City Council Preview - What's on the Agenda for the October 23 Meeting?

The regular meeting of council this month will be pretty straightforward with the presentation of some survey results, the consent agenda from Committee-of-the-Whole, and a simple real estate transaction for the Humane Society. 

CON-2017.46 Citizen Satisfaction Survey Results - The City of Guelph recently conducted a satisfaction survey with a group of randomly selected residents, and measured their opinion on a variety of topics: what they consider the important issues, perspectives on quality of life, perceptions of Guelph, and their satisfaction with City staff, services, and programs. Overall, a majority of Guelphites are satisfied with their City services, and they believe they're getting good value for their tax dollars. A total of 600 interviews were done by phone, 306 by landline and 294 by cell phone, over a period of a week-and-a-half between July 8 and 19.

Ipsos, who conducted the survey, broke down the data by the usual metrics like gender, age, and income, and they also compared the data between wards. Among the survey results, 97 per cent of people would rate their quality of life in Guelph as "Good" or "Very Good"; Ward 6 is most pleased with 61 per cent ranking things "Very Good", while Ward 1 is the most displeased with 43 per cent. On top of that, 95 per cent say that Guelph is a welcoming community, and 94 per cent say that they're proud to say they're from Guelph. In terms of the specific services, the surveyed Guelphites say that first responders and the library are working for them, but public transit and parking are areas that need a lot of improvement. Barbara Swartzentruber, Executive Director Intergovernmental Relations, Policy and Open Government, along with Diana MacDonald and Martin Hrobsky of Ipsos will deliver the full breakdown of the survey results.

CON-2017.45 Land Sale Transaction for 190 Hanlon Creek Blvd. between 1651807 Ontario Inc. and the Guelph Humane Society (GHS) - So the Guelph Humane Society is being evicted... Well, sort of. The Humane Society is presently situated in the same space occupied by the Water Treatment Plant on Wellington Street, but the plant's got to expand, and the Humane Society's got to move by the end of 2018. The good news is that they may have another space lined-up, 190 Hanlon Creek Blvd. The owners of that property have changed their business plans since originally buying 190 Hanlon Creek, and they're willing to sell it to the Guelph Humane Society for their new home. The 2.743 acre property in the Hanlon Creek Business Park will hold administrative facilities as well as an animal care and shelter, and spaces for educational programs for children. Council has two options, buy back the property at 90 per cent of the purchase price (which is $696,526.20), or waive the repurchase option so that the property owner can then proceed with a sale to the Humane Society.

Consent Items from October's Committee-of-the-Whole meeting:

COW-IDE-2017.37 Water and Wastewater Rate Review – Billing Exemptions Study

COW-IDE-2017.38 Pedestrian Crossover Implementation

COW-GOV-2017.2 2018 Council and Committee Meeting Calendar

COW-GOV-2017.3 Election Policies