus on safety, fiscal responsibility, service delivery,

4:12and alignment with priorities of the City of Guelph's strategic plan. Guelph future ready.

4:16Our goal is to provide easy, safe, accessible movement of goods along almost 40 kilometers of

4:22track and to connect Guelph's economy with other regions. We do this by innovating and providing

4:27service excellence to our customers. I'll now walk you through a few of the snapshots from 2022

4:36with full details available of course in the annual report you received as part of your agenda package.

4:42GGR has shown a great recovery as both revenues and railcar volumes have exceeded

4:46pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Through effective communications with current and potential customers,

4:52it's focused, it's forecasted that Guelph Junction Railway will continue to an upward growth trend.

4:58The Guelph Junction Railway operates in a capital intensive industry which means

5:02we continually reinvest in our capital infrastructure and this is necessary to maintain

5:07our competitive service, ensure compliance with legislation requirements, and most importantly

5:13to operate safely and efficiently. For example, continued improvements to the railway include

5:19signal equipment, rail switch, and track upgrades, and of course at grade rail crossings or road

5:26crossings I suppose I should continue to focus on the railway side. Completing a site in expansion at

5:31Woodlawn Road at the end of the track to accommodate a newly acquired customer, this has resulted in a

5:37diversification of goods being transported into Guelph by rail. Installing a packaging or packaging

5:43track for a key customer that enables railcars to directly access the business, reduce an offload

5:49in times, and enhance railcar efficiencies. Additionally, we constructed a storage track

5:54to support the increased demand resulting from our contacts, our contracts with our customer.

6:00We've continued to clean up scrap railway ties and initiate replacements to maintain

6:05our Class 2 operations. It's important to mention that Guelph Junction Railway's effort and commitment

6:10to our local environment align completely with our city strategy. So you'll hear a bit of a theme

6:16for me tonight as much as we're a standalone organization we're not. We align and you'll see

6:23a few folks behind me tonight of course but I'll point out Jeans back there because we've been

6:28listening hard to you as the board over the last few years so you'll see that connection

6:32and I'll move into that in a bit but it's the connection into sort of city organization.

6:38You maintain control here separately but the connection is you get to influence around the

6:43strategic plan and other things. Of course those other things include the replacement of 2700 cross

6:50dies which were recycled in Canada and then used for energy production. This demonstrates our

6:56commitment to a greener sustainable and accountable future. In addition with the joint efforts between

7:01the township of Pushlins and Weldon source water protection 391 tons of rail ties that date back to

7:08the CP lease were responsibly disposed of which is equivalent to about 12,000 ties. And there's a

7:15couple of key things in there for me about doing the right thing and especially our southern

7:20councillors. Councillor Chew and I wasn't sure if he was on the screen and of course the Rourke

7:25you get many questions from the folks down in Pushlins as you neighbour up to them so it's

7:29important for us to be good neighbours in that way as well. And lastly in 2022 Guelph Junction Railway

7:35collaborated with Guelph Base Ward 1 Studios to produce a new video that showcases the Guelph

7:40Junction Railway and what it has to offer. I haven't brought it here tonight for you but it's certainly

7:45on the city's YouTube page so please go there it's exciting you should go there and be excited

7:51but we also use it to deal with existing customers and future customers.

7:56So with COVID-19 restrictions being reduced and lifted throughout 2022 Guelph Junction Railway has

8:01shown great recovery as both revenues and railcar volumes have now exceeded our pre-pandemic levels.

8:07The way we earned a net comprehensive income of 1.64 million which is a 55% or a $580,000

8:13increase over 2021. With higher than expected revenues we're declaring a 164,000 dividend to

8:21the city of Guelph for 2022 and we expect to continue to see an increase in economic value

8:27as Guelph Junction Railway builds more track. Not only does this benefit the railway but it's also

8:32good news for Guelph businesses that can take on additional contracts. So again that's the

8:37connection that's why we have this house the inside our economic development and tourism

8:43area within the city structure itself. Guelph Junction Railway supports the power and of our

8:49future pillar for our strategic plan and through a focus on helping businesses and adding value to

8:55the community. In 2022 the Goddarditch GEXR railway also includes the Guelph Junction Railway won two

