PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT: Use this template to create a report card that shows how Guelph municipal government is doing on an issue that interests you or your organization, is aligned to your organization’s purpose, and reflects the interests or needs of Guelph citizens. You can use the Council Meeting Summaries for reference. See the “How to use these summaries” document for help. (The Council Meeting Summaries are PDFs you can read or upload to an AI such as Claude or ChatGPT and query.)
IMPORTANT NOTE! You can still describe your organization or concern even if it wasn’t dealt with in a specific council meeting.
All information in boxes is instructional — remove the boxes once you’re finished!
Report card title
COUNCIL WATCH REPORT CARD ON <add a specific issue name, e.g. environment, social justice, housing, planning, etc.>
Prepared by:
SECTION 1: Include the name of your community organization and a 2 to 3 sentence description of your organization’s work, for context and authority.
Type your content here…
Perspective/values
SECTION 2: Describe/explain where your organization stands on the issue, what it regards as good practices for municipalities concerning the issue, and what stance your organization expects councillors who are onboard to take to demonstrate that they support the issue, if relevant, beyond an “in favour” vote.
Overview of related motions and councillors’ voting history
SECTION 4: Write an introductory paragraph describing types of
Future State: What we want the next Council to do
Specific examples
SECTION 5: Include motions brought forward that are related to your issue, and show how councillors voted, and include relevant or significant examples here. To do this, you can analyze the Council Meeting Summaries yourself or you can upload them to an LLM AI (such as Claude or ChatGPT) and ask it to provide a summary of motions related to your specific issue, including how councillors voted on motions).
The information below is for example only (and is irrelevant because it’s from 2022, prior to the last election). In this case, the issue is global warming/climate change, such as energy efficiency, emissions reductions, etc. You can upload the meeting summaries to AI and ask it to prepare tables like the one below, or you can do it yourself by going through the summaries. Note that we haven’t yet made summaries for 2026 council meeting minutes or council of the whole meeting minutes.
Waste Diversion & Single-Use Plastics
Rules reducing single-use plastics (bags, straws, cups) and diverting waste from landfill through recycling, organics, and reuse programs.
MEETING MOTION RESULT FOR AGAINST ABSENT April 4, 2022Committee of the Whole, Item 5.2 Solid Waste Management Master Plan — Amendment: $1 Fee on Disposable CupsProposal to charge a mandatory $1 fee on disposable cups as part of the city’s waste reduction plan. DEFEATED (5–8) Bell, Downer, Goller, Gordon, MacKinnon Allt, Billings, Caron, Gibson, Hofland, O’Rourke, Salisbury, Guthrie (Mayor) — April 4, 2022Committee of the Whole, Item 5.2 Solid Waste Management Master Plan — Main Motion (Phase 1 Approval)Approved Phase 1 of the city’s waste management plan, covering plastics reduction and waste collection changes. CARRIED (13–0) Allt, Bell, Billings, Caron, Downer, Gibson, Goller, Gordon, Hofland, MacKinnon, O’Rourke, Salisbury, Guthrie (Mayor) — — April 25, 2022Council, Item 6.2 Solid Waste Management Master Plan — Amendment to Exempt Plastic Straws from BanAttempt to exempt plastic straws entirely from the single-use plastics ban. DEFEATED (2–9) Gibson, Hofland Allt, Bell, Billings, Caron, Downer, Goller, Gordon, MacKinnon, Guthrie (Mayor) O’Rourke, Salisbury April 25, 2022Council, Item 6.2 Solid Waste Management Master Plan — Amendment for Mandatory $1 Cup ChargeA second attempt (at full Council) to require a mandatory $1 charge per disposable cup. DEFEATED (3–8) Bell, Goller, MacKinnon Allt, Billings, Caron, Downer, Gibson, Gordon, Hofland, Guthrie (Mayor) O’Rourke, Salisbury
Conclusion
Feel free to add a brief 2-4 sentence concluding statement or summary