Fair Vote Blinds Longfield with Electoral Reform Science

On Friday morning, Fair Vote Canada demonstrated in front of the constituency office of Lloyd Longfield on Cork St. ahead of a meeting the the Member of Parliament for Guelph. According to organizers, a meeting with Longfield last month was positive, but the MP didn't think that Guelph cared enough to make the issue a priority. Fair Vote begged to differ.

Surveys from School Board Trustee Candidates

By popular demand, I decided to do a candidate survey for those running to represent Guelph's two school boards, the Upper Grand District School Board and the Wellington Catholic District School Board.  The trustee races are kind of the redheaded stepchildren of the municipal election race, and they don't get even a fraction as much attention as the council and mayoral races. That's kind of unfair, and having talked to numerous trustee candidates in person and through social media about closing the coverage gap, I decided to take a second look. I wasn't sure if I'd have the time, but sometimes it's worth making the time, so now I present the Guelph Politico Trustee Candidate Questionnaire.

Todd Dennis (Ward 6) - Candidate Questionnaire

Todd Dennis first came to city council in 2010, and he's hoping that the people in Ward 6 liked what he did so much over the last four years that they give him their vote again. A graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland with a Bachelor of Science degree, Dennis has made a 25 year career in the transportation industry. When not working, Dennis is actively involved in several community, professional and volunteer organizations, or spending time with his wife of 11 years Lynda and his two step-children. He loves to travel and is an avid runner of the exercise variety, and he's hoping that he finishes this political in either first or second place.

City Wants Your Help to Make Government More Open

It's always a conundrum, does our government do enough to engage its citizens and encourage them to get involved with policy and city matters? The conundrum is that any effort to engage never seems quite good enough, despite media releases, social media, websites, and ads for local papers and radio, some news seems to always fall through the cracks. If you feel that's the case more than normal, then it behooves you to take the Open Government survey that City Hall is floating. It's pretty comprehensive and only takes about 15-20 minutes (maybe a bit longer if watch all the accompanying videos). In any event, it is an election year so the results may yield some compelling ideas and fodder for the next council to mull over.

Guelph Has a Taste for Innovative Waste (Solutions)

There's probably no more contentious issue in the city right now other than waste (although I freely admit that I could be wrong). The roll-out of the new carts, the implementation of an adjusted three-stream collection method and the opening of the new organic process plant have all had their stumbling blocks, but to paraphrase an old saying, if you want something done right, register your own bright ideas with city hall through a survey!

The results of that survey, which was conducted earlier this fall, have been collected and collated, and are ready to be sent back out to the city at large to provoke further discussion. In brief, the results of the survey found that people like the idea of waste diversion, but don't like the idea of paying more in property taxes and user fees in order to explore those methods. Shocking, I know.

Early Report Card on the Media

Guelph Mercury managing editor Phil Andrews says on his "From the Editors" blog that he recently got a sneak preview of a media review the City's doing as part of it's communications strategy, and the news was apparently good if you're a fan of balanced media coverage. 

Looking at stories -  news articles, editorials, letters to the editor, columns and blogs - published  between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, the media audit aims to examine what kind of coverage City Hall gets from the various media sources in the Royal City. According to Andrews more than half the items audited were from the Mercury. In particular, blogs and editorials were both considered 71 per cent balanced, but while blogs were found to be 21 per cent negative, editorials were only a bit more negative at 23 per cent.

But the real question is what is all this in aid of? Is this the city equivalent of Googling one's own name and seeing what comes up? Is this seriously going to help the city better communicate knowing who's fairest most of the time? Whatever the reason, I hope the results will find their way online somewhere for the consumption by the general public (not to mention other bloggers interested in their perceived fairness. Hint, hint).

Press Release - City Wants to Know Why We Don't Vote

Barely over one-third of eligible voters came out to cast a ballot in the 2010 municipal election, which is surprising given how loud some of the pettiness concerning local politics gets online. Well, with about a year a half to go before the next election, the city seems to want to figure that out, and it's going to the source to figure it out. 

City and U of G Wants Business Input

In the mood to do a survey, and help out the U of G and the City of Guelph? Probably not, but hey, why not do it anyway? The City's trying to figure out a better way to do business with business, and they're using the surveying power of the University of Guelph to help them collect your ideas.

Read the full press release below.