9:04awards and they're on the screen this evening for best safety performance and most improved safety

9:09performance along with the operating regions and this recognition comes in part to our general

9:15manager, Les Trocific, that's here tonight and Les would just if we could have just acknowledged

9:22and wave well Les there we go and of course with Les now that I've turned around Stacy Dunn again

9:27our acting general manager of economic development and is here with us as well and of course that

9:34structure all flows through DCL homes and so Guelph Rung we've gone through that support so PNR

9:43railways continues to perform our routine track and signal maintenance for Guelph Junction Railway

9:48so again there's a bit of contract it out it's a fairly lean organization and this direct oversight

9:53over maintenance has continued to result in improved safety increased efficiency and lower

9:58their costs of operations which has continued to grow allow us to grow the business itself

10:04and align with our city standards of excellence. Guelph Junction Railway supports Guelph businesses

10:10to become future ready and achieves this by providing excellent services to existing and

10:15future customers during 2022 the Guelph Junction Railway completed an expansion south of York

10:21Road at the Kaufman site in this was a result of PDI one of Guelph Junction Railway's biggest

10:26customers secured a guaranteed car volume contract with Cargoal so again I'll call that a two-fer.

10:32Those businesses aren't leaving Guelph because we're not servicing they're staying in Guelph

10:37because we are and we're just doing it slightly differently so there's there's vast improvements

10:42that are happening with our customers but also that's keeping our local employers happy and when

10:48they're happy employees are happy and I'm going to link it to the housing pledge you know that's

10:53the connection in some ways because there's businesses here in their apparent taxes that

10:58allows us to focus on the things that we might do on the housing pledge site so I just I look to

11:03that and just say I think that's a spectacular example of two businesses one with just small

11:08adjustments Guelph Junction Railway will be completing an additional siting in the location

11:14to continue accommodate the increase in railway traffic and businesses growth of PDI. The final

11:20phase of acquiring the former Ontario Southland Railway locomotive and crew building crew

11:24buildings is in place with this property our current operators locomotives will not have to

11:29sit idling overnight during the winter months which will reduce carbon emissions and save fuel of

11:35course it also provide Guelph Junction Railway with a designated area to store access inventory so

11:41again there's some linkages to sort of a lot of our goals here we have at the city and of course it

11:46sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud tonight but in the winter time we have to leave the

11:52locomotives idling all night so now we've been able to fix that with a small purchase

11:57and the last point on this slide is the monitoring of railway car traffic on our line it's a priority

12:05and an upward trend in railway car numbers is good news for Guelph Junction Railway and of course the

12:09economy that it supports however we also need to consider how the growth can contribute to the

12:16traffic congestion as population levels increase over the Guelph Junction Railway crossings so we

12:22are significantly aware of all the the growth inside our city you know our goal is to try to get

12:28vehicles for goods movement off the roads and that's always a good thing if we can do that

12:32and then what does success look like in terms of the railway crossings that might add to some

12:37congestion as well so we will keep our eyes continue to keep our eyes on that fine balance

12:41to be both the needs of businesses and residents here in Guelph in terms of community partners we're

12:47always planning for the future with a focus on communications and accountability so we're a good

12:54community partner and that includes working with cross functionally with other city departments

12:59and community stakeholders to meet strategic goals so Guelph Junction Railway continues to meet with

13:04engineer and transportation parks and trails planning and private developers and to facilitate

13:10and encourage what you see in the screen here is rail with the trail systems connections and that

13:15includes the TransCanada Trail System and other multi-use pathways that run alongside Guelph Junction

13:22Railway right away so we have been listening to this area and I want you to hear me on this one

13:27we are listening and we're working with folks but we have got to do it safely and that's a key factor

13:32for us so sometimes that might sound like a no but it isn't it's how do we do it safely because we

13:37are a regulated industry so that's an appropriate place for staff to be but we also recognize

13:44that we have to do it with the right city staff and that's why I mentioned Gene Matthews that's

13:48behind me tonight as well so that's the folks that run our parks works and plan it we can support it

13:55but as a shareholder here you don't influence it that way through Guelph Junction Railway you

