A 10-hour city council meeting on Monday had some city councillors questioning the quality of the decisions being made and perhaps the need for full-time councillors.
City council’s committee of the whole sat down at 2 p.m. in council chambers and left just after midnight. The only respite was a 15-minute break to eat pizza delivered two hours earlier.
Tempers flared, frustration mounted and in the end a motion that would have seen the meeting go even longer was voted down.
“We need to be fully informed before we make decisions. At the same time, we need to be fully awake before we make decisions,” Mayor Cam Guthrie said Tuesday morning.
Guthrie added that he was confident that the decisions he made at the meeting were not affected by the late hour.
That sentiment wasn’t shared by everyone.
“Long meetings that extend until 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. do not provide a good environment for making sound decisions,” said coun. June Hofland. “Making well-informed, quality decisions cannot be accomplished at midnight.
“We need to review our processes, meeting management, agendas and chairing of meetings,” Hofland added.
“It goes without saying that council meetings should never go into the wee hours of the morning,” coun. Mike Salisbury said.
“We deal with complex and important issues that can have a significant impact on the lives of our citizens. Things should never be rushed or glossed over because we have run out of time or are too tired to give it our full attention.”
"Absolutely ridiculous!!" wrote coun. Karl Wettstein in an email response.
Coun. Phil Allt said that two shorter meetings make more sense.
“If we do not organize agenda properly, chair efficiently and recognize that some meetings must occur over two or perhaps three meetings? We are doing municipal democracy a disservice,” Allt said.
Guthrie said it’s council itself that has to accept the blame for the length of the meeting.
“Really, the length of time of meetings rests solely within council,” Guthrie said. “It’s council who’s responsible for how long the meetings go. That shouldn’t be lost in this discussion.”
Guthrie said it’s important for members of council to make informed decisions and take as much time as they need, but some homework in advance of the meeting might help.
“It’s something that, perhaps, a bit more preparation work should be done by council, to make sure some of the questions are answered in advance of the meetings.”
Two councillors voiced the need for a full-time council.
“It has become crystal clear, though, that the business of running the City of Guelph has grown considerably in the last decade and I don’t think the job is appropriate for a part-time council any longer,” wrote Mark MacKinnon on his Ward 6 blog.
Coun. James Gordon agreed.
“We are still part-time, though I don’t think we should be in a city this size,” Gordon said, adding that the amount of reading material alone can be taxing.
“I saw at least three examples last night around councillor’s questions where it was clear that they had not done all the reading,” said Gordon, adding that he didn’t blame them.
Guthrie shoulders part of the blame for the length of the meeting.
A “preview” meeting to go over the agenda is held days before the meeting in council chambers. The agenda is then finalized.
“We felt that last night was not going to be that long at all. It was a surprise to me that the evening went that long,” Guthrie said.
It was an agenda that featured a number of important items, including an update to the city’s community energy initiative and downtown parking.
“The CEI update is a significant piece of work and should have been a special meeting on its own,” said coun. Cathy Downer.
“We should have anticipated the length of discussion with a 150-plus page report. Particularly given all the hefty items on the agenda.”
Guthrie said the length of meetings will be one of the items that comes up for discussion in June when council reviews the committee of the whole structure it adopted in 2016, switching from a system that saw several smaller committee meetings.
The irony of the fact that discussion was supposed to happen Monday was not lost on several councillors.
“We have had committee of the whole meetings that have not gone that long, that can’t be lost in this either,” Guthrie said. “The committee of the whole structure is still the right one to do …. It is working, I just think we need to be open to tweaks and adjustments to make it work better.”
