2013 GCL AGM a success!

Kelly Guthrie and Rodrigo Goller present the draft Community
Engagement Framework at the GCL AGM (photo D. Sills)

It was a full house at 10 Carden last night as around 35 people attended the Guelph Civic League's Annual General Meeting. After the president's report and the treasurer's report, the voting portion of the meeting took place.

First up was a vote on a new vision and set of values to replace the existing GCL values that have guided the organization since 2006. With a few minor alterations, this was approved unanimously. Check out the 'About the GCL' tab here to have a look at the results.

Next was a vote on a GCL position regarding a new library downtown. After some spirited discussion, it was decided by unanimous vote to wait until more information becomes available over the next several months before adopting a position.

Finally, it was time for elections. Several existing members agreed to stand as candidates while a few newcomers stepped up to offer their services. In particular, we thank Jeff Biegus and Andy Best for taking on the executive positions of secretary and vice-president, respectively. Check out our new executive via the 'About the GCL tab' here. And many thanks to departing executive members Anne Gardner, Susan Parker and Kevin Ferraro.

After a short break, we got into the feature presentation. Mayor Farbridge doesn't get to talk about process and the inner workings of City Hall very often, but if there was one group in town that would lap up a talk titled "Local government - who does what?", the GCL was it! She also fielded a tough question on the future of Guelph Hydro, an emerging hot topic that has been the subject of a few recent GCL blog posts. She was able to clarify the situation and gave the group an idea of what the next steps might be for the City.

To wrap up the night, Rodrigo Goller and Kelly Guthrie gave a great talk on the Community Engagement Framework under development at City Hall. The goal here is a standardized but diverse set of community engagement tools across City Hall.

Joanne Shuttleworth at the Mercury has a good write-up here. Coun. Guthrie also tried some live 'tweeting' from the AGM - you can find his tweets at his Twitter account here.

Many thanks to all who came out and supported healthy local democracy, and the Guelph Civic League!