14:00influence it as council and what they bring forward so I just want to make that distinction

14:05but that's to say that we're working with with Gene and I know Mr Fisher is back there too so

14:10let me recognize John as well before he gets up here we're also working with that association

14:14and we don't always agree on the speed of which we operate at and that's okay that's that's not a

14:19that's not a huge issue for me standing here tonight but we want to make sure that we're

14:23committed to doing the right things together but committed to doing them safely so you'll always

14:28hear us talk about safety that's not a no it's just we want to get to that part right and so

14:33that we can deal with the future and talking to the future we're certainly are working with

14:39lands down in our GID area and that's a future discussion that we continue to have

14:43with Fusion Homes and what they're planning on doing down there so we're doing that both as a city

14:48staff but also through Guelph Junction Railway we are planning to the the planning work is currently

14:53underway for the 6167 trail connection back to now to Arthur connection and to the Woodlawn to

15:00Wilwood's trail connection and you've seen all that as the broader downtown plan that was just

15:05in front of you led by Stacy Lachlan and Stacy was up here to walk you all through that so that's

15:09the connection into the multiple places if Guelph Junction Railway was in private hands you have no

15:15influence on that you have a lot of influence here albeit it's still a standalone corporation

15:20and you could see this influence from the type of work that we're doing and of course communication

15:25between Guelph Junction Railway parks and trails legal services and our Guelph Hike and Trail Club

15:30is ongoing as the city plans for growth and the possible expansion of the trails we're right

15:35there to support it where we can and where we should and so with that it's important to recognize

15:41the good work of other city teams that contributed to the good news story that's Guelph Junction Railway

15:46and so under the city of Guelph and the Guelph Junction Railway shares services agreement

15:50the legal and finance departments both contribute to the railway success there was a lot of behind

15:55the scenes work that takes place this is an opportunity for us to move things around on our

15:59books legitimately and we take advantage of that where we can so that you get advantage of that as

16:05the city council shareholder but also a city council and I mentioned earlier infrastructure

16:11development and enterprise services is the area that's this operation is housed in so there's a

16:15bit of an operational split on how we do work within the city hall so that there's a bit of a wall

16:21that's created as well and on behalf of the Board of Directors I appreciate everyone's work

16:27and in closing thank you Guelph Junction Railway is economically strong safe we're becoming more

16:34and more sustainable resilient asset for the city of Guelph but that Mr Chair thank you very much and

16:40take any questions you might have thanks well why don't we move to the delegation I think

16:47and then if there is any follow-up and you've explained it very well so thank you for the

16:50presentation uh John Fisher from the Guelph Hiking Trail Club is here it's coming down to the microphone

16:57thanks for coming John and I'll just get my timer ready for you so you have no more than five

17:09minutes and again welcome John and I'll start the timer whenever you start go ahead all right

17:22Mr. Mayor shareholders GJRC AO and Board of Directors and City staff my name is John Fisher I'm

17:29the President of the Guelph Hiking Trail Club this is the third year I've delegated the annual meeting

17:34each year my theme has been the same that as a municipal subsidiary GJRC has a responsibility

17:41to the city beyond that of a profit motivated independent commercial enterprise congratulations

17:48to GJRC on an excellent year and for the efforts GJRC has made to communicate with trail user groups

17:55and the advancement of rail with trail system connections small gradual steps

18:03regrettably one consequence of last year's GJRC success is the sighting addition to accommodate

18:09new customers transloading business of woodland this has resulted in the closure of the informal

18:16trail that linked woodland to the start of the G to G and was in place for decades now the main

18:23route to the G to G trailhead at Silver Creek is a route that cyclists and pedestrians vigorously

18:29reject for safety reasons the G to G missing link has been discussed since the early 2000s

18:37it was identified as the number one city trail building project in the 2021 trails master plan

18:44but there has been little progress in advancing the optimum route between woodland and the G to G

18:50trailhead complexity waiting for an economic requirement from a client of GJRC and unwillingness

18:57to take any steps forward until a complete solution is identified are all excuses given for the lack

19:03of progress to move the project forward money for the project has now been teasingly place marked

