GUELPH POLITICAST #100 - Gerry Barker, Guelph Speaks

It took six long years to get here, but the day has finally arrived. Welcome, to the 100th episode of the Guelph Politicast! To celebrate this auspicious occasion, I wanted a surprise guest. Someone my dedicated audience might never have expected, but nonetheless would enjoy hearing from. In the end,  there was only one person I could think of. For 100 episodes you've heard Guelph speak, well now you'll hear from the guy that does "Guelph Speaks".

In Surprise Announcement, CAO Pappert Will Not Renew Contract with the City

In bit of shocking news out of City Hall this afternoon, Chief Administrative Officer Ann Pappert has announced that she will not be renewing her contract with the City of Guelph, which is set to expire this coming October. The renewal of the CAO's contract has been subject of much discussion behind the doors of closed council meetings for many months, but now Guelph's mayor and council will have to turn their attention to finding someone to fill Pappert's soon to be vacated seat.

Tolhurst Trying to Crowd Source for Legal Costs

The political world locally didn't stop spinning while the election was in session, and in that time a committee heard the results of an audit into the 2014 election expenses of Ward 6 council candidate Glen Tolhurst, and the good news is that no one will be prosecuted. On the other hand, this has left Tolhurst with substantial legal bills, and he's using an increasingly popular venue to raise funds for his legal defense: crowd-funding.

Audit to Dig into Ward 6 Candidate's Election Donations

One might think that coming in a distant fourth in the race to become one of two city councillors in Ward 6 would have been punishment enough, but a Guelph citizen is demanding an audit of Glen Tolhurst's donations from the 2014 election be performed. Why? Two words: GrassRoots Guelph.

Guelph Citizen Sticks Up for Me and Every Media Outlet in Guelph

As they say, if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen, or in my case, if you can't take a little criticism, get out of politics and/or the writing of politics. There's fair criticism, there's constructive criticism, and then there's being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk. That's Gerry Barker. Barker is a former journalist who maintains his own blog called Guelph Speaks, but he's also the founder of GrassRoots Guelph, a purportedly non-partisan organization dedicated to getting out the vote no matter who you vote for. Supposedly. Apparently Gerry, unlike every other group no matter their interest in the Royal City, doesn't like the coverage he's got.

GrassRoots Guelph meets with Ministry Members

As previously reported, a new voter engagement group called GrassRoots Guelph has opened up shop here in the Royal City and they are pursuing a course that assumes there's some fishy accounting at City Hall. In a press release sent out last week, GRG says that they've followed up a petition they sent in to Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) by having a meeting with ministry representatives, but was it a simple acknowledgement of the petition, or is, as GRG puts it, the beginning of an investigation.

New Group Seeks to Raise Voter Awareness in 2014

It seems as if the new Guelph Civic League will have some competition in the engagement to make citizens active voters in the coming municipal election. A new group called GrassRoots Guelph has made themselves known, and they are looking for a few good members. Once you've signed up, they've promised to include you in "regular newsletter for members keeping them informed of the issues," as well as "town hall meetings, led by neutral moderators, [that] will invite the public to express its views on the city political scene." Sounds good, doesn't it? But is GRG all it appears?