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Arbitration hearing wraps up

The arbitration hearing between the city and Wellington County wrapped up today, with city solicitor Lois Payne and county lawyer Doug Thomson each making their closing arguments.

For the first time since the hearing began Oct. 26 there were nearly as many city representatives as county ones on hand to take in the proceedings.

Mayor Karen Farbridge and councillors Leanne Piper, Lise Burcher and Bob Bell were in the audience, as well as several members of the senior staff.

The county, as always, was heavily-represented by councillors and staff.

I thought it funny that Bell was the only Guelph rep to sit on "the county side" of the room, especially when Payne told arbitrator Doug Colbourne there were a number of councillors and staff on hand and asked them to stand to be recognized, and Bell was the only person on that side of the room to rise.

The line between city and county reps was so clear, when the room began to get near capacity social services administrator Eddie Alton -- a county employee whose salary is largely paid by the city -- came over to the city side and took an unoccupied chair to the other side of the aisle so a county staffer would not have to sit with the Guelph folks.

What that, on my face? Oh, that's just egg.

In my column today I wrote that Karen Farbridge had not mentioned the Hanlon Creek Business Park during her State of the City speech yesterday, and wondered why she would not have done so, especially at an event sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

While it's true the mayor did not talk about the HCBP, she did in fact mention it near the beginning of her address. She pointed that out when I saw her this morning at City Hall while attending the arbitration hearing.

I sit corrected.

The state we're in

Karen Farbridge presented her annual State of the City address this morning at a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce.

There were no surprises in the speech, in which the mayor outlined the day-to-day services provided by the city and those projects which will have to be mothballed -- main library and south-end rec centre -- until the financial picture improves a little.

My colleague Vik Kirsch attended the meeting and is putting a story together for tomorrow's paper.

To read the mayor's address and look at some of the visuals presented during the speech, click here

(The attached photo is from the 2007 State address)

Wanted: Traffic passing through the downtown core

The amount of traffic, or lack thereof, flowing through downtown Guelph will be the topic of discussion during a public meeting tomorrow night.

Lorenz Calcagno, a board member of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, will present the results of many interviews he has had with various stakeholders aimed at figuring out how to help the core live up to its potential.

One of the key problems, Calcagno told me, is simply the diminishing amount of traffic passing through the downtown.

The discussion will include how to remove barriers which dissuade people from taking Wyndham Street. (Think those all-way crosswalks at St. George's Square, for example)

There's not much space left for the meeting itself, but expect the issue to land before a city committee later this month or in December.

We'll have a story in tomorrow's paper.

Thoughts on the 'jewel case?'

In my column in Friday's paper, I suggested a glass addition proposed to adorn the end of the old Loretto Convent should be scrapped in an attempt to bring the relocation of the Guelph Civic Museum back within budget.

I'm curious to know how others feel about it. (If you haven't seen, or don't remember, this particular feature, click here to see a sketch and/or read my column)

Arbitration update

The city-county arbitration session is on hiatus the rest of this week due to previous engagements of some of the players.

The county has three more witnesses -- two economists and a municipal governance expert -- who should be on the witness stand Monday and Tuesday, then it is expected the hearing will break for Remembrance Day on Wednesday and resume with oral arguments on, appropriately enough, Friday the 13th.

Written arguments from both sides will then follow.

City solicitor Lois Payne said under the arbitration agreement, arbitrator Doug Colbourne is to arrive at a decision within three months of the start of the hearing. This should allow the financial impacts of his decision to be reflected in the city and county's 2010 budgets.

Museum-at-convent costs ballooning

It seems bids to convert the old Loretto Convent into the city's new civic museum are coming in significantly over budget.

Like, about $2 million over.

The city is looking at ways to modify the plan to bring it within budget so it does not lose about $6 million in provincial and federal funding, which is largely dependent on significant progress having been made on the project by next spring.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

Charges laid in south-end tree removal

The city announced this morning it has laid 151 charges against three companies related to a well-publicized tree-cutting incident last summer.

The press release does not name those companies charged, but city documents show the property in question is owned by developer Carson Reid, who has never commented publicly on the cutting or resulting community concerns.

On June 11, a city resident discovered a logging operation underway on a property near Victoria and Maltby roads and reported it to the city. The resident estimated 65 acres of trees had been removed before the work was discovered and halted by the city.

Under the city's tree bylaw, it is illegal to destroy a tree, or cause one to be destroyed, within the city. The bylaw allows fines of $500 to $2,000 per offence.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

No vaccination against parking tickets

We got an email from a guy steamed that bylaw officers were apparently doling out parking tickets in the area of College Avenue public school during last Friday's first H1N1 clinic.

"Considering wait times of 2 to 7 hours it's no wonder there were parking infractions," the emailer wrote, adding while he understands the importance of enforcing parking restrictions, the city "should have the compassion and decency to overlook insignificant parking infractions ... rather than capitalizing on the backbone of the taxpayer during a national health pandemic."

He calls on the city to forgive any tickets issued during the clinic.

We have not been able to confirm the email yet for use as a letter to the editor, but perhaps another clinic-goer can confirm the ticketing angle?

UPDATE -- That didn't take long. Someone from the city's communications department just called to explain the tickets were issued because parking along narrow neighbourhood roads was preventing emergency vehicle access. If you're going to a clinic be careful where you park.

An uncensored insider's view of the HCBP protest

Councillor Ian Findlay has posted on his blog a graphic recounting of what it was like to participate in, and particularly to leave, Thursday night's sod-turning at the Hanlon Creek Business Park.

Click here to check it out, but be advised it is, as I mentioned already, uncensored.