19:11be on the next round of multi-year budgeting outside of any requirement to prioritize the budget

19:17to cry to prioritize the project the trail users groups want the city's 2027 bicentennial

19:26to be the target date to create the Guelph bicentennial trailway a legacy project which would run from

19:33the covered bridge to the G to G trailhead at Silver Creek sharing the GJR ROW the steps to

19:42make this a reality are well understood a rails with trails precedent runs from Macdennell to

19:48Speedvale rails with rails with trails work is in progress from Woodlawn Road to Woolwich

19:56the 2022 GJR annual report mentions grading improvements and trail connectivity that are

20:03being taken into consideration for potential trail system between Woodlawn Road and its end of track

20:10in 2023 that will create space for a future trail the missing link is the staff and political

20:17resolve to make it happen by 2027 to advance the project it must be included in the parks 2024

20:262027 multi-year budget and the GJR annual budgets which will reflect their active engagement in the

20:34trailway project the annual GJR dividend can be directly applied to the project the bicentennial

20:42deadline will focus the city's dreams and aspirations on a grand opening celebration of the Guelph

20:48bicentennial trailway in 2027 it will create excitement in the community and demand the

20:55highest level of oversight by city staff and council to make sure it gets accomplished and it

21:00will be a lasting economic generator and legacy for the city we urge you as a shareholder of GJR

21:08and council members to overcome objections and apply your collective powers of direction to take

21:15this unique opportunity to make the Guelph bicentennial trailway a reality by 2027 and publicly

21:23announce the project during Guelph bight month 2023 thank you thank you john for your presentation

21:33and let me see if there's any follow-up at this time okay i don't see any thank you very much for

21:40sorry councillor caussan did i did i go too fast there yeah yeah go ahead yeah no problem um through

21:49you uh chair got three right okay um to you uh mr fischer i just i had a question

21:58could you potentially elaborate a little bit on the potential like what you think the tourism

22:03potential is of connecting um the g to g to the city i personally don't have those numbers uh

22:12lorenz kel kagno from guelph bicent club has um i believe delivered those two counselors and two

22:21staff um and the uh the payback is is pretty astronomical i know uh philalt was at a was at a

22:33um uh councillor all was at a g cat social uh where laurenz where lorenz gave a presentation

22:45and he gave the presentation uh of the economic value and there's lots of data out there of different

22:54different municipalities different cities different regions different states where they're

22:59getting huge bang bang for the buck for putting in rails with trails okay thank you yeah i appreciate

23:08the note about the data i know i was i was mostly thinking anecdotally like who are the main users

23:13of those trails is it families is it um people from out of town like is it a combination of both i

23:18wonder if you had a little more info on that well we don't have it right now but we we thoroughly

23:25believe that already we have a lot of cyclists coming to town uh it would certainly drive that

23:32exponentially if they had a direct link from downtown all the way out to g to g and downtown

23:38would benefit huge yes thank you great thank you john appreciate it have a good night thank you so

23:45much all right back to us everybody can i get um can i look for the recommendation for the annual

23:53report to be received uh ritchardson is moving that for me anybody wish to second that for me

24:01all right uh alt thank you so much and what about any questions to the ceo of gjr all right

24:09goller and then orork uh thank you and three chair got three uh with regards to the the

24:16business plan so that it was developed in 2015 uh it was running till 2017 2019 do we have plans to

24:25update that that business plan uh into a consolidated document or at this point are we going on a year

24:30to year basis with the annual reports so you minister chair i'll maybe look for either

24:37ms donoghen or or um or our general manager to come forward just on the business plan piece of it

24:43no which button to push on it's on okay good uh to the mayor and to mr galler counselor galler

25:03we do go year to year based on the uh the way the railway changes quickly um based on

25:10business plans new customers existing customers um so what we do is just normally go from year to

25:18year with our budget we have a five-year i believe it's a five-year budget plan so for all our capital

25:24but those usually change halfway through the year pending on the amount of business that

25:29needs to be changed um and also a lot for a lot of safety reasons too so if there is we do get

25:36transport candidate in twice a year um and we do have to make business decisions and changes and

25:44redirect the money so to speak to make things safer especially at our crossing so okay okay and

