WELLINGTON COUNTY – It appears any serious discussion of moving Wellington County’s administration out of Guelph to a location in the county will have to wait until after the Oct. 24 municipal election.
During the Jan. 27 meeting, county councillors voted down a motion to hold a special meeting to conduct a “full and open discussion” on moving he administration centre “back into the County of Wellington to a central location such as Wellington Place (at Aboyne).”
The motion was presented by councillor Campbell Cork, who noted “there are some who think there’s a lot of tradition wrapped up in this building and that we can’t let it go,” but said the time is right to consider a move.
“We are at a crossroads,” said Cork.
“We are at the point of spending a bunch of money in Guelph, which will mean we’ll be staying Guelph for the foreseeable future or we can spend some money someplace else and bring the administration headquarters back to Wellington County.
Cork pointed out the “biggest issue” with the current building is parking, with tentative plans on the books to spend around $27 million to build a multi-level parking garage.
Even more money would need to be spent, Cork noted, “if we need to buy land.”
CAMPBELL CORK
Cork said multi-story parking garages are “pretty unfriendly places,” and the one currently used by county personnel “has been a place that’s required staff at times to ask to be accompanied to their parking spots, for fear of going alone.
“Having our Wellington County administration building in Guelph makes about as much sense as Guelph having its administration building in Fergus. It makes no sense at all,” stated Cork, who added there are a number of drawbacks to the current facilities.
“Personally I have never seen a more unwelcoming administration building than ours,” he said
“If you can manage to find the parking garage, you’re lucky. And you need a GPS to get from the parking garage to the administration centre.”
Cork noted people “don’t want to drive into downtown Guelph every time they need to do business with the county.”
He called the current facility “a rabbit warren of staircases and corridors and outside paths and ramps, joining various departments located in various buildings.
“You have to go out in the rain and ice and snow to get to some departments. I personally have slipped up there in the winter on a ramp. And when you get inside, the spectators gallery of our council chambers is so difficult to navigate that it’s a broken ankle waiting to happen,” he continued.
Cork pointed out “you cannot even drive up to the front door of our administration centre in Guelph.
“If the Queen of England came to our administration centre for a cup of tea and wanted to come into the front door, I’m afraid we’d have to send our councillors out to carry her up the steps on our shoulders,” Cork stated.
“We now own land at the geographic centre of Wellington County and we’re at a point the property already houses many county buildings,” said Cork, citing the museum and archives and headquarters buildings for the county library and OPP detachment, as well as public health offices and the Wellington Terrace Long-Term Care facility.
“We’ve already located half the county administration there. I think we should finish the job and move the rest,” Cork stated.
Councillor Alan Alls interjected with a point of order, stating that Cork was addressing the “substance” of the proposed meeting “when the motion is about whether or not we want to have the meeting.”
Warden Kelly Linton then gave Cork another 30 seconds to wrap up his remarks.
“I do urge you to have the discussion. I think it’s only a discussion,” said Cork.
“It’s not time to call in the architects, but we could get a ballpark cost.”
“I certainly don’t’ want to make a decision like this based on anecdotal evidence,” said councillor Chris White.
He pointed out the county has “a whole pile of things we’re looking at,” including dealing with pandemic-related issues.
“We’ve got Continuum of Care on the table, we’ve got ambulance on the table and libraries on the table,” White added.
“I don’t’ consider this being an immediate priority.”
However, he added he would be comfortable having the topic discussed during a future strategic planning session.
Councillor Dianne Ballantyne agreed with considering the ideas as part of the strategic planning process, as long as money wasn’t being spent on initiatives like the proposed parking garage in the meantime.
Noting he is “a big fan of tradition,” councillor Doug Breen observed, “I’ve never thought of the County of Wellington administration centre being in the City of Guelph an anomaly.
“I more think that we allow the City of Guelph to exist around us than the other way around.”
DOUG BREEN
While pointing out the city and county “do a lot of things together,” Breen conceded the arrangement is “a bit of a strange creation.”
However, he noted a similar arrangement exists between the City of London and surrounding Middlesex County.
While speculating it could cost “an insane amount of money” to move the administration centre, Breen said “I’m not a closed-minded person and I’m willing to have this conversation.”
Still, Breen cautioned, “It will be very, very hard to convince me this is a good idea.”
Councillor Earl Campbell said the discussion is “likely a little bit premature,” but added, “I think it’s a discussion we need to have.”
Campbell suggested a compromise approach, noting if there are issues of accommodating all departments at the Guelph facilities, the county could consider, “which of those functions could possibly be moved to Aboyne.”
However, he noted, further study would be needed before such decisions could be made.
“I certainly don’t’ want to get into debating this issue today,” said councillor Andy Lennox.
However, he added, “I’m more than willing to have a conversation about this … if only to decide what the scope of the discussion really is.”
Councillor Dave Anderson agreed input from staff would be needed.
“If we’re looking at spending $27 million, we have to think about ways we can maybe mitigate some of that expense,” said Anderson, who felt the discussion, “needs to be held immediately after the next council is inaugurated.”
Councillor Gregg Davidson said he felt the conversation “needs to be had,” possibly as part of strategic planning sessions.
“We’ve had this come up a number of times in the past eight years. We’ve never actually had a full council discussion on it. It’s just about the timing of that. Is that now? Is that strategic plan 2023?”
Davidson said council needs to see “a business case” to determine if it is worthwhile to make a move.
However, he stated, “I don’t think we want to think about abandoning any of our buildings in the downtown core.”
Alls said he is “always ready to have a discussion and that’s what we should be debating here, not the reasons that we want to change.”
He added, “it’s probably not the right time” and the issue should be left for the next council.
Councillor James Seeley said discussing the move without staff input “is just not good governance,” and added he is “not supportive” of the motion.
Councillor Don McKay said council needs to have two discussions on the issue: one to provide “a framework” for staff to work with and a second discussion on “which way we should go.”
JEFF DUNCAN
Councillor Jeff Duncan said he could not support the motion before council because “it’s basically giving an all or nothing proposition with no appropriate options.
“That’s only giving us one option for dealing with a very complex issue … whether we’re going to move out of Guelph or not.”
However, he suggested staff have heard “loud and clear” that the issue should be “front and centre” in future strategic planning sessions.
Councillor Mary Lloyd said making a business case would be essential to the process.
“I think it’s difficult for us to place a document in front of an incoming council … when in fact, we don’t have those cases built,” she stated.
“This is poor timing for this,” said councillor George Bridge, adding the question has come up during each of the three terms he has been on council.
“But it’s never come up this late in a term.”
Bridge said asking staff to undertake a major study in an election year would be pointless.
“I think we’re just going to make our staff do a lot of work for nothing and they’re just going to have to redo do it again because there will be a brand new council,” said Bridge.
“This is a massive project,” agreed Linton, who questioned what priorities and projects council would have staff drop to take on a study of the required scale.
“So from my perspective, this is not a priority right now. I think the timing isn’t right,” said Linton.
However, he added, “I absolutely agree that this discussion has to be had before we spend too much money on facilities.”
Linton then put the motion to a vote and it was defeated.
