59 Carden St.

Public service takes a back seat

We received an email Tuesday afternoon from a resident, upset about an on-duty city employee spending time trying to win money in a radio contest instead of serving the public.

The email states an employee of the city's "recycling centre" called a Kitchener radio station just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, joking with the radio folks that motorists in the lineup "would just have to wait" while she played the contest, according to the email.

"Does your unionized salary from those taxpayers stuck in your line not go far enough?" the emailer asked of the employee, who apparently won some cash in the contest.

Note to the wise - if you're calling a radio contest from work, you might want to leave out the "I'm at work" part of the conversation.

Who should pay how much for what?

A lengthy arbitration process will kick off late next month, aimed at finally easing some of the financial tension between the city and its closest municipal neighbour.

Three weeks have been set aside for talks between Guelph and Wellington County, commencing Oct. 26.

Officials from both sides will seek help from a Toronto-based arbitrator in settling, once and for all, how costs should be apportioned for the joint social services, social housing and ambulance service contracts.

The city notified the county, which runs the social services and social housing programs, in February 2008 it was cancelling the agreements and seeking a new funding method. The city-administered ambulance agreement expired long before that.

With the potential for either side to come out paying much more than they are now, look for this process to get ugly.

We'll have more in the paper tomorrow.

Activity on the Hanlon Creek lands

UPDATE - I've heard back from the city today and everything is on the up and up. Read through the comments following the post to get the explanation. - Scott

I got an anonymous call late Friday afternoon from a woman concerned about activity taking place on the future lands of the Hanlon Creek Business Park.

The woman described heavy equipment, including dump trucks, at the entrance to the site off McWilliams Road.

While Greg Layson headed out with a camera, I made some calls to city hall.

Rajan Philips, the city's manager of transportation planning, was at a loss.

"If there was any type of activity it would be (environmental) monitoring, but there wouldn't be trucks or anything out there," Philips told me. "There shouldn't be anything happening there."

Clearly the large mounds of dirt Greg found (below) doesn't jibe with that. I was unable to get an explanation from city hall Friday, but I'll try again Monday to see what all this activity is about.

Defamation suits pending from self-identified activists

Two activists who claim they were among a group who delivered a letter to the home of a family connected to the Hanlon Creek Business Park have expressed an intention to bring a defamation lawsuit against the Guelph Police.

Julian Ichim and Kelly Pflug-Back went to the police station today with their lawyer, Davin Charney, and filed two "notices of action," each seeking $30,000 in damages.

The pair contend police defamed them, were negligent in their "investigation of criminal charges" and violated their Charter rights.

Curiously -- since neither Ichim nor Pflug-Back has been charged or detained in the matter -- among those damages claimed are "expenses relating to obtaining release from custody."

Hunh?

What the apparently-pending lawsuits fail to address is that neither the police, nor the city, have ever mentioned Ichim's or Pflug-Back's name, and that we would not have heard of them -- at least in this context -- if they hadn't stepped forward and identified themselves as having been involved in the letter delivery.

We'll have more in the paper Saturday.

Meeting with the CAO

This is one of my favourite photos Greg Layson got Tuesday, as CAO Hans Loewig went outside city hall to meet with conservationists Norah Chaloner, left, and Judy Martin. The pair, along with Norah's

husband Richard, delivered to city hall more than 200 dead amphibians -- a few of which can be seen in the foreground -- which they said were killed during a two-hour period on Monday night along Laird Road.

Loewig came outside to announce the city had decided to close Laird Road Tuesday night to aid in the annual migration, but any steps beyond that were being discussed today.

We've heard many frogs died Tuesday night anyway, as motorists drove around the 'road closed' barricades.

Watch for an update in Thursday's paper.

UPDATE: City officials tell us Laird will be closed nightly, from 7:30 to 9:30, for the rest of this week, and the situation will be monitored in coming weeks.

The annual frog slaughter is on

We received this photo of more than 200 dead amphibians -- mostly frogs -- collected from Laird Road Monday night by a small group of concerned citizens.

The weather conditions were just right for the frogs to be making their way across the road to settle in for the winter, but many clearly didn't make it. The frogs were collected as evidence of the numbers of amphibians dying.

A city official told me closing the road each evening, as the frog collectors had requested, is not feasible, but noted the city is building a culvert under Laird Road to help them make the passage safely.

A small group will likely be out there again tonight, helping the slimy creatures across the road. Bring a flashlight and reflective clothing if you're going.

UPDATE - I just got back from city hall, where these amphibians were put on display to answer supposed allegations the photo was lifted from the internet. CAO Hans Loewig announced Laird Road will be closed tonight, and city officials will discuss what to do in the long-term. We'll have more in the paper Wednesday.

Wet plant open house tonight

The city is holding an open house tonight to allow residents a chance to ask questions and offer feedback to representatives of the companies involved in building the new organics processing facility.

The open house will be held at the Cutten Club, on College Avenue between Gordon and Victoria, from 5:30 until 8:30 p.m.

Oh, the delicious irony ...

Here are the first few paragraphs of a story I'm working on for Tuesday's paper. Too funny.

GUELPH -- You couldn't make up some of this stuff.

A proposal to do away with on-street parking along Elizabeth Street, and use that space instead to create bicycle lanes, was defeated on a tie vote at Monday evening's meeting of the emergency services, community services and operations committee.

The committee member who would have been the tie-breaker was Coun. Maggie Laidlaw, council's most vocal cycling advocate.

Laidlaw missed the committee meeting because she is attending the Ontario Bicycle Summit, convened in Waterloo with the vision of "creating a bicycle friendly Ontario for everyone," according to the summit's website.

That's a lot of P

Coun. Ian Findlay has posted some pissoir statistics for the first half of September on his blog.

The stats reveal between Sept. 1 and Sept. 14, more than 1,500 litres of urine was collected from the two pissoir units, including more than 560 litres over the Sept. 11 - 13 weekend.

The chart shows the Macdonell Street unit is collecting almost twice as much as the one on Carden Street, and includes notations about any damage, which so far has been mostly restricted to the screening around the units.

Check out the chart from Findlay's blog here

Unveiling the past at the Old City Hall

City councillors and senior staff were recently offered a tour of the Old City Hall, which is undergoing renovations to become the city's new Municipal Courts building. It seems there were some unexpected

treasurers uncovered once the drywall and drop ceilings were torn out, including this mural in the council chamber, just behind the mayor's chair.

Coun. Ian Findlay took some photos during the tour and has posted them on his blog. For more shots click here