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City Clerk’s Office
What we do
The City Clerks’ Office provides legislative support services to City Council, Committee of the Whole and more than 20 agencies, boards and committees, including public notice requirements. We support and promote the accountability and transparency of City Council and City department work.
Internally, we support and, in some cases, lead important corporate continuous improvement projects including the review of customer, citizen and public service processes and systems; lead, in partnership with the Corporate Communications and Customer Service, and Information Technology departments, the City’s Customer Service and Digital Steering Committee and the Guelph Digital Service. We provide records and information management, access and privacy advice and support to internal departments.
Externally, we manage the Freedom of Information process with the public, and support public-facing service delivery in the areas of civil marriage ceremonies, commissioning of documents and the administration and delivery of municipal and school board elections.
Why we do it
The City Clerk’s Office supports the delivery of responsible and responsive public service to Guelph’s growing and diverse community by ensuring an effective and trusted local government. We do so with engaged, skilled and collaborative employees that deliver legislative services, front-line customer service and programs and processes that promote accountability and transparency, and supports our Strategic Plan priority of Working Together for our Future.
2021 to 2024+ initiatives
- Conduct the City Council Composition and Ward Boundary Review to ensure that City Council’s composition, governance structure, employment status and wards continue to serve and represent Guelph residents now and into the future.
- Implement a digital solution to manage appointments to agencies, boards and committees to make it easier for the public, City Council and staff to view membership and recruitment information.
- Renovate the City Council Chambers and replace existing technology with modernized equipment that will support in-person, remote and hybrid City Council meetings.
- Implement a digital solution to manage the marriage license issuing process.
- Conduct community engagement on ranked ballot voting and remote voting methods and bring recommendations forward to Council to ensure a voting system and alternative voting methods decision is made according to legislative timelines for the 2022 municipal election.
- Strategically plan for, and administer the 2022 municipal and school board election.
- Support the implementation of SharePoint as the City’s enterprise content management solution to improve electronic records management and legislative compliance in line with the Records Information Management Strategy.
- Implement the Archival Needs Assessment recommendations to ensure that the City’s records of archival and historical value are preserved and accessible to City employees and the public.
Budget details
Operating budget—Revenues and expenses
2021 budget impacts
- $72,100 increase in compensation for proposed temporary staffing due to increased legislative and administrative complexity related to the 2022 municipal election offset by transfer from the Compensation Contingency Reserve.
- $115,000 decrease in purchased services due to the reversal of half of the funding for the council composition review initiative, offset by the reversal of the one-time reserve funding approved by Council in 2020.
- $30,000 proposed increase in purchased services for closed captioning for city council meetings.
2022 to 2024 budget impacts
$206,630 net increase in operating budget change from 2022 to 2024
- Addition of an Information and Access Coordinator Council and Composition Clerk in 2023 to support the growing demand of this service.
- Other changes are inflationary in nature.
Budget requests
- BR 865—Closed Captions for City Council Meetings
- BR 866—Temporary election planning clerk