GUELPH – Wellington County councillor Campbell Cork is calling for council to hold a special meeting to discuss future plans for, and the location of, county administration facilities.
On Jan. 26, Cork announced he intends to present a motion at council’s February meeting requesting a special meeting be held some time in 2023 or “at the latest” in early 2024.
CAMPBELL CORK
Cork said he wants council to have “a full and public discussion” on “whether we want to move some or all of Wellington County administration out of Guelph and back to our own County of Wellington to a central location at Wellington Place in Aboyne.”
Cork said a tentative proposal to build a parking garage on county property in Guelph is the impetus for his call to consider the matter.
“I think we’re at a critical decision point. And if we proceed with building our $28-million-plus parking garage downtown, we will in fact be committed to staying in the city for the foreseeable future,” he stated.
The county’s museum and archives and it headquarters buildings for the county library and OPP detachment, as well as public health offices and the Wellington Terrace Long-Term Care facility, are all located at the Wellington Place campus where Cork said the county has “for all intents and purposes, free parking.”
Cork said his motion would call for staff to provide:
- a complete listing and “best estimate” of the market value of county-owned land and buildings in Guelph; and
- an updated estimate of the cost of parking and office facilities proposed by the county for downtown Guelph.
Cork said he would like to see staff present three scenarios with a costing for each:
- status quo, staying in Guelph and building a parking garage with administration offices;
- a partial move to Wellington Place, with suggestions for which departments might best relocate there; and
- a full move to Wellington Place, with recommendations for any departments “which must stay in Guelph, if any.”
Cork presented a similar motion to hold a special meeting to discuss a possible re-location of administration facilities to Aboyne at a council meeting on Jan. 27, 2022.
That motion was defeated with some councillors suggesting it was too late in the electoral cycle to fully consider the proposal before a new council took over.
Cork’s latest motion will be on the agenda for discussion at county council’s next meeting on Feb. 26.