We Hate Taxes, Love Services

The results of the phone survey the city conducted last month, have been posted and it turns out that even though we love to complain about taxes, but do enjoy the quality of the services that those taxes pay for. Get all the details from the press release below: 

GUELPH, ON – Two-thirds of Guelph residents say they get good value for their municipal tax dollars, and satisfaction with City services is high, with a majority saying they are satisfied with all services in a list of 11.

These are among the findings of a citizen survey conducted for the City of Guelph by Environics Research Group.

More than 80 per cent of residents surveyed expressed satisfaction with parks and trails, police, garbage collection, fire protection, and library services. Satisfaction with sports fields, ambulance services, snow plowing, and arts and heritage services ranged from 70 to 79 per cent. 64 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with road maintenance, and 57 per cent said they were satisfied with public transit, though one-quarter of respondents said they were unable to express an opinion about this service.

The survey also found:

• When asked which is the most important issue facing Guelph today, high tax rates/ tax increases (12 per cent) and urban development/ expansion (11 per cent) topped the list. When the City last conducted a survey of this size in 2008, taxation was also identified as the top issue.
• Five in ten residents (51 per cent) indicated that fees and taxes should be lowered even if it means a small reduction in services, compared to about four in ten (37 per cent) who hold the view that inadequate services need to be improved even if it means a small tax increase.
• Road maintenance and public transit were identified as priorities for further investments, a similar finding to the 2008 survey.
• 83 per cent of residents who have contacted the City of Guelph over the past year said they were satisfied with the service they received. Almost half (48 per cent) said they were “very satisfied.” In 2008, 68 per cent of respondents expressed satisfaction, 13% were neutral and 19% dissatisfied.
• In a series of questions about environmental issues, large majorities (70 per cent or more) expressed positive perceptions of the City’s efforts. 79 per cent said the City does a good job protecting the environment.
• Opinion was divided on whether the City should only have low and mid rise buildings of one to six stories (45 per cent) or allow taller buildings of seven to 18 stories (50 per cent).

The survey results will inform the City’s 2011-2014 Strategic Plan revision and service review efforts, as well as the annual budget process and ongoing operational improvements.

Environics conducted the survey by telephone among 600 City of Guelph residents 18 years of age and older between March 16 and April 4, 2011. The data was weighted by the City's six wards to ensure that the results are representative of the population. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

To view a copy of Environics’ report on the survey, click here.

City To Play Telephone

If you're one of those types that hates annoying phone calls about... whatever, then March is not going to be your month. The City of Guelph will be ringing hundreds of people across the Royal City next month to learn from them what they think the City's priorities for the next four years should be. To those of you either too jaded or too lazy to write letters, make phone calls, go to public meetings, or even vote, this is your time to shine. (But you'll probably hang up before you even learn what the call is about.) Here's the City's press release:

GUELPH, ON, February 25, 2011 – Starting in early March, phones will ring in hundreds of Guelph households as the City of Guelph surveys residents on their priorities and aspirations for their community over the next four years.

The survey results will be used to update the City's Strategic Plan, The City that Makes a Difference, a document that guides the City's goals, objectives, and priorities. They will also provide Council and staff with statistically-valid information about the community's views.

Environics Research Group, one of Canada's leading public research firms, will conduct the survey. President and CEO of Environics Barry Watson provided Council with an overview of the survey's process and content at a meeting February 23rd. He explained to Council, “A scientific survey is the only way to get an accurate, representative picture of what the public thinks.”

Other steps in the updating of the strategic plan will include workshops with Council and the City's executive team to revise the mission statement, set priorities, review services and agree upon strategic initiatives for this term of Council. Workshops will be led by Chris Bart, Principal, Lead Professor and Founder of The Director's College and Professor of Strategy and Governance at McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business.

“A key focus of this process will be revising and refining the City of Guelph’s mission statement to more clearly define the City’s core business,” said Bart. At the February 23rd meeting, Council and the City’s Executive Team agreed to conduct a complete review of services and programs in the context of the City’s core business.

In June, the City will seek the community's input on the draft revised strategic plan through a series of public meetings.

About the Survey

The 10-minute survey will be conducted in English and three other languages among a representative sample of 600 residents aged 18 and older. The sample will yield an overall margin of error of +/- 4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Questions on age, gender, education, income, ethnicity, and ward will help ensure the demographics of the sample mirror Guelph's population as a whole.

The City of Guelph last conducted a public opinion survey of this size in 2008. That survey led to new customer service standards, a corporate communications plan, and reviews of sidewalk snow clearing and building services, among other initiatives.