25:51i guess my question was getting to uh do we have plans to to have another opportunity to look at the

25:58overarching vision um for the for the railway uh and and whether you know we're looking for expansion

26:06in the next decade to maybe connect another part of the city you know is there an opportunity

26:12at some point that we can actually stop that conversation and say oh yeah let's let's connect

26:16it to the Highland Great Business Park you know at what point could those conversations be beheld

26:23through mr guh3 to mr galler we are always planning for the future and we are always taking

26:30the consideration of the population growth and growth when we make those plans as to how we upgrade

26:37whether we at some point the population grows and it makes more sense to move people from one

26:43end of the city to the other for work for shopping by rail that's one of the key reasons

26:50i believe the rail was a decision was made to keep it so that the city has that in their back

26:55pocket um i've already started some work on on the movement of the passengers uh through our rail

27:05line the guap junction railway um and i still continue to do a little picking away at it but

27:10we're we're talking 20 to 25 years down the road and we are always looking for the right customer

27:18too we just don't want to bring any customer in it has to make sense not just for the safety

27:24aspect of it but the financial aspect and putting them in the right place so it's as little impact

27:29to the city as possible on our roadways okay that that is that it's exciting and uh

27:38thank you mr gerr if i could just add on it's also because i wanted to make sure that last got

27:42all the business planned material out of the way too it's embedded in our economic development

27:46tourism strategy and that's part of the growth discussions right through 2026 so i just want

27:52you to hear it's embedded in that piece of it and then where the rubber hits the road is all the

27:57things that you just heard from last as well perfect perfect thank you thank you very much and

28:03if i could make a request uh when i looked at the the website for the guap junction railway uh it

28:10the last thing that i see is the plan from 2015 if i could make the request that perhaps the annual

28:16reports that are presented to us if they could be added to the city website just so that there's a

28:20little bit more of an up to date um last moment and very good to hear that you're considering

28:25the movement of people that is something that i get a request on a couple times a year the question

28:31of can we use this for for folks and um on a personal note this sunday i'm going with my family to

28:38the waterloo um central um railway to go from uh sin jacob's to to uh el mayra uh and i would love

28:47it at you know in 20 years maybe if that opportunity was here in guave to to take people on the railway

28:52thank you well we already do move people in our city right like we have that that train in riverside

29:01park sorry couldn't even get through the joke that last thing i'm sorry okay councillor work and then

29:10over to alt uh thank you chair Guthrie through you to our our ceo uh i didn't ask the question in the

29:17context of um g ma jai because we're you know tiny percentage of the overall for electra but for

29:25for gjr i'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit about what the biggest risks are in the

29:30year coming forward and um what the plans are to mitigate those so just i have no real sense of what

29:36the railway environment looks like so as shareholders it'd be interesting to know what are some threats

29:42and opportunities so thank you very much to the chair to councillor and i will certainly look

29:47right you know maybe stacey and lester probably just come down here anyway i can't give enough

29:51answers you should be um because there's probably a level of detail that they'll have to help with this

29:56the safety features are a big impact for us in terms of risk um and and you know we have added

30:03a safety officer as well and um and i'll look to last maybe just speak to that a little bit

30:10because that matter is important you heard last talk about transport canada show up you sometimes

30:15get surprises you sometimes get things that you were going to be working on as well but we need a

30:19safety officer there'll be moments this spring and council you would have heard this a lot in

30:24bushlands around fires we see a lot of that but we also see fires and we're working with the local

30:30fire department down there because sometimes yeah most times it's not us but sometimes we get the

30:36blame that it is us with our trains and locomotives that go by but a lot of times it's just open air

30:42fire burn it but that impacts our line so there's a lot of safety pieces that we are turning our

30:48minds to you know risk is always around the customers as well if we lose the customers

30:53but i hope you heard loud and clear the great work that these two are doing and of course the

30:58leadership with dco homes in terms of getting new customers so that our balance sheets are robust

31:04our balance sheets are robust we get to put the dividend at play for city council to decide

31:08how to spend that money as well so risk on the financial sites risk on the safety side

31:13and i will look for others if there's things that i've missed that you need to say hit the button

31:22there we go we're on uh to uh through uh marigold three to uh councillor roark um we are constantly

31:32upgrading the railway to meet higher than what class we operate on we are increasing our tonnages

31:40because business is increasing so we're hauling more cars um so that's one of the areas of safety

31:47that we're working on um i always try to be a class higher than what we're operating in case we do

31:54have a year where like for covid hit and we didn't have the revenues that we would normally have so

32:00um we also make adjustments throughout the year if for some reason we're not going to hit our

32:06revenues i already start taking things that aren't so critical off our list so we make sure we

32:12hit our critical items that need to be fixed um the population of guelph is growing so we've

32:18got uh more traffic over top of railway crossings um so the busier roads um the ones that are the

32:25main arteries of guelph those are the ones that we are looking at uh for upgrading for new signals

32:32for gates um so that we increase the safety at those crossings so i would say right now

32:40that that would be the greatest risk is not leaving our crossing status quo with the signals

32:46and not putting any other safety in there based on the transport canada regulations so we always

32:52want to meet or exceed transport canada's uh expectations um they do come on site often now

32:59that colud is over and uh and we welcome them with open arms to come anytime they want to inspect

33:04our tracks and our crossings and our bridges uh thank you three america three to mr patrosi um

33:14so we it sounds like ggr has done certain expansions to bring uh clients on side or in order to be able

33:23to expand their um but our capacity to serve them is there any risk uh like what's the risk if we

33:31lost a major client it would be a it would be a great risk it would be a great risk to the

33:38ggr um we would probably go back eight years it would take us back about eight years um but

33:46but jgr uh is about growth um and when a customer wants to grow it has to make sense not just

33:58uh for the customer but for jgr in the city um i do whatever i can to try and keep the

34:05customer happy and hearing well uh pdi is a prime example of that um especially with the new business

34:13they've uh taken on with uh cargo um the stronger we build pdi and gual the longer they're going to

34:22stay they're uh they're a small family um right now i believe their their employment counts are

34:33they're well over 100 um and uh i honestly don't think that pdi would go anywhere so because

34:43it's it's keeping keeping everyone happy not just keeping transport canada happy not just keeping

34:49uh city staff happy keeping council happy keeping the mayor happy um it's keeping the the business

34:55is happy and not wanting to go anywhere else so we usually go out of our way to uh even if it's

35:04just the hey bless you want to come down for a visit and let's chat about something i've got

35:08something cooking um i i take that seriously there's a lot of tire kickers out there but the

35:16business that are here now and well they're not tire kickers they're here to stay and i treat them

35:21that way great thank you councillor ruck you're good because i thought that again was going to say

35:27something yep i was just going to go to you to respond yep thanks so much i was just going to add

35:32that the um full integration of the ggr into the economic development and tourism world and around

35:38through the strategy has been an excellent addition to our overall uh business attraction and retention

35:44program because we have this wonderful asset um and we have the expertise and it is part of a

35:52whole package now that we that we deliver and i would say in my short time in the acting role

35:58i've learned that the integration between the staff on that business attraction retention side is uh

36:04is is being really really well done and the client focus is superior so i think if there's any risks

36:12the ggr professional that we have along with the economic development and tourism professionals

36:17we have would would easily collaborate together to mitigate those and figure out solutions if we

36:21are facing any challenges with the businesses themselves just as an observation thank you

36:26okay and finally is alt thank you very much uh chair chair guthrie um through you to um

36:36mr steward and staff um my question really is is governance risk future needs and possibly even

36:43city of guelph work plan uh with regards to parks um i understand from uh from a quick

36:50education from mr lee that we do have the the the right to recommend where a dividend could go

36:56however i am and i'm intrigued by mr fischer's uh recommendation however i'm very very concerned

37:03about that from both a governance and a financial perspective um i don't see 164

37:09thousand as a great dividend if you want the truth um i'm thinking about future needs of

37:15both the ggr and the possible need for the city to draw on reserves to support the ggr is uh in the

37:23future when when it comes to development plans i was wondering that's a lot there but i'm wondering

37:27if you can comment on all that because the parks plan uh parks work plan for the next little while

37:33clearly is going to be an issue that has to be addressed if we were to uh move a dividend uh from

37:40ggr uh to to address mr uh mr fischer's request so through the chair thank you councillor Allt there

37:48is a few things in there but i but i let me oversimplify wealth juncture rarely declares the dividend

37:54we present that this evening wealth juncture rarely doesn't participate in parks budget pieces

38:01doesn't participate directly and request for bicentenials so i would just say that's your role

38:08council once you know and gene is gene matthews has been here tonight he's dying to come down to

38:13if you had questions for him but he could speak to the details that are in the parks master plan

38:17that's where that kind of question belongs where do you allocate dividends it's the same

38:21do where do you allocate the taxpayer dollars you receive as well and then i would say on top of that

38:27dana avans is also responsible for the bighten bicentennial project and she's running all of that

38:32up so if you made a decision tonight which shouldn't because you're sitting as a shareholder um you

38:38would be ignoring all the other good work that's going to get presented to you at some point on

38:41the bicentennial and you might kick yourself in the pants if somehow you're like how did we miss

38:46that opportunity because you didn't hear the whole thing i'm so that's not me saying we're

38:50completely against the suggestion it's just a suggestion and miss evans has been picking up a

38:55lot of suggestions uh and but also trying to balance in that with bicentennial is one thing

39:02but also that wasn't the first time that people were in guelph so she's got to balance some other

39:06issues around indigenous affairs as well so that will be a very uncertain and excited

39:10even when that comes forward and of course mark park's master plan you balance that every year

39:16as you do through our budget process and context to all the other master plans that are also at

39:21play for the limited dollar so tonight wouldn't be it that's my short version two governance

39:27we present this tonight you receive it you don't receive it and then at the council

39:32another time you make the decisions around budgets for the city's city departments thank you i

39:38appreciate that just one other question i don't know whether you can answer it in my historical

39:42memory is horrible uh have there been times when gjr has needed to draw from reserves in the in the

39:49recent past that anybody can recall because of anything like uh bridge construction a few years

39:55ago etc i don't truly recall and that's why i say 164 000 looks like a great amount of money i'm not

40:02really certain that it is so right now there's no draw from the taxpayers stand alone the historical

40:09question i might need to go to our general managers just to help with any given year but

40:15because i don't know the answer to that uh in 2014 i conducted an inspection of the aramosa bridge

40:22it took me about six months and we found that the the pier caps and the piles were imploding

40:28which means they were going oval uh losing their strength so we had to come up with

40:34a decision with council to upgrade that bridge so that operations would not shut down we did it in

40:43a way so that the operations and the trains could continue while the work was ongoing so

40:50we did not lose any revenue revenue during the construction of the of the bridge and that was

40:55in 2015 that occurred and we we did take a loan with the city which we are paying back and paying

41:02back with interest thank you okay i think that's uh that's it so thank you very much um we do have the

41:12we'll have a comment there councillor donald just um a year ago when we when we had this last i had

41:18moved the motion asking that gjr work with um the the trails groups and and staff on um

41:27together um to do the the trails and rails thing and i just want to express appreciation i know the

41:33number of meetings are happening and and that this has been ongoing and you know while i know the

41:40project identified tonight isn't quite where we're the some of the users would like it to be right

41:46now i mean this is an ongoing discussion um and still could be more discussion when we get to budget

41:52time we'll see what happens but um i just want to acknowledge the work that's been done and that

41:58relationship and working towards some good projects great thank you all right i'll call the vote then

42:07all those as anyone against the annual report and again seeing none hearing none that's unanimous now

42:16i jumped ahead everybody by accident i forgot the consent agenda i need a motion

42:23for the 2022 gwell junction really audited financial statements richardson class and

42:30is seconding that is there any questions on that though before i call the vote

42:36any comments okay seeing hearing none i'll call the vote anyone against those financial statements

42:45again it's unanimous so thank you very much everyone and now i am looking for somebody

42:55that would love to move adjournment for this meeting kate and chew perfect and is anyone

43:06against adjourning that's nobody so that's unanimous as well and that's the end of our marathon of

43:13meetings so thank you very much everyone have a great rest of the day thanks